Gov. Jared Polis cuts through executive orders — wielding a circular saw on his desk

Gov. Jared Polis took a buzzsaw to a whole bunch of outdated and out of date government orders on Thursday — actually.

Polis sawed by means of greater than 200 government orders, which stretched again many years and thru a number of administrations, earlier than issuing a brand new formal government order to rescind them. He joked that it was the primary time in state historical past {that a} energy noticed sat on the governor’s desk.

“We’re eliminating 435 pages (which might be) redundant, unneeded, add paperwork — outdated for a lot of totally different causes,” Polis instructed reporters gathered in his workplace.

Some examples: A 1957 order referring to tax collections for the Colorado State Hospital; a 1978 order that every one state contracts must be signed by then-Gov. Richard D. Lamm; and a 2010 order establishing a Sustainable Colorado Essential Streets initiative.

The oldest rescinded order got here from 1920, when then-Gov. Oliver H. Shoup issued an government order “Directing Adjutant Basic to keep up peace and good order.”

Polis stated he directed his workforce to start reviewing government orders six months in the past to search out pointless ones. Whereas Thursday’s motion didn’t correlate to value financial savings — the legislature directs state spending — the hassle aimed to take away outdated orders that nonetheless carried the pressure of regulation.