Red tape

On the "eliminating useless and counterproductive regulations" front, there's good news and there's bad news.

Minutes after Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval was sworn into office on Jan. 3, 2011, he signed an executive order imposing a one-year freeze on all new regulations while his Cabinet reviewed the state's regulatory mandates.

Thursday, the governor recommended the Legislature repeal 654 Nevada regulations that he said are either unneeded or a drag on economic growth -- and said more than 1,000 others should be condensed or updated.

Among the state rules recommended for the shredder: one requiring labels on toilets in manufactured buildings advising of maximum water use per flush. The state Manufactured Housing Division concluded that the regulation is duplicative and unnecessary, the governor says.

Of the hundreds of rules targeted for repeal, 137 involve the Department of Business and Industry, 120 fall under the Department of Motor Vehicles and 95 are under the Department of Taxation.

The bad news?

First, the regulation freeze is no longer in place. Yes, the governor has ordered all regulatory bodies to notify his office of any future rule proposals and explain how they relate to his economic development goals. We'll see.

But even more disturbing, administration officials told The Associated Press the process of cleaning up the regulation manual will require public hearings and could thus take about six months to complete.

To "complete"? They think they're done?

Repealing 654 worthless or counterproductive rules and regulations is a fine start. Gov. Sandoval is to be congratulated. Next year, let's aim for 1,308, or 1,962. When the bureaucrats start shrieking, we'll know we've cut through the bark and have started hitting wood.