Sunset in Colorado

In Colorado, almost everything from banks and insurance companies to barbers and dance schools is licensed by state agencies. The Board of Cosmetology, for one, is so stringent about problems like split ends and sensitive scalps that it requires a hairdresser trainee to undergo 1,650 hours of instruction, including a full 100 hours of supervised shampooing.

That sort of thing not only costs tax dollars to administer but also winds up stifling competition, since plumbers scrutinize plumbers, nursing-home administrators oversee nursing homes, etc. To curtail such cozy practices, the Colorado House of Representatives has recently passed a "sunset" law that would require each of the state's 41 regulatory agencies to justify its existence every six years--or quietly expire. The state senate is expected to approve the bill in the next few weeks. Legislators know that most agencies will fight hard to stay in business, but many will be forced to streamline themselves or--bureaucrat's nightmare--to consolidate with others.

It would be a fine example for the U.S.: after all, other states have set up special boards to regulate goats-milk dealers, tree experts, wholesale minnow operators, dealers in scrap tobacco. High time for many of them to fade into the sunset.

And as for those federal agencies . . .

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