Hall Proposing New Regulatory Committee To Replace JCAR

(Source: MIRS.news, Published 05/30/2025) House Speaker Matt Hall (R-Richland Township) said at a press conference Wednesday that a new, stronger regulatory committee is coming.

Hall said he tasked House Rules Committee Chair Bill G. Schuette (R-Midland) with creating a regulatory reform report following Gov. Gretchen Whitmer’s mention of reducing regulatory burdens during her 2025 State of the State address.

“Do you remember when Gretchen Whitmer got up at the State of the State and said we need regulatory reform? I couldn’t stand up out of my chair faster,” Hall said. “I said, ‘Bill G. Schuette, you better run through that window before it closes.’”

Hall said he’s “unleashing” a bit of what the House will be doing over the next 30 days, which includes the regulatory reform report from Schuette.

Hall said the regulatory situation is out of control and the House is creating a new committee that will “start blocking and changing a lot of these new regulations that the Whitmer administration is proposing,” and it will have more teeth than any existing committees.

Hall said the committee will reassert the power of the Legislature on regulations, and he hopes the Senate will embrace it. He said there is a need for a stronger regulatory committee that can engage earlier in the process and block rules from taking effect, or change them.

Schuette said the findings of the report show that Michigan is getting its lunch eaten by other states on how permitting and regulating is done. He said it can take up to three times as long to get a permit in Michigan as in Ohio or Indiana, which acts as a siren song to businesses.

Schuette said a childcare provider has to report to six different state agencies, which don’t include county or federal government compliance, which has contributed to high demand of childcare providers, and he also said the regulatory cost of building a new single-family home is driving the cost up for consumers.

Schuette said the state still requires a license (with no test or training requirements) for butter graders.

“In the state of Michigan we have so many arbitrary licenses. Is anybody here a licensed butter grader?” Schuette said. “There’s just a fee you have to go through. That’s not common sense licensure and regulation. That’s government red tape.”

On the Joint Committee on Administrative Rules (JCAR), there are five Democrats and five Republicans, meaning a party line vote is not sufficient for blocking or changing rules. Hall said his committee will functionally replace JCAR.