Posted on 07/27/2013 8:16:08 AM PDT by afraidfortherepublic
A somewhat offbeat sport, bowfishing resembles archery, except fishermen wield a hefty bow to target fish.
Wisconsin has a regulation for that.
Some fish are off-limits, but the restrictions aren’t always the same statewide, said Wilhelmson, a regional representative of the Wisconsin Bowfishing Association.
“I’d like to be able to shoot catfish and I’d like to see the restrictions lifted from other parts of the state,” he said.
The state’s bowfishing regulations, he said, are “goofy,” which aptly describes much of Wisconsin’s administrative code, key lawmakers say.
Nursing homes, for instance, can be fined if the orange juice is off by a degree, according to a specified range.
Holes in Swiss cheese holes must be of a certain size. No kidding.
“Regulations take money from the pockets of citizens and business every day,” Rep. Dan LeMahieu, R-Cascade, said. “We should be confident that these rules actually protect individuals, rather than just putting a burden on businesses.”
With that in mind, lawmakers are taking on a seemingly monumental task — reviewing and updating the entire administrative code. Line by line.
All 1,768 chapters.
All 11,764 pages.
LeMahieu co-chairs the Assembly’s Review of Administrative Rules Committee.
“This is really boring stuff,” he said.
First formalized in the 1950s, the administrative code is Wisconsin’s rule book.
If statutes give the big picture of Wisconsin law, the administrative code delivers the nitty-gritty of how those laws are implemented.
“Rules can and are often changed by an agency,” said Dan Ritsche of the Legislative Reference Bureau. “That’s happening all the time, in fact. Look at the registry, you’ll see changes and process alteration of rules all the time.”
And yet, LeMahieu said, “To my knowledge this (a complete review) has never been done in Wisconsin, and to my knowledge has never been completed by any other states. We’ll see how this one goes.”
Gov. Scott Walker’s administration released in January the Wisconsin Regulatory Review Report, which proposed a number of law changes to “simplify” procedures and ease regulatory burdens for small businesses.
The Small Business Regulatory Review Board, responsible for writing the report, hopes to “identify rules hindering economic growth” and eliminate them.
In an email to Wisconsin Reporter, Stephanie Marquis, spokeswoman for the Department of Administration, said an updated version of the review report should be available this fall.
The Wisconsin State Assembly’s own decision to review the administrative code has resulted in a project called Right the Rules.
While the Wisconsin Regulatory Review Report is not directly guiding the Right the Rules process, committee chairs were “told to try to incorporate some of those suggestions that were made in (Walker’s) report,” said Jason Rostan, committee clerk for the Joint Administrative Rules Panel.
Each Assembly committee chair has been handed responsibility for reviewing parts of the code.
Some committees have made more progress than others.
But then, some have a single chapter to review; others more than 200.
According to the Right the Rules website, 164 of 1768 chapters have been covered.
The Department of Transportation recently introduced an omnibus bill, altering the administrative code to streamline vehicle inspection procedures, clarify telephone authorization operations and “simplify” other processes for small businesses.
Once the rules have been reviewed by a respective committee, they’ll be up for legislative review.
“This is not a one-term project,” said LeMahieu, who hopes to get feedback from organized business and banking institutions.
According to the Right the Rules website, “some rules make it harder to do business because they are out of date, duplicate federal rules, require people to fill out unnecessary paperwork, delay projects or add extreme costs to everyday tasks.”
The website shows includes committee schedules, proposed legislation and relevant news releases. It also provides a form for suggestions.
“Hopefully by the end of the day, we won’t just be making cosmetic changes,” LeMahieu said.
Walker reforms continue: Legislature to review administrative code
FReep Mail me if you want on, or off, this Wisconsin interest ping list.
Cheese holes must have a certain size?
That’s easy enough. Just keep all the mice in one size range.
“This is really boring stuff”
THIS IS YOUR JOB. THIS IS WHAT YOU WERE HIRED TO DO. GOOD JOB WALKER.
A boat load of carp....... Ship it to New York, I understand they LOVE carp out there. Actually, carp are not too bad when smoked. When we were kids we used to spear them and my dad would smoke them. Great, low cost smoked fish.
As far as revising Wisconsin laws.......Great to see our representatives are looking at these laws as many of those laws DO hinder a lot of things. Most of the archaic laws were implemented many, many years ago and are not relevant to today’s world. I hope they do a good job so the rest of us living here in Wisconsin can move forward.
The scary thing is, colleges are turning out thousands of potential business and environmental regulators every year, whose sole reason for being will be to regulate.
Peripetchikoff: We have emergency meeting with Swiss Trade Delegation. They send us twenty car-loads of cheese. Totally unacceptable... full of holes.
- One, Two, Three
Finally! Take away some of those regs instead of just constantly piling on more!
And then there's a tax code...
Richard Maybury reduces this to two rules: "These two rules can be expressed in 17 words: do all you have agreed to do and, do not encroach on other persons or their property.“
“Regulations take money from the pockets of citizens and business every day,” Rep. Dan LeMahieu, R-Cascade, said. “We should be confident that these rules actually protect individuals, rather than just putting a burden on businesses.”
Gee. Ya THINK? Glad they’re looking into this. Unintended (well...) consequences of Mother Government putting her big fat nose in our bidness! *SPIT*
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