News Article

Bolling brings "red tape" roundtable to Lynchburg

Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Ray Reed
The News & Advance

Lt. Gov. Bill Bolling came to Lynchburg Monday seeking business people's ideas for legislation to "reduce red tape" and received a few suggestions, including one to revise the governor's role in writing regulations.

Bolling, the state's "chief jobs creation officer" and a candidate for the Republican nomination for governor in 2013, spoke to about 20 Lynchburg Regional Chamber of Commerce members during a roundtable discussion.

It was the ninth, and final, roundtable of his 2012 tour of Virginia localities.

The lieutenant governor said 960 economic-development deals have been achieved in Virginia in the past three years.

The next step is removing governmental red tape from business licensing and approvals, Bolling said.

"We want a real focus this year on regulatory reform," Bolling said, adding that he was in Lynchburg to "pick your brains."

Schaefer Oglesby, who owns a rental-property management group in Lynchburg, told Bolling that governors complicate business processes by adding their own regulations to legislation that state lawmakers approve.

In some cases it's faster to ask the General Assembly to approve a law amending a process than it is to get a regulation amended through the administrative process, Oglesby said.

A report by the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission backs up his premise, Oglesby said.

"I will look at that study," Bolling said, adding that regulatory processes shouldn't take more than 18 months, but Oglesby's examples indicated they were taking three years or longer.

Other chamber members' suggestions focused on Virginia's standards for promoting small businesses owned by women and minorities, and on the cybersecurity of state databases that hold personal information on Virginians.

Chamber members said Virginia doesn't look closely enough at whether a business actually is owned by a woman or a minority person before it approves them for special consideration when state contracts are awarded.

As a result, some businesses are winning contracts even though they aren't actually owned by a woman or minority person.

Another chamber member noted that South Carolina's taxpayer database was hacked recently, compromising 3.6 million Social Security numbers and some credit-card information. South Carolina police investigated the breach for two weeks before notifying the public that information may have been compromised.

Bolling said he'd find out what provisions Virginia has made for responding to a cyber attack.

Del. Kathy Byron, R-Campbell County, said legislation she sponsored sets standards for private companies to notify customers if business databases are breached.

For additional information contact Ibbie Hedrick at 804-225-2487 or ibbie.hedrick@ltgov.virginia.gov.