January 27, 2023 - On Wednesday, Ray McCarty, president/CEO of Associated Industries of Missouri (AIM) testified in favor of HB 268, a bill filed by Rep. Alex Riley.
The bill would establish a "Regulatory Sandbox" that would insulate new business concepts from regulations while they are still being tested.
Rep. Riley told the House Economic Development Committee there are approximately 113,112 regulations affecting businesses. He said new businesses trying to determine which regulations apply and then complying with the regulations can stifle innovation. His idea is to allow businesses proving new concepts to do so without the burden of such regulations for the first two years, a term that may be extended by an oversight committee that would be established under the bill.
Rep. Riley has worked with AIM and with various legislative leaders to ensure the regulatory sandbox could not be used to unfairly compete with existing businesses by only allowing new innovative processes to be protected. The program would allow any state agency promulgating a regulation to veto participation in the sandbox and provide an oversight office and committee that would run the program.
"Representative Riley has worked with us and with other legislators to arrive at the language used in this version of the bill and we believe it adequately protects existing businesses from having to compete unfairly with businesses participating in the program," said McCarty. "We support the sandbox to help stimulate innovation in Missouri."
No action was taken by the committee. We will keep you posted of progress of this legislation.