The Washington State Department of Commerce’s Regulatory Roadmap program was announced as a Top 25 program in this year’s Innovations in American Government Awards competition by the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University. As a Top 25 program, Regulatory Roadmap is representing the top two percent of all initial applications for the Innovations Award.
Regulatory Roadmaps are online navigational guides to opening a restaurant, finding a manufacturing site and – coming soon – successfully operating as a registered building contractor. They provide all state and local regulatory requirements in a single place, and they increase predictability for businesses while reducing time and mistakes along the way.
Stephen Goldsmith, director of the Innovations in Government program at the Ash Center, called these programs “the vanguard of creative, solution-oriented governing, demonstrating that the drive to make government work better and do more comes from all levels and jurisdictions of every size. These programs are focused on an impressive range of areas and some of the country’s most pressing social concerns, including the opioid epidemic, government efficiency and efficacy, environmental conservation, homelessness and the school and workforce readiness of our citizens.”
“Congratulations to the Department of Commerce for our Regulatory Roadmap being named one of the Top 25 Innovation in American Government Programs. It is rewarding to watch this growing effort reduce time and improve predictability for small businesses in communities throughout our state. The roadmap tools for navigating local and state regulatory processes help keep Washington one of the best places in America to start and grow a business,” said Washington Governor Jay Inslee.
The Innovations in American Government Awards was created by the Ford Foundation in 1985 in response to widespread pessimism and distrust in government’s effectiveness. Since its inception, over 500 government innovations across all jurisdiction levels have been recognized and have collectively received more than $22 million in grants to support dissemination efforts. Such models of good governance also inform research and academic study around key policy areas both at Harvard Kennedy School and academic institutions worldwide. Past winners have served as the basis of case studies taught in more than 450 Harvard courses and over 2,250 courses worldwide.