Section 121.951 - Required reduction in regulatory restrictions(A)(1) Using the criteria listed in division (A) of section 106.03 of the Revised Code, a state agency shall amend or rescind rules identified in its base inventory of regulatory restrictions prepared under section 121.95 of the Revised Code as necessary to reduce the total number of regulatory restrictions by thirty per cent, according to the following schedule: (a) A ten per cent reduction not later than June 30, 2023;(b) A twenty per cent reduction not later than June 30, 2024; and(c) The thirty per cent reduction not later than June 30, 2025. When a state agency has achieved a reduction of any percentage in regulatory restrictions, whether or not as specified in this section, the state agency may not adopt or maintain regulatory restrictions that would negate the reduction.
(2) Beginning July 1, 2025, a state agency that has not achieved the specified thirty per cent reduction may not adopt a new regulatory restriction unless it simultaneously removes two or more other existing regulatory restrictions, until the specified thirty per cent reduction has been achieved. The state agency may not fulfill this requirement by merging two or more existing regulatory restrictions into a single surviving regulatory restriction.(3) A state agency is encouraged to continue to reduce regulatory restrictions after it has achieved the specified thirty per cent reduction.(B)(1) Not later than September 15, 2022, a state agency shall prepare an historical report of its progress in reducing regulatory restrictions over the period of time beginning when the agency prepared its base inventory under section 121.95 of the Revised Code and ending on June 30, 2022. Annually thereafter, a state agency shall prepare an historical report of its progress in reducing regulatory restrictions over the preceding fiscal year. The state agency shall explain in the report how it applied the criteria described in division (A) of section 106.03 of the Revised Code to its determinations as to which regulatory restrictions to amend or rescind. The state agency shall include a revised inventory of regulatory restrictions with the report.(2) In the revised inventory, in addition to the information required by section 121.95 of the Revised Code, the state agency shall compute the percentage net reduction in regulatory restrictions by subtracting the current number of regulatory restrictions from the number of regulatory restrictions identified in the base inventory and then dividing the resulting number by the number of regulatory restrictions in the base inventory.(3) The state agency shall transmit the report electronically to the joint committee on agency rule review. The joint committee shall review the report and shall transmit it electronically to the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the senate. The state agency shall continue preparing and transmitting annual reports until it has reported that it has achieved the required reduction in regulatory restrictions.Added by 134th General Assembly File No. TBD, SB 9,§1, eff. 6/8/2022.