HARRISBURG – Moves by GOP members of six Pennsylvania House committees to repeal outdated regulations were announced Wednesday, Sept. 11, after the Independent Regulatory Review Commission adopted plans to remove the unneeded regulations.
This action follows a coordinated effort by House Republicans in September of 2022 to request that IRRC review scores of regulations under what is known as the Regulatory Review Act.
“In some cases, our research uncovered regulations that existed in the books before IRRC was created in 1982 and had never been reviewed,” House Republican Appropriations Chairman Seth Grove (R-York) said. “The formal requests made by the House Aging and Older Adult Services, Children and Youth, Health, Labor and Industry, Judiciary and State Government Committees to IRRC covered 10 government agencies with questionable regulations.”
Grove, then House State Government chairman, and State Rep. Kerry Benninghoff (R–Center/Mifflin), then House Republican leader, worked together in the 2021-22 session to increase attention on the regulatory process following regulations promulgated during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The actions by IRRC today are a huge step forward for Pennsylvania, but a reminder we still have more work to do,” said Benninghoff, who currently serves as Republican chairman of the House Transportation Committee.
Grove added, “Rather than creating more government to improve Pennsylvania’s regulatory environment, we reduced unneeded red tape with the tools we already have.”
At the September 2024 meeting, all five IRRC commissioners voted for recommendations broken down by five agencies. The Departments of Aging, Corrections, Health, Labor and Industry and State were all included in the final report.
Benninghoff mentioned the state Department of Health as an example. IRRC found some regulations governing hospitals had not been updated since the 1980s.
The success of this review would not have been possible without the help of former committee chairs including Gary Day (R-Lehigh County), House Aging and Older Adult Services; Sheryl Delozier, (R-Cumberland County, House Children and Youth; and Jim Cox (R-Berks/Lancaster), House Labor and Industry.
Current committee chairs Kathy Rapp (R-Warren), House Health, and Rob Kauffman, (R-Chambersburg), House Judiciary, were also involved in this process and are now joined by chairs Steven Mentzer (R-Lancaster), House Aging and Older Adult Services; Barry Jozwiak (R-Reading), House Children and Youth; Ryan Mackenzie (R-Emmaus), House Labor and Industry; and Brad Roae (R-Meadville), House State Government.
“This is just the beginning of our efforts to streamline and modernize Pennsylvania’s regulatory environment,” Grove said. “
