| Press Release |
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| December 5, 2003 |
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Survey sheds light on business attitude toward regulations
(Salem) A survey of Oregon businesses has found that there’s plenty of room for improvement in the state’s regulatory processes, but there are also strengths on which the state can build.
The survey was sent to a random sample of 939 Oregon businesses this fall, as the first phase of an effort to collect quantifiable feedback from businesses on the state’s business regulatory climate. The Department of Consumer & Business Services (DCBS) designed and conducted the survey for its Office of Regulatory Streamlining, as part of Governor Ted Kulongoski’s regulatory streamlining initiative.
The second phase of this effort is an online survey now open to all Oregon businesses, available on the Web at www.streamline.oregon.gov/survey. State officials hope that as many businesses as possible will participate, so that the regulatory streamlining initiative can be targeted with a solid understanding of business needs and priorities.
“Oregon’s competitiveness is key to our economic revival,” Governor Kulongoski said. “A critical element of that is our ability to nurture entrepreneurial vision and drive, while still protecting consumers, workers and the environment through sound regulation. The responses we get to these surveys can help us direct our efforts to achieve both of these goals.”
Participants in the phase one survey were asked to rate their level of satisfaction in eight general areas, and then to rate those eight areas in relative importance. They were also given an opportunity to comment on their specific experience with the regulatory agency or program that they interacted with most recently or frequently, as well as any general concerns.
Roughly 60 percent of the respondents said they were very satisfied or satisfied with government communications, clarity of requirements, and timeliness. Just over half said they were very satisfied or satisfied with the fairness and clarity of decision-making processes.
The survey also allowed respondents to give a neutral rating - neither satisfied nor unsatisfied - in each of the eight areas, and a combined total of 60 to 80 percent of participants described themselves as satisfied or neutral in every area discussed.
“Frankly, the general perception of government regulation is such that we didn’t expect to get much positive feedback in any of these areas,” DCBS Director Cory Streisinger said. “We aren’t about to mistake 50 or 60 percent satisfaction for ‘good enough’ by any means, but it is encouraging to find that there are many instances where regulatory processes really are working well for businesses. At the same time, it’s useful to get direction on areas where we can and must improve.”
On the other end of the scale, up to 40 percent of respondents said that they were unsatisfied or very unsatisfied with the direct costs, indirect costs, and flexibility of regulatory processes.
In the relative importance of the different areas evaluated, respondents registered a higher level of satisfaction in most of the areas they rated as “more important” and less satisfaction in areas they rated as “less important.” The exception to this was in direct costs, which was rated as more important but received a lesser satisfaction rating.
Participants in the survey were not required to limit their responses to their experience with state agencies, so the results reflect satisfaction levels with federal and local agencies as well. Sample sizes were not large, but in general state agencies fell in the middle, with greater satisfaction registered with federal agencies and less satisfaction with local agencies.
“Part of our effort clearly needs to focus on improving regulatory services across the different levels of government,” Streisinger said. “All of these agencies have an impact on our business regulatory climate in Oregon, so we want to share our findings with our federal and local counterparts and look for ways to address problems that businesses may encounter regardless of the jurisdiction involved.”
“Our regulatory streamlining initiative has already made significant progress in quite a few areas,” Governor Kulongoski said, “but to make sure we stay on track it’s critical that we have an on-going dialogue with the businesses we regulate. As we move forward, I’ll be paying close attention to the results of both the random survey just completed and the online survey now underway.”
Details and a more complete summary of the random-survey results are available on the regulatory streamlining initiative Web site, at www.streamline.oregon.gov.
Contact:
Mary-Ellen Glynn 503.378.6496
Marian Hammond 503.378.6169
Steve Corson (DCBS) 503.947.7868
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