The public has a right to a concise and easily understood overview of the tangible impacts, costs and benefits of any proposed state agency rule. However, the 2019 Oklahoma Administrative Code contains 16,430 pages, roughly 35,000 active sections 1 , 145,296 restrictive phrases and 9.3 million words. That would take an individual about 515 hours - or almost 13 forty hour work weeks - to read. Accountability, transparency and efficiency have been critical principles of my administration since taking office in January of 2019. Furthermore, I believe it is in the best interests of the State, its government, and its citizens to reduce regulatory burden whenever and wherever possible, while continuing to protect public health and public safety. Therefore, I, J. Kevin Stitt, Governor of the State of Oklahoma, by the authority vested in me pursuant to Sections 1 and 2 of Article VI of the Oklahoma Constitution, hereby direct and order as follows: 1. All "state agencies," as defined by 75 O.S. § 250.3, are to undertake a critical and comprehensive review of the agency's administrative rules to identify costly, ineffective, duplicative, and outdated regulations, and to issue a report thereon. The report shall include a list of all unnecessary regulatory restrictions and all other costly, ineffective, unnecessary, and outdated regulations. The report of each agency's findings shall be submitted to the Governor, the President Pro Tempore of the Oklahoma Senate and the Speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives on or before August 1, 2020. 2. Unless prohibited by law, whenever an agency proposes one (1) new regulatory restriction through the permanent rulemaking process, it shall identify at least two (2) existing regulatory restrictions to be revoked (1-in-2-out) until the total number of regulatory restrictions is 25% percent below the regulatory baseline. For purposes of this executive order, a regulatory restriction is any agency rule that includes the words "shall," "must," "require," "shall not," "may not," and "prohibit." The 1-in-2-out requirement shall take effect for any permanent rules proposed after February 15, 2020. 3. The Secretary of State shall produce an annual report on or before December 31 each year to the Governor's office outlining progress made in eliminating burdensome regulations and streamlining state government. Copies of this Executive Order shall be distributed to all members of the Governor's Executive Cabinet and the chief executives of all state agencies, who shall cause the provisions of this Order to be implemented. IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand and caused the Great Seal of the State of Oklahoma to be affixed at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, this 3rd day of February, 2020. BY THE GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF OKLAHOMA J. Kevin Stitt Michael Rogers Secretary of State 1 Active sections may also be referred to as "Regulatory baseline" herein
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