Zero Is the Magic Number for Cutting Red Tape

Trump’s executive order on energy rules shows the path for ending obsolete and outdated regulations

By James Broughel. He is a senior fellow with the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Excerpts:

"zero-based regulatory budgeting. This process requires programs to be justified from scratch each budget cycle, rather than assuming prior-year allocations should continue."

"The zero-based regulation approach has been effective in Idaho, which implemented an aggressive regulatory sunset process in 2019, wiping tens of thousands of restrictions off the books. Since then, the state has maintained a rolling five-year review cycle, requiring agencies to scrap rules and repromulgate those worth keeping."

"British Columbia is a striking success story. In the early 2000s, the Canadian province reduced its regulatory requirements by more than one-third. Research suggests this added about 1 percentage point to its annual growth rate. Idaho also cut its regulatory pages by more than 30% and now ranks as the least regulated state in the nation. That kind of progress is possible at the federal level."