The Georgia Senate adopted legislation Monday that would enhance lawmakers’ authority to overrule the results of the process that agencies use to enact laws.

Senate Bill 28 would require the state to produce an analysis of an agency’s rule that could cost the public or local governments at least $1 million to comply with during the first five years.

It would also empower lawmakers to call for a review of the impact of any proposed legislation on businesses with 300 or fewer employees. And the bill calls for periodic reviews of existing rules.

Rules that lawmakers disagree with could be dismissed.

The “Red Tape Rollback Act” triggered a lengthy debate that was less about the bill than about federal cutbacks led by President Donald Trump’s billionaire appointee Elon Musk.

Republicans opened the door to this critique at a hearing earlier this month, when the chairman of the reviewing committee for SB 28, Sen. Brandon Beach, R-Alpharetta, likened the measure to Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency, which has been slashing federal jobs.

“It’s kind of our DOGE if you will,” Beach said. “We’re going to cut back on regulations and cut back on government.”

Sen. Greg Dolezal, R-Cumming, the chief sponsor of SB 28, told his colleagues on the Senate floor Monday that his bill merely intends to reduce the number of burdensome rules that result from the hundreds of laws passed each year.

Rulemaking is currently the purview of agency experts trained in the subject matter addressed by the laws they are implementing, but Dolezal said lawmakers bring their own expertise: they regularly bump into constituents — on their kids’ soccer fields, in grocery stores — who are affected by rules.

“We have connectivity with the people that have to live under these rules,” Dolezal said. The legislation “gives them a touch point to reach out to us and raise a flag if there is something coming from an agency that they may have an objection to.”

Democrats said this would open the door to further influence by lobbyists. They also tied the measure to what’s happening under the new Trump administration.

Sen. Sheikh Rahman, D-Lawrenceville, called Musk’s actions a “mean spirit … a bad spirit,” adding that his constituents are afraid of what’s happening. He reasoned that the intent of SB 28 is either to cut jobs in Georgia government or reverse state rules created under the leadership of Republican governors and their appointees for two decades.

Sen. Freddie Powell Sims, D-Dawson, lamented that the senators had occupied an hour and a half debating the bill, which she deemed to be trivial. But Sen. Colton Moore, R-Trenton, said agency rules were important to his constituents, who have complained that copious state park regulations were affecting them.

SB 28 passed along party lines, with Moore, who often opposes legislation – even from his fellow Republicans – voting for passage. The bill now goes to the House of Representatives, which did not pass a similar measure last year.

Capitol Beat is a nonprofit news service operated by the Georgia Press Educational Foundation that provides coverage of state government to newspapers throughout Georgia. For more information visit capitol-beat.org.