Over-regulation is a top-of-mind complaint from nearly any businessperson, nowhere more so than in Rhode Island, where the topic has been targeted as one of the most pernicious of economic growth-killers for years.
In the most recent PBN Business Survey, more than 90 percent of respondents said that cutting government red tape would be an action that would improve the business climate in the Ocean State.
Thus, while it affects a relatively small industry, the recent passage and signing of legislation that removes the requirement that certain food trucks register in every municipality in which they want to operate is a good sign that the state’s leaders seem to be listening.
The point of this legislation, and of the many years of business community complaints, is not that all forms of regulation are bad, but that regulations should be simple, transparent, and in Rhode Island especially, not duplicative. If a food truck is licensed to operate in Providence, is there really a good case to be made that it should also have to fill out forms – and pay separate fees – for Cranston, Warwick and North Kingstown as well?
Manufacturers, design businesses and those involved in hospitality and tourism would like to see similar regulation-simplification legislation passed, but they are surely not the only ones.
Simplifying the state’s regulatory structure has been the stated goal of many public officials for years. Is this finally the time they will act on that impulse? Let us hope so, because there can be no doubt that it will give a boost across the state’s economy.
