The Business Cost of Regulations

The Cost of Regulations

Regulations adversely affect business because of the time and expense required to comply. Compliance often requires hiring attorneys, engineers, and other professionals at great expense. The worst regulations vary among the industries, but generally are those that require the most time for compliance. Time is money.

When a business must wait months to move in to a new space solely because the permits and inspections are held up up in regulatory red tape, they are losing money. The already depressed construction industry has been hit very hard with new compliance requirements for regulations such as green building standards or construction storm water permits that have not been properly vetted for safety or benefit/cost analysis.

The 340+ California state-level boards acting independently from each other, and often from any accountability to elected authority, leads to fractured public policy with confusing, duplicative, and often contradictory requirements. In addition, many permitting requirements have the Catch-22 condition that the permit is not valid until completing all other government requirements, ending up in a perpetual circular approval process.

Some boards meet only once a month and the backlog of permits pushes the process to beyond the 6-month action period required by the California Permit Streamlining Act. The fact that California had to enact a law requiring regulatory action to be reduced to 6 months provides some insight into what kind of time loss many business projects face when approaching the California regulatory process.

Time is money and what California doesn’t take in excessive taxes and fees, it eats up in profits lost to regulatory delays and compliance expense, which ultimately drives business out of state.

Cheryl Bly-Chester, Director; Advocacy for Jobs Affected by Regulation (AJAR); A CECE nonprofit public education project for government accountability and due process.

Contact: AJARdirector@aol.com

Director's Message

Advocacy for Jobs Affected by Regulation  (AJAR)

A public education project for government accountability and due process

Directors Message

I am excited to take on this important role for the Center for Environment, Commerce, and Energy, directing the California AJAR Project. The mission of AJAR is to educate the public and elected representatives on the direct and indirect affect of legislative and regulatory actions on job security; advocating for economic growth by promoting accountability, transparency, and due process in governmental proceedings and by participating in public policy design of the regulatory board system.

The immediate goals for AJAR include establishing an online news blog that provides information on the actions of those California state boards most affecting the business environment and therefore job security in the state. The AJAR blog will report both successes and opportunities for improvement in boardsmanship, transparency, and due process with specific attention to how board actions are expected to affect business expansion.

The non-partisan approach will also serve to educate lawmakers on how to reform the board system to correct process problems, inequities, lack of transparency and other actions that serve to undermine achieving the benefits of a board system. When the benefits go unrealized, the rule of law is undermined, faith in the regulatory system falters and investment in the future dries up. Without investment, the economy does not expand, businesses conserve their resources, and job security is threatened.

We invite all who are interested in government accountability, due process, and building the economy to secure and add jobs to contribute to AJAR through the Center for the Environment, Commerce, and Energy. The Center is a qualified nonprofit organization. Please, seek professional advice regarding tax deductibility of donations. Funds will help in running the center, operating the blog and website, obtaining public records, attending meetings, and researching for AJAR resources.

Thank you for your interest in good government and how improved government will improve the business climate to create and secure jobs for California. We look forward to hearing from you!

Sincerely,

Cheryl Bly-Chester, Director

 Advocacy for Jobs Affected by Regulation  (AJAR)

CHERYL BLY-CHESTER NAMED AJAR DIRECTOR

Cheryl Bly-Chester

The Center for the Environment, Commerce, and Energy named Cheryl Bly-Chester as the new California Representative and Director of the Advocacy for Jobs Affected by Regulation (AJAR) project. AJAR is the Center's public education project for government accountability and due process. The mission of AJAR is to educate the public and elected representatives on the direct and indirect effect of legislative and regulatory actions on job security; advocating for economic growth by promoting accountability, transparency, and due process in governmental proceedings and by participating in public policy design of the regulatory board system.

Cheryl Bly-Chester has been involved with past Center projects and co-authored a newsletter on environmental policy issues for one of the Center's affiliated associations. She has recently completed her doctoral dissertation studying the California regulatory board system and is eager to apply what she has learned.

Dr. Bly-Chester is a Licensed Professional Engineer with an MBA in International Management specializing in global resources. She has been involved in permitting alternative energy plants in California, holds a Nuclear Reactor Safety Certificate from MIT earned during the Chernobyl 
Era, and is the owner of Rosewood Environmental Engineering located in       
 the Sacramento Area of California.

Cheryl Bly-Chester, Director
Advocacy for Jobs Affected by Regulation (AJAR)
Center for the Environment, Commerce, and Energy
1079 Sunrise Boulevard, Suite B-168
Roseville, California 95661