State Rep. Douglas Wozniak today introduced legislation as part of a broader plan to restore legislative authority over state agency rulemaking, overhauling the state’s out-of-control regulatory system.

The legislature’s current Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR) is responsible for overseeing rules proposed by state departments. However, while the committee can review and provide input on proposed rules and regulations, lawmakers are ultimately powerless to stop them from taking effect, leaving the committee with no real authority to intervene when the rules created by state departments negatively impact families and small businesses throughout Michigan.

“The issue is that the legislature has effectively been stripped of its lawmaking power when it comes to rulemaking within state departments,” said Wozniak (R-Shelby Township). “This has created an overregulated and burdensome system that is suffocating growth, driving up costs, delaying projects, and making it harder for Michigan to compete.”

The bill package creates the new Regulatory Oversight and Administrative Review committee (ROAR), replacing the legislature’s current Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), strengthening legislative oversight of proposed agency rules, and restoring independent judicial interpretation of state law.

Wozniak said the plan is designed to reform the state rulemaking process and reduce red tape by requiring affirmative approval from the new committee for major rule changes and allowing affirmative disapproval for minor rule changes.

Wozniak’s bill in the package prohibits courts from deferring to agencies’ interpretations of ambiguous statutes and instead requires independent judicial review when determining an agency’s authority under the law.

“For too long, state departments have been allowed to stretch the law beyond what the legislature intended, with courts often backing those interpretations,” Wozniak said. “That’s not how our system of government is supposed to work. Laws should be written by the people’s elected representatives and interpreted independently by the courts.”

Wozniak emphasized the plan restores the proper balance of power and puts decision-making back where it belongs: with the people and their elected representatives.