The COVID-19 crisis has led to rules and regulations being relaxed or even temporarily eliminated in states across the country. Some lawmakers and government agencies are taking steps to make these changes permanent in order to reduce burdens on businesses and workers. There is no reason Missouri shouldn’t do the same.
One example is Oregon’s Liquor Control Commission, which is taking steps to make the temporary relaxation of some of its rules permanent. Even better, Idaho’s governor is taking action to make a wide array of the state’s COVID-19 deregulation permanent, saying that “if waiving these regulations was deemed necessary to improve public health and welfare during the declared emergency, there is a rebuttable presumption that the regulations are unnecessary or counterproductive outside of the declared emergency.”
Sound familiar?
Show-Me Institute researchers have made this argument many times when speaking favorably of COVID-19 regulatory waivers and when calling for lawmakers to make the waivers permanent. The issue is critical enough that it was included in the Show-Me Institute list of the top issues that ought to be addressed in a special legislative session.
This call for deregulatory action is not a call from left field, nor is it an extraordinary ask. Other states are taking advantage of this opportunity to stay competitive and lessen the burden on businesses and workers. Missouri should too.
