Excess red tape hurts business. Where superfluous laws and regulations prevail, businesses and individuals lose out. Kansas knows this, and has developed a plan to jump-start business activity in the Sunflower State: the Office of the Repealer.

Last month Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback made good on a campaign promise by establishing the office (Appendix I, available in the full report), which will be tasked with identifying and eliminating laws and regulations that stifle economic growth. The Office’s sole responsibility is to highlight and dispel outdated and overly burdensome laws and regulations.

The primary duties of the Office of the Repealer include:

• Identifying state laws and regulations that are unreasonable, unduly burdensome, duplicative, onerous or in conflict with one another
• Creating an online portal for public comment on laws and regulations deemed unreasonable and overly burdensome
• Sending recommendations to the legislature or regulatory agencies for outright repeal or modification of targeted laws and regulations
• Tracking the action taken by the legislature or regulatory agencies and reporting progress back to the Governor

The concept of cleaning up superfluous and unnecessary laws is being used throughout the heartland to attract businesses. During spring 2010, Missouri legislators ridded the Show-Me-State of nearly 200 aged statues, and lawmakers in Michigan pushed through legislation eliminating outdated statutes later that summer.

Laws often remain on the books for years after their purpose has long expired. Instead of cleaning up aged-policies or particularly onerous laws and regulations, many endure and often stymie business activity. The Office of the Repealer puts Kansas one step closer to eliminating unnecessary or arduous laws that restrain economic activity.

Illinois Gov. Pat Quinn should take a page out of Gov. Brownback’s playbook. Illinois ranks 47th in economic outlook, stares down a 9.3 percent unemployment rate and recently raised taxes on businesses. While Kansas is taking steps to eliminate laws that stifle business activity, Illinois is placing additional burdens on the businesses and individuals that fuel the state’s economy.

Kansas’s Office of the Repealer is an idea Illinois should take up as its own. As revenue growth ultimately depends on how well the underlying economy performs, lawmakers must ask the following question: Do established laws and regulations ultimately benefit businesses and residents, or do they thwart economic growth?