Overview
I'm working on a political science question and need a sample draft to help me learn.
Discussion post:
Governor DeWine of the state of Ohio presented his proposals for reforming the regulations of the state's administrative code early in 2023. Governor DeWine expected to be able to a third of the provisions of the state's administrative code through his suggested alterations, as Governor DeWine wanted to remove unnecessary regulations and requirements, outdated sections, and duplicative sections, for Governor DeWine intended to streamline and simply the state's complex administrative code. Specific sections of the administrative code that Governor DeWine argued to be removed included segments related to national building and fire codes, 2.3 million words of state university policies that were already posted online, and rules for the since discontinued Ohio lottery games. Governor DeWine described the purpose of the state's administrative code to be the rules that determined the manner that state laws were executed by officials of government agencies, and any of Governor DeWine's proposed reforms needed to be approved by the state legislature, before Governor DeWine's changes could be enacted. These proposed alterations to the state's administrative code were designed to encourage businesses to either continue operating in Ohio or expand operations into the state, as many complicated and confusing regulations related to businesses would have been eliminated by the reforms. Governor DeWine had to balance the state's interest in expanding economic opportunities in the state with the state's interest in crafting and enforcing regulations on businesses that protected the health and safety of consumers, when Governor DeWine was considering these reforms. (Harrel). A state's administrative code and regulations outline the standards of how government officials from executive branch agencies function and carry out their legally assigned responsibilities and the laws passed by a state's legislature. Reforms to a state's administrative code would alter the standard practices and procedures that officials in government agencies rely on to fulfill their agencies goals and interact with other government agencies, nonprofit and private organizations, and their respective clienteles. Kettl discussed how difficult it was for reforms to be enacted or to produce their desired results, for special interest groups and politicians can disagree about which reforms to enact or what issues about the administrative structure of government required reforming. Public administrators can also resist attempts to reform their agencies or procedures, since administrators often become comfortable in the status quo of their agencies' existing practices and structure. Lieutenant Governor Husted acknowledged some of these challenges to enacting administrative reforms, as he noted that the state legislature needed to approve of Governor DeWine's reforms, so there needed to be enough political support for Governor DeWine's specific proposals among a sufficient number of legislators, if these reforms would be enacted. Governor DeWine's reforms were primarily focused on crossing out existing regulations in the state's administrative code, thus Governor DeWine's proposals followed a recommendation from the National Performance Review, for the National Performance Review supported the removal of unnecessary regulations and levels of bureaucratic management. The National Performance Review argued that the elimination of these needless regulations of public administrators would have discouraged officials from utilizing their creativity to make programs and projects more effective and efficient, since administrators would be afraid to ever stray from existing procedures and risk being punished for doing so. While the National Performance Review's report focused on administrative reforms in the federal government, Governor DeWine has adopted many of the principles of the National Performance Review's report to his proposals and motivations for his suggested changes to Ohio's administrative code. (National Performance Review). Governor DeWine's priority to remove redundancy from the state's administrative code was a principle that Landau would have disagreed with, for Landau believed that redundancy within the administrative structure and procedures of government agencies could improve the reliability of government agencies and the services that they provide. One of the redundancies that Governor DeWine wanted to eliminate from Ohio's administrative code was the section that restated the national building and fire codes, but Landau probably would have argued that the inclusion of the federal standards in the state's administrative code would have helped state agencies enforce and be aware of parts of the federal standards that federal regulatory agencies might have overlooked during specific inspections. Do strict regulations on the actions of government officials do more good by preventing abuses of power and holding incompetent officials accountable, or do excessive regulations do more harm by undermining the ability of public administrators to pursue creative solutions to specific logistical problems that they encounter? Should redundancies in administrative odes and regulations be maintained to promote reliability, or should such redundancies be eliminated, so that an administrative code is simpler to comprehend and enforce?
resources
Harrel, D. January 26th, 2023). Gov. DeWine, Huston Announce Ohio Administrative Code Regulatory Reform. WSYX. Accessed on February 6th, 2023.
Kettl, D.F. (2017). The Politics of the Administrative Process, Washington D.C.: CQ Press. 7th Edition ISBN 9781506357096.
Landau, M. (1969). Redundancy, Rationality, and the Problem of Duplication and Overlap. Blackwell Publishing. Accessed on February 7th, 2023 from afc2b96ebc1329aca5482f8cfa10c7de9a68308f(amazon.com).
The National Performance Review. (1993). From Red Tape to Results: Creating a Government that Works Better and Costs Less. Washington D.C. U.S. Government Printing Office. Accessed on February 7th, 2023 from TheNationalPerformanceReview(Amazon.com).