When the Family Business Association of California (FBAC) surveys our members about their biggest problems, overregulation comes out on top. Now, a recent report from the nonpartisan Public Policy Institute of California confirms how bad the situation is. On paper, California’s regulatory burden looks comparable to many other states. But when you dig into the details, it’s anything but.
The report found that California is by far the most regulated state in the nation in terms of occurrences of “shall,” “must,” “may not,” “required” and “prohibited” within the regulations. In total, California businesses must comply with 420,434 of these regulatory constraints – nearly three times the national median and far more than any state.
California doesn’t just have more constraints than any other state, we have an order of magnitude more. Even the states with the second- and third-highest number of constraints – New York and New Jersey, hardly models of business friendliness – impose “only” roughly 300,000 regulations each. California exceeds that level by about 40%.
The least-onerous state, by the way, is Idaho, which only has 31,000 regulations on the books, which really seems like it’s more than enough. We know of many businesses that have moved there, and it’s not surprising.
FBAC has proven that something can be done about excessive regulations, but it is costly and takes a lot of work. AMAROK, an FBAC sponsor, provides electrified security fences for industrial, manufacturing, and commercial companies along with public agencies that have open yards for equipment, supplies, vehicles and inventory.
These fences are safe, effective and commonly used, yet in California, getting a permit to install them took an average of over 370 days. In one city, it took five years!
Many of our members need security fences, so we sponsored legislation that basically said that if certain criteria were met, you could quickly obtain a permit and install your fence.
During the legislative committee hearings, a Salinas truck dealer testified that while in the fifth month of waiting for his permit, a criminal trespasser broke in and burned down the entire facility, putting 24 people out of work overnight.
After a great effort, the bill unanimously passed and was signed into law. And it worked. Since the law was changed a year ago, more than 800 electrified security fences have been installed statewide, in an average of just 19 days. Standardizing and streamlining these permit requirements have saved a lot of money that would have been lost to theft or vandalism.
If lawmakers and local governments relaxed more of their excessive regulatory demands, many more businesses could enjoy similar benefits. One legislator tried, introducing a bill each year requiring the state to review all regulations and eliminate those that are onerous, too costly, overlapping or out of date. The bill never got out of the first committee.
What is sorely needed is a commitment to eliminate overreaching regulations and be more cautious about adding new ones. The PPIC suggests that the state might examine old regulations or those that are contradictory or complex in order to begin streamlining.
This state needs to become more business-friendly or we will continue to lose more businesses. With more than 420,000 regulatory constraints, the state is not protecting Californians and supporting our family businesses but rather driving them away. If lawmakers are serious about preserving jobs and local economies, reducing overregulation must become their goal.
Robert Rivinius is president of the Family Business Association of California, which has members throughout the state. He lives in Sacramento. This op-ed originally appeared online in the Orange County Register and other papers in the Southern California News Group on March 12, 2026 and in print the following day.