Byzantine. Labyrinth. Laborious. Outdated. These are all words that could — and have — been used to describe New York’s thicket of over 300,000 regulations that businesses and residents alike have to wade through just to keep the lights on.

The Empire State is a global hub for industry and entrepreneurship, and our lawmakers have taken pains to keep it this way. But recently, business owners have been sounding the alarm about what a growing regulatory web of well-intentioned guidelines is actually costing them in time, money and momentum.

With affordability dominating headlines recently, it surprises me that these complaints haven’t become more of a political flashpoint. After all, it is this bureaucratic morass that forces businesses to close their doors, drives building projects to fold or balloon in cost and pushes would-be entrepreneurs to scrap their ideas before they get off the........

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