Opinion: Washington should try to get costly regulations right the first time

To the editor: The Times failed to examine the business community’s perspective after years of navigating an increasing number of costly, billion-dollar federal rules. (“What’s at stake as the GOP moves to slash regulations? For starters, clean air,” March 9)

The Regulatory Accountability Act would simply ensure that regulators get our rules right before they are finalized and get caught up in years of litigation and rewriting. The measure would require that the government’s most expensive regulations go through an open and transparent process, including public hearings and a requirement to use the best available evidence, to ensure that rules don’t impose an unnecessary burden on business owners or stifle economic growth and job creation.

The proposal is not about business skirting its responsibilities to our consumers; it’s about modernizing a regulatory process so the federal government gets it right the first time around.

William L. Kovacs, Washington

The writer is senior vice president of environment, technology and regulatory affairs at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Follow the Opinion section on Twitter @latimesopinion and Facebook