Scott Fitzgerald: “Once again, I remind everyone that SOPRA is not deregulatory. That has not been the goal at all. The goal is to forward…”

“Once again, I remind everyone that SOPRA is not deregulatory. That has not been the goal at all. The goal is to forward this discussion between what should be legislative powers and the administration so that, in the future, it also sets a ground floor for many of the statutes. Congress remains free to regulate in a very detailed way and so do the administrative agencies. I have heard this before. We heard it in committee, that somehow we were setting up or juxtaposing these two different goals, and it just isn't true. I think that the other thing we would see is that you would find that legislators would do a much better job of drafting bills in the first place. I mean, shame on us if we leave a piece of legislation so vague that it opens the door for an administrative agency to somehow go in and interpret. There are many times when the scope of the legislation is the first thing that should be determined before you even sit down and actually write the bill. So, I know it is a criticism that has existed, but I don't think it is valid. Madam Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.”