Groups Call on Governor Paterson to Rescind Executive Order 25, Put Public Interest Before Special Interests

ALBANY, NY (08/13/2009)(readMedia)-- More than 30 organizations, including representatives from labor, consumer, health, environmental, and good government groups, called on Governor David Paterson today to repeal Executive Order 25. This order, which was signed last Friday, would allow a handpicked group of top aides, led by Secretary to the Governor Larry Schwartz, to revise or repeal state regulations considered outdated or overly burdensome to businesses.

"We're calling on the Governor to trash this clunker," said Laura Haight, Senior Environmental Associate, NYPIRG. "Under this Executive Order, powerful, well-connected lobbyists with access to the Governor's office will get a second chance at weakening regulations that they were unable to stop at the agency level. The Governor's office should not be in the business of rewriting the rules for special interests."

"Governor Paterson's release of this Executive Order is especially galling, as it came just one day after he announced New York State's goal to reduce global warming pollution," said Robert Moore, Executive Director, Environmental Advocates of New York. "The Governor's order puts the needs of polluters ahead of New Yorkers. Weakening or repealing rules and regulations that protect the quality of our air and drinking water and reduce climate-altering greenhouse gases sets a dangerous precedent."

The Governor released the Executive Order late Friday afternoon last week. The new Regulatory Review and Reform Program will likely put an added burden on already over-stretched state agencies, many of which will be forced to re-open regulations that have previously gone through multiple rounds of public review as required by law. To date, the Governor's Office has not provided any comprehensive analysis indicating that there is a need for the Executive Order, which identifies its first-round regulatory targets at the following state agencies: departments of Agriculture and Markets, Environmental Conservation, Health, Labor, State, and Taxation and Finance, and the State Liquor Authority.

"If you're creating a new public process you want the public to have confidence in, leaving consumer and environmental groups out at the outset is a very poor way to begin," said Chuck Bell, Programs Director for Consumers Union. "I'm sure banks, insurance and utility companies would love to have a fast-track process to knock out regulations they don't like-but the Governor's job is to guard the henhouse, not to let the foxes into the Capitol. Executive Order 25 could also have a very dangerous chilling effect on agency actions and regulations that inspire any level of pushback from business, in effect paralyzing the government, and preventing it from carrying out its core responsibilities to protect the public interest."

"While Executive Order 25 throws around a lot of imprecise and subjective terms such as unbalanced, unnecessary, unwise, when it gets down to the tangible actions that the seven designated state agencies are required to take, under the direction of the 5-member review panel, the Executive Order really creates an unbalanced and biased 'unpopularity contest,'" said Frank Mauro, Executive Director, Fiscal Policy Institute.

A draft version of the Executive Order was brought to light last year. At the time, business and industry groups cited state climate change programs as the top regulatory target for re-opening. A Freedom of Information Act (FOIL) request on the part of NYPIRG showed that the seven targeted agencies adopted nearly 300 rules and regulations between 2003 and 2008.

The groups called on Governor Paterson today to rescind the order. Organizations signed on to the letter to the Governor include: Adirondack Mountain Club, Albany Presbytery, American Lung Association of New York, Center for Independence of the Disabled, NY, Center for Medical Consumers, Center for Working Families, Clean New York, Coalition of Institutionalized Aged & Disabled, Common Cause New York, Consumers Union, Earthjustice, Empire Justice Center, Environmental Advocates of New York, Fiscal Policy Institute, Hopewell Junction Citizens for Clean Water, Hunger Action Network of New York State, League of Women Voters of New York State, Long Term Care Community Coalition, Long Term Care Ombudsman Program of Suffolk County, Metro New York Health Care for All Campaign, Natural Resources Defense Council, Neighborhood Economic Development Advocacy Project, Neighborhood Network, New York City Environmental Justice Alliance, New York Committee for Occupational Safety & Health, New York Public Interest Research Group, New Yorkers for Accessible Health Coverage, New Yorkers for Fiscal Fairness, Parents Against Lindane, Real Majority Project of Hudson Valley, Rochesterians Against the Misuse Pesticides, Sierra Club - Atlantic Chapter, Tenants Political Action Committee, Tri-State Transportation Campaign, UPROSE, Western New York Council for Occupational Safety & Health.

The Executive Order is duplicative of New York State's established regulatory review process. State agencies have long been required under the State Administrative Procedure Act (SAPA) and Executive Order 20 to consider business impacts in their reviews. For example, since 1995 the Governor's Office of Regulatory Reform (GORR) has overseen the state's regulatory process and conducted final regulatory reviews before draft regulations are published for public comment. In addition, SAPA requires all state regulations to be reviewed every five years.

The groups also released a five-page analysis of the Executive Order prepared by the Institute for Policy Integrity.

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