2023 23LSO-0168
STATE OF WYOMING
HOUSE BILL NO. HB0214
General regulatory sandbox program.
Sponsored by: Representative(s) Andrew, Larson, JT, Olsen,
Sherwood, Singh and Western and Senator(s)
Boner and Rothfuss
A BILL
for
1 AN ACT relating to economic development; creating the
2 general regulatory sandbox program; authorizing limited
3 waivers of statutes and rules under specified conditions;
4 establishing standards and procedures for sandbox
5 applications, operations and supervision; specifying
6 standards for the suspension and revocation of sandbox
7 authorization; providing definitions; requiring rulemaking;
8 requiring reporting; and providing for effective dates.
9
10 Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Wyoming:
11
12 Section 1. W.S. 9-12-1601 through 9-12-1612 are
13 created to read:
14
15 ARTICLE 16
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1 GENERAL REGULATORY SANDBOX PROGRAM
2
3 9-12-1601. Title.
4
5 This article is known and may be cited as the "General
6 Regulatory Sandbox Program."
7
8 9-12-1602. Definitions.
9
10 (a) As used in this article:
11
12 (i) "Applicable agency" means a department or
13 agency of the state that by law regulates a business
14 activity and persons engaged in the business activity,
15 including issuing licenses or other types of authorization,
16 which the council determines has regulatory authority over
17 a sandbox participant;
18
19 (ii) "Applicant" means a person who applies to
20 participate in the general regulatory sandbox program;
21
22 (iii) "Consumer" means a person who purchases or
23 otherwise enters into a transaction or agreement to receive
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1 an offering pursuant to a demonstration by a regulatory
2 sandbox participant;
3
4 (iv) "Council" means as defined in W.S.
5 9-12-102(a)(ii);
6
7 (v) "Demonstration" or "demonstrate" means to
8 provide an offering in accordance with this article;
9
10 (vi) "Offering" means a product, production
11 method or service;
12
13 (vii) "Product" means a commercially distributed
14 good that is:
15
16 (A) Tangible personal property;
17
18 (B) The result of a production process; and
19
20 (C) Passed through the distribution channel
21 before consumption.
22
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1 (viii) "Production" means one (1) or more
2 methods of obtaining goods, including growing, raising,
3 mining, fabricating, harvesting, fishing, farming,
4 trapping, hunting, capturing, gathering, collecting,
5 breeding, extracting, manufacturing, processing or
6 assembling a good;
7
8 (ix) "Regulatory sandbox" means the general
9 regulatory sandbox program created by this article, which
10 allows a person to temporarily demonstrate an offering
11 without the enforcement of a law or regulation;
12
13 (x) "Sandbox participant" means a person whose
14 application to participate in the regulatory sandbox is
15 approved in accordance with this article;
16
17 (xi) "Service" means any commercial activity,
18 duty or labor performed for another person.
19
20 9-12-1603. Duties of the council.
21
22 (a) With respect to this article the council shall:
23
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1 (i) Coordinate council policy and management
2 with state and federal agencies and local government
3 entities;
4
5 (ii) Act as a liaison between private businesses
6 and their applicable state regulatory bodies to identify
7 for temporary suspension laws or regulations that may
8 impair the business' ability to adapt to changing market
9 circumstances or to innovate in ways not contemplated or
10 allowed by the law or regulation;
11
12 (iii) Create a framework to analyze the risk
13 level to consumers with respect to a demonstration and the
14 appropriate response of laws to protect the health, safety
15 and financial wellbeing of consumers;
16
17 (iv) Formulate a proposal for potential
18 reciprocity agreements between states that have or wish to
19 use similar regulatory sandbox programs as set forth in
20 this article; and
21
22 (v) Promulgate rules to administer this article.
23
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1 (b) In administering the regulatory sandbox, the
2 council:
3
4 (i) Shall establish a program to enable a person
5 to obtain legal protections and limited access to the
6 Wyoming market to demonstrate an offering without obtaining
7 a license or other authorization that would otherwise be
8 required;
9
10 (ii) To the extent not inconsistent with this
11 article, may enter into agreements with or adopt the best
12 practices of corresponding federal regulatory agencies or
13 other states that are administering programs that waive or
14 suspend statutory or regulatory requirements as a means of
15 promoting business development;
16
17 (iii) May consult with Wyoming businesses about
18 existing or potential proposals for the regulatory sandbox;
19
20 (iv) Shall consult with each applicable agency;
21
22 (v) Shall not approve any application that would
23 waive any law or regulation in violation of federal law, or
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1 that would jeopardize any national accreditation or other
2 national standard for any state agency or any business
3 practice.
4
5 9-12-1604. Program created; administration;
6 application requirements.
7
8 (a) There is created the general regulatory sandbox
9 program to be administered by the council.
10
11 (b) An applicant for the regulatory sandbox may
12 contact the council for a consultation regarding the
13 regulatory sandbox before submitting an application.
14
15 (c) An applicant for the regulatory sandbox shall
16 provide to the council an application in a form prescribed
17 by the council that:
18
19 (i) Confirms that the applicant is subject to
20 the jurisdiction of the state;
21
22 (ii) Confirms that the applicant has a physical
23 presence in the state, that the demonstration will be
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1 developed and performed in the state and that all required
2 records, documents and data will be maintained in the
3 state;
4
5 (iii) Contains relevant personal and contact
6 information for the applicant, including legal names,
7 addresses, telephone numbers, email addresses, website
8 addresses and other information required by the council;
9
10 (iv) Discloses criminal convictions of the
11 applicant or other participating persons, if any;
12
13 (v) Contains a description of the offering to be
14 demonstrated, including statements regarding:
15
16 (A) How the offering is subject to
17 licensing, legal prohibition, authorization requirements or
18 other requirements;
19
20 (B) Each law or regulation that the
21 applicant seeks to have waived or suspended while
22 participating in the regulatory sandbox;
23
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1 (C) How the offering would benefit
2 consumers;
3
4 (D) How the offering is different from
5 other offerings available in the state;
6
7 (E) What risks might exist for consumers
8 who use or purchase the offering as part of a demonstration
9 if the offering is not subject to regulatory and legal
10 requirements;
11
12 (F) How participating in the regulatory
13 sandbox would enable a successful demonstration of the
14 offering;
15
16 (G) A description of the proposed
17 demonstration plan, including estimated time periods for
18 beginning and ending the demonstration;
19
20 (H) Recognition that the applicant will be
21 subject to all laws and regulations pertaining to the
22 applicant's offering after conclusion of the demonstration;
23 and
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1
2 (J) How the applicant will end the
3 demonstration and protect consumers' interests or rights if
4 the demonstration fails.
5
6 (vi) Lists which government agency, if any,
7 regulates the applicant's business; and
8
9 (vii) Provides any other information as required
10 by the council.
11
12 (d) The council shall collect a reasonable
13 application fee from an applicant as set by rule of the
14 council.
15
16 (e) An applicant shall file a separate application
17 for each offering that the applicant wishes to demonstrate.
18
19 (f) After an application is filed, the council may
20 request additional information from the applicant that the
21 council determines is necessary to evaluate the application
22 and for the application to be considered complete.
23
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1 (g) No application shall be approved if any
2 applicant, within the past ten (10) years, has been
3 convicted of, entered a plea of nolo contendere for,
4 entered a plea of guilty for or had a nolo contendere held
5 in abeyance, for any crime involving significant theft,
6 fraud or dishonesty, or for a crime that bears a
7 significant relationship to the applicant or participant's
8 ability to safely and competently participate in the
9 regulatory sandbox.
10
11 9-12-1605. Application reviews and reports;
12 consultation.
13
14 (a) Not later than five (5) business days after the
15 day on which the council receives a complete application
16 pursuant to W.S. 9-12-1604, the council shall:
17
18 (i) Review the application and refer the
19 application to a relevant applicable agency; and
20
21 (ii) Provide to the applicant:
22
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1 (A) An acknowledgment of receipt of the
2 application; and
3
4 (B) The identity and contact information of
5 each applicable agency to which the application has been
6 referred for review.
7
8 (b) Not later than twenty-five (25) business days
9 after the day on which an applicable agency receives a
10 complete application for review, the applicable agency
11 shall deliver a written report to the council of its
12 findings. The report shall:
13
14 (i) Describe any identifiable and likely harm to
15 the health, safety or financial wellbeing of Wyoming
16 consumers that the law or regulation subject to waiver
17 protects against; and
18
19 (ii) Make a recommendation to the council that
20 the applicant either be admitted or denied entrance into
21 the regulatory sandbox.
22
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1 (c) The applicable agency may provide notice to the
2 council of an extension of five (5) business days to
3 deliver the report required by subsection (b) of this
4 section, which shall be automatically granted. Only one (1)
5 extension shall be permitted per application.
6
7 (d) If the applicable agency recommends an applicant
8 under this section be denied entrance into the regulatory
9 sandbox, the applicable agency shall provide to the council
10 a written description of the reasons for the denial
11 recommendation and why a temporary suspension of specified
12 laws or regulations would harm consumers. The description
13 shall include:
14
15 (i) The type of potential harm consumers could
16 face as a result of temporary suspension of laws and
17 regulations and its severity;
18
19 (ii) The probability of the potential harm
20 occurring; and
21
22 (iii) The permanence of the potential harm.
23
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1 (e) If the applicable agency believes that a
2 consumer's health, safety and financial wellbeing can be
3 protected through less restrictive means than a waiver of
4 the existing law or regulation, then the applicable agency
5 shall articulate how that can be achieved.
6
7 (f) The council shall consider an applicable agency's
8 failure to deliver the report required under subsection (b)
9 of this section within the required time as a lack of
10 objection to the temporary suspension of the applicable law
11 or regulation under this article.
12
13 (g) The council shall consult with each applicable
14 agency before recommending to the state loan and investment
15 board that an applicant be admitted into the regulatory
16 sandbox.
17
18 (h) The consultation with an applicable agency may
19 include seeking information about whether:
20
21 (i) The applicable agency has previously issued
22 a license or other authorization to the applicant;
23
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1 (ii) The applicable agency has previously
2 investigated, sanctioned or pursued legal action against
3 the applicant;
4
5 (iii) Whether certain laws or regulations should
6 not be suspended even if the applicant is accepted into the
7 regulatory sandbox.
8
9 (j) In reviewing an application, the council and
10 applicable agency shall consider whether a competitor to
11 the applicant is or has been a sandbox participant and, if
12 so, weigh that as a factor in favor of allowing the
13 applicant to also become a sandbox participant.
14
15 (k) In reviewing whether an application will be
16 approved, and in consultation with the applicant, the
17 council shall consider whether:
18
19 (i) An applicant's plan adequately protects
20 consumers from potential harm; and
21
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1 (ii) The benefits to consumers of not suspending
2 the law or regulation outweigh the offering's potential
3 benefits to consumers.
4
5 (m) The council may deny any application if the
6 council determines that the preponderance of the evidence
7 demonstrates that su