National and international nongovernmental organizations, also called NGOs, often support policymakers and lawmakers through subject matter expertise, model legislation, or pre-packaged uniform rules they can quickly adopt.
However, a Columbus, Ohio-based think tank urges policymakers to remember “the ancient lesson of Troy” and urges state lawmakers to increase transparency around NGOs and the rules they promulgate. The Buckeye Institute issued a new policy report, “Beware the Trojan Horse of Rulemaking Nongovernment Organizations.”
“NGOs offer standardized rules and market knowledge that make their counsel tempting to accept,” it said in the report. “But NGOs also operate opaquely, often with little public scrutiny, and their seemingly benign proposals can plant seeds of bureaucratic overreach and undermine state sovereignty with backdoor plans for default national agendas that bypass state protocols.
“...Given Ohio’s successful regulatory reforms reducing unnecessary burdens over the last decade, state leaders should defend those successes and use the benefits offered by NGOs for public—not special interest—purposes,” the group said in its conclusion. “State policymakers would do well to remember the fateful lesson of Troy and beware of NGOs offering oversized policy advice.”
The think tank outlines the history of NGOs, which have been around in some capacity for more than a century. It acknowledges that NGOs may propose rules beneficial to Ohioans, but elected officials should remember they serve voters, not special interest groups, and shouldn’t yield their authority.
“Well-meaning nongovernmental organizations often provide advice and pre-packaged uniform rules ready for policymakers to adopt,” Greg R. Lawson, a research fellow at The Buckeye Institute, said in a release. “But NGOs operate opaquely, with little public scrutiny, and their seemingly benign proposals can be a Trojan Horse leading to needless government regulations. Regulators and elected representatives should be wary of NGOs bearing gifts.”
The Buckeye Institute pointed to a pair of NGO-drafted regulations used in the state.
The Ohio Board of Building Standards adopted the National Electrical Code, developed by the National Fire Protection Association, as the basis for its electrical regulations. The board also adopted the International Plumbing Code, developed by the International Code Council (ICC), as the basis for its plumbing regulations.
The Buckeye Institute offered several “commonsense reforms” that lawmakers should adopt to safeguard Ohioans from regulations intended to benefit special interests, including state government regulator transparency.
The state should mandate that state agency regulators submit annual reports to the relevant legislative committee and furnish a detailed list and description of all NGO model proposals they lobbied for. The reports should include the NGO funding they received, information about expenses for NGO-related events and details about “votes taken by regulators on any model regulatory proposals before a relevant NGO committee on which they serve.”
The state should also ensure Ohio’s sunshine laws cover all communications between state regulators and NGO staff and ensure NGOs maintain transparency, including issuing public annual reports. State regulators should also be banned from joining an NGO that does not meet this transparency requirement.
Elected officials should oversee the rulemaking process and never allow the “automatic adoption” of NGO-drafted rules. State policymakers must be able to amend any broad-based and nationally focused NGO-sponsored proposals.
“Some states like Ohio already do relatively well ensuring that rules are tailored to specific state needs, state policymakers must retain this ability to modify any broad-based and nationally focused NGO-sponsored proposals,” the group said.
Additionally, Ohio leaders should expand public input.
“To balance national industry perspectives, state policymakers should use advisory committees to solicit more comprehensive input from additional stakeholders, including consumer advocacy groups, academic experts, and small businesses when agencies or legislatures consider any rule with a tie to an NGO,” the group said in its report.
