WHEREAS, The Governor's Executive Order on Regulatory Standards and
Accountability (Executive Order No. 01.01.1996.03, February 1, 1996), requires that
any unit of State government proposing to adopt a regulation which is more
restrictive or stringent than an applicable federal standard must perform for that
regulation a cost/benefit and small business impact assessment, and justify the need
for the more restrictive or stringent State standard; and

WHEREAS, The Governor's Executive Order on Regulatory Standards and
Accountability applies only to regulations proposed for adoption after February 1,
1996, and does not apply to a substantial body of regulations which have not been
amended after that date; and

WHEREAS, The Code of Maryland Regulations (COMAR) is approaching 24,000
pages in length and reflects upwards of 6,000 pages of revisions annually; and

WHEREAS, Under the leadership of Vice President Al Gore's Reinventing
Government campaign, the federal government successfully eliminated 15,000 pages
of redundant, outdated, or poorly-worded language from the Code of Federal
Regulations; now, therefore, be it

RESOLVED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF MARYLAND, That there is a
Task Force on Regulatory Reform; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall:

(1) examine the existing process for the review of regulations under the
Regulatory Review and Evaluation Act;

(2) identify portions of at least two titles of the Code of Maryland
Regulations (COMAR) for a pilot examination for the purpose of:

(i) clarifying language;

(ii) eliminating obsolete language;

(iii) applying a cost/benefit analysis;

(iv) assessing the impact on small business; and

(v) identifying a standard that is more restrictive or stringent than
an applicable federal standard; and

(3) as it considers to be necessary and appropriate, make any
recommendations for legislation for introduction in the legislative session for the year
2001; and be it further

RESOLVED, That the Task Force shall be composed of 15 members as follows:

(1) two members of the Senate of Maryland, appointed by the President
of the Senate;

(2) two members of the House of Delegates, appointed by the Speaker of

the House;