Sunset laws were first implemented right here in Colorado. Basically these laws call for the automatic dissolution of government agencies after a set period of time unless there is a good reason for it's continued existence.

These laws have been largely accepted by both conservatives and liberals as a necessary reform. Sunset law holds agencies accountable for their own performance. They also give the public some clout in determining whether or not specific agencies deserve continued support by requiring legislative hearings for agency continuation.

The overall intent (at least initially) was to reduce the amount of bureaucratic bloat while leaving legislators free from the burden of investigating agencies that are potentially outdated. Whether or not this makes agencies more prone to standardizing their functions to meet congressional approval instead of working on the problems they were established to address is debatable.

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