REINing in the Regulators in Pennsylvania
June 9, 2025
By: Jennie Dallas is Strategic Director, at The LIBRE Initiative Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania: Are you tired of the political games in Harrisburg? You vote time and time again for smaller government, fewer regulations, and greater economic freedom, just to watch government grow larger, yet less accountable to the people and their directly elected representatives. As a result, the business climate has eroded, particularly for the small enterprises and entrepreneurs who serve as the locomotives for economic growth.
Well, get ready: the commonwealth’s “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny” (REINS) Act is about to change the way Pennsylvania does regulation: putting people back in charge of the “people’s business.” Senate Bill 333, the “Regulatory Review Act,” would enshrine the REINS Act into law by requiring General Assembly approval for any permanent rule required by commonwealth agencies with an annual economic impact exceeding one million dollars. This legislation, sponsored by Senator Dawn Keeler, would create a critical guardrail against runaway government by maximizing oversight, transparency, and accountability.
This ensures costly regulations face the scrutiny of elected lawmakers and are not simply rubber-stamped by faceless, unelected agency bureaucrats. It also restores the checks and balances that our nation’s framers in Philadelphia envisioned for one branch of government (legislative) to hold another branch (executive) accountable to the people.
The REINS Act is based on a simple truth. In a democratic republic, the people should have the final say on policies that shape our economy and daily lives through their elected representatives, not unaccountable regulators.
The commonwealth’s regulatory climate is especially important for Pennsylvania’s growing Hispanic population, which largely comprises entrepreneurs.
While the commonwealth’s Hispanic population in 2022 surpassed the million-person mark, over 8% of the commonwealth’s population, the U.S. Treasury Department reported that the number of self-employed Latino workers had increased by 26% between 2019-23. In addition, Pennsylvania saw a nearly 50% increase in Hispanic-owned businesses between 2012 and 2019.
Reducing the regulatory burden on Pennsylvania means business to the commonwealth’s Hispanic entrepreneurs because small business is our lifeblood. Most importantly, the movement is spreading beyond our borders.
On the federal level, Congress has signaled that a federal REINS Act will be a top priority for lawmakers seeking to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse of taxpayer funds. The House of Representatives has already passed a federal REINS Act numerous times and should do so again this session.
The federal approach tracks Pennsylvania’s approach by requiring congressional approval for federal regulations costing over $100 million. This shift toward limited government and eliminating red tape would be a welcomed change of pace in our nation’s capitol – as well as in Georgia, Indiana, Wyoming, North Carolina, and other states where the REINS Act is on the move.
And do we ever need to implement the REINS Act in the Keystone State! With over 160,000 regulations, Pennsylvania is the 14th most regulated state in the Union, higher than all the states listed above.
Opponents of the bill will claim that codifying the REINS Act in our commonwealth will cause more gridlock in the governing process, but they’re wrong. The REINS Act doesn’t kill regulation—it demands transparency from our commonwealth’s regulators and accountability from our elected representatives. If a rule truly serves the public, it will withstand this scrutiny. If it doesn’t, it has no business becoming law; the REINS Act will ensure it.
The time is now for the REINS Act in Pennsylvania. Fewer regulations unleash economic growth and prosperity. It’s time for Pennsylvania’s commonwealth government to rein itself in by passing Senate Bill 333.
Originally posted on PennWatch.
