Federal laws accumulate forever—never reviewed, never updated, never removed:
Current system:
- Laws passed and stay on books indefinitely
- No systematic review or renewal requirement
- Outdated laws remain in effect (even if harmful)
- Legal code grows constantly (never shrinks)
- Complexity makes compliance impossible
By the numbers:
- US Code: 60+ million words (and growing)
- Federal Register (annual regulations): 90,000+ pages
- Estimated federal crimes: 4,500+ (no one knows exact number)
- Regulations: 300,000+ (no comprehensive count)
- Average American commits 3 felonies per day unknowingly (book by Harvey Silverglate)
Problems with permanent laws:
- Technology changes → laws obsolete
- Society evolves → laws outdated
- Unintended consequences → never fixed
- Special interest capture → provisions never expire
- Complexity → impossible to understand or follow
Real examples:
- Laws regulating telegraph and horse-drawn carriages still on books
- Prohibition-era laws technically still in effect
- Cold War security laws obsolete but never removed
- Corporate subsidies from 1950s renewed automatically
- No one can read entire US Code in lifetime
The result:
- Legal system incomprehensible
- Enforcement arbitrary (too many laws to enforce all)
- Innovation stifled (compliance impossible)
- Special interests protected by outdated laws
- Democracy buried under legal sediment
All Federal Laws (New and Existing) Expire After 20 Years:
How It Works:
- Every law has explicit expiration date (20 years from passage)
- To continue, Congress must affirmatively renew
- Renewal requires new vote (simple majority, like original passage)
- Can renew as-is, amend, or let expire
- If expires: Law removed from US Code (no longer in effect)
Timeline:
- New laws (after 2026): 20-year expiration automatic
- Existing laws: Phased review over 20 years (1/20th per year)
Exceptions (Permanent Laws):
- Constitutional provisions (can't sunset the Constitution)
- Core government functions (Congress, courts, basic agencies)
- Civil rights protections (voting rights, equal protection)
- Treaties and international obligations
- Social Security, Medicare (can be reformed, but not sunsetted without replacement)
Why 20 Years?
- Long enough for laws to be implemented and show effects
- Short enough to prevent permanent accumulation
- Generational: Each generation reviews previous generation's laws
- Balanced: Stability + adaptability
Congressional Review Cycle:
Years 1-19: Ongoing Evaluation
- GAO conducts impact studies of expiring laws
- OMB assesses costs and benefits
- Public comment periods (open hearings)
- Stakeholder input (affected parties, experts)
- Congressional committees hold hearings
Year 20: Renewal Decision
- Committee votes on renewal (with or without amendments)
- Floor vote in both chambers (majority required)
- President signs (or veto → override or let expire)
Review Criteria:
- Effectiveness: Is law achieving stated goals?
- Necessity: Is law still needed? (Has problem changed or been solved?)
- Unintended Consequences: Is law causing harms not anticipated?
- Cost-Benefit: Do benefits outweigh costs?
- Alternatives: Are there better approaches now?
- Constitutionality: Does law still pass constitutional review?
Outcomes:
- Renew as-is: Law continues unchanged
- Renew with amendments: Law updated for modern context
- Replace: New law addressing same issue differently
- Let expire: Problem solved, law no longer needed, or law harmful
Cannot Review All Existing Laws at Once:
20-Year Phase-In:
- Divide existing US Code into 20 tranches (alphabetically or by date of original passage)
- Year 1: Review 1/20th of existing laws
- Year 2: Review next 1/20th
- ...
- Year 20: Review final 1/20th
By 2046:
- All existing federal laws reviewed once
- Outdated laws removed
- Important laws renewed
- Harmful laws reformed or eliminated
- Legal code dramatically simplified
Prioritization:
- Oldest laws reviewed first (most likely outdated)
- High-impact laws reviewed early (major economic or social effect)
- Controversial laws reviewed carefully (thorough debate)
Continuous Legal Code Simplification:
As Laws Reviewed:
- Redundant laws consolidated
- Contradictory laws reconciled
- Obsolete provisions removed
- Plain language rewrites (where appropriate)
- Comprehensive index maintained
Goal:
- US Code reduced 50% in size over 20 years
- Clear, understandable legal framework
- Compliance feasible for citizens and businesses
- Rule of law restored (can't follow laws you don't know exist)
Annual "Legal Code Report":
- Published by GAO and OMB
- Shows: Laws reviewed, renewed, expired, amended
- Tracks code simplification progress
- Public transparency
Review Infrastructure: $500 million/year
- GAO impact studies (100 studies/year)
- OMB cost-benefit analyses
- Congressional staff support (committees)
- Public comment infrastructure
- Hearings and deliberations
Legal Code Maintenance: $100 million/year
- Codification experts
- Plain language specialists
- Database and index maintenance
- Technology infrastructure
Public Engagement: $100 million/year
- Citizen input mechanisms
- Transparency and accessibility
- Multilingual materials
- Education on review process
Total Cost: $700 million/year
Revenue: None needed (tiny fraction of $6 trillion budget)
Return on Investment:
- Regulatory compliance costs reduced: Estimated $100-500 billion/year (as outdated laws removed)
- Innovation unleashed: Incalculable
- Rule of law restored: Priceless
- Democracy renewed: Citizens can understand laws again
Year 1 (2026): Pass Federal Law Sunset and Review Act
- 20-year sunsets for new laws (automatic)
- Existing law review process begins
- Review 1/20th of existing US Code
Years 2-20: Phased Review
- Each year: Review 1/20th of existing code
- Some laws renewed, some amended, some expired
- Legal code gradually simplified
Year 21 (2046): Full Cycle Complete
- All existing laws reviewed once
- Estimated 30-50% of laws renewed as-is
- Estimated 20-30% renewed with amendments
- Estimated 20-50% allowed to expire (outdated, harmful, or unnecessary)
Years 21+: Ongoing Cycle
- Laws expiring every year (those passed 20 years prior)
- Continuous review and renewal
- Legal code stays current and comprehensible
- Every generation owns its laws
Legal Code Simplification:
- US Code size: 60M words → 30M words (50% reduction over 20 years)
- Federal regulations: 300k → 150k (50% reduction)
- Estimated obsolete laws removed: 40%
- Contradictions and redundancies: resolved
Compliance:
- Business regulatory compliance costs: -$100-500B/year (as code simplifies)
- Time spent on legal compliance: -40%
- Small business burden reduced dramatically (can actually understand laws)
- Innovation: Increases as compliance becomes feasible
Democratic Accountability:
- Every law must be affirmatively renewed (not default permanent)
- Congress forced to review and justify laws
- Special interest capture reduced (provisions must be re-defended)
- Transparency: Public sees what laws do and whether they work
Flexibility:
- Laws adapt to technological and social change
- Unintended consequences corrected every 20 years
- Failed experiments ended (not permanent)
- Government stays modern and responsive
Public Confidence:
- Citizens can understand legal system again (simplified, transparent)
- "Three felonies a day" problem solved (fewer, clearer laws)
- Rule of law restored (can't have rule of law if laws incomprehensible)
- Democracy: Re-legitimized
- Contact representatives - demand sunset provisions
- Vote for candidates supporting sunset review
- Participate in reviews (public comment when laws reviewed)
- Educate others on legal code complexity
- Track reviews (hold Congress accountable)
- Endorse Federal Law Sunset and Review Act
- Monitor review process (watchdog role)
- Submit comments on laws being reviewed
- Research and data (identify outdated laws)
- Coalition building (left and right support simplification)
- Make it litmus test - support sunsets or lose vote
- State-level sunsets (many states already have)
- Primary challenge opponents
- Demand transparency in review process
- Annual "report card" on Congress's review work
"Won't this create chaos with laws expiring?" → NO. If a law is good and needed, Congress will renew it. If Congress can't bother to renew it, maybe it's not that important. Plus, 20 years is LONG notice—plenty of time to prepare. Chaos is current system where no one knows which laws are in effect or what they say. Sunset creates ORDER by forcing review and simplification.
"Won't special interests capture the renewal process?" → They've ALREADY captured the current system (laws never expire, provisions snuck in and never removed). Sunset REDUCES capture by forcing public review and re-debate. Harder to defend bad law in public hearing than to bury it in 60 million words of code. Transparency = disinfectant.
"What if important laws expire by mistake?" → 20 years of review + hearings + GAO studies + public comment = hard to miss important laws. If law is truly important, renewal will be obvious and uncontroversial. Plus, can emergency-renew if needed. But honestly, if no one notices law is about to expire, probably not that important.
"Won't this make Congress even more dysfunctional?" → Forces Congress to DO ITS JOB: review laws, decide if they work, update or remove. Current system lets Congress pass laws and forget—that's dysfunction. Sunset creates ACCOUNTABILITY. Yes, Congress must work more, but that's the point. Governing requires governing, not autopilot.
"Hasn't sunset been tried and failed before?" → Some states have sunset provisions (works reasonably well). Federal sunset proposed before but never passed (special interests hate it—they benefit from permanent laws). But "hasn't been tried" ≠ "won't work." This is about political will, not technical feasibility. If we want simpler, more accountable legal system, sunset is the tool.
Full Analysis: Chapter 30 (Project 2029), Section XIII - 2,500+ words
- Detailed review process design
- Constitutional analysis (Congress's power to sunset laws)
- State sunset provisions (lessons learned)
- Exceptions and safeguards
- International comparisons
Related Reforms:
- #17: Decentralize Federal Power (simplify government overall)
- Chapter 1-2: Executive Office reforms (regulatory review)
- Chapter 3: Civil Service (staffing for review process)
State Examples:
- Texas: Sunset provision for agencies (must be re-authorized or shut down)
- Colorado: Regulatory review every 7-12 years
- Florida: Similar sunset programs
- Results: Mixed (sometimes works well, sometimes captured), but shows concept viable
Historical Context:
- Sunset proposals in 1970s-80s (failed due to special interest opposition)
- Reagan pushed regulatory review (never implemented fully)
- Current US Code: Oldest law from 1790s (never reviewed systematically)
Key Organizations:
- R Street Institute (regulatory reform)
- Mercatus Center (regulatory analysis)
- Cato Institute (liberty and simplification)
- Progressive Policy Institute (government modernization)
Federal laws last forever. That's insane.
Laws from 1950s still in effect. Technology, society completely different. Laws not updated.
Result: 60 million words. No one can read it all. Average American commits 3 felonies/day unknowingly.
Solution: Every law expires after 20 years unless renewed.
How It Works:
✅ New laws: 20-year sunset automatic ✅ Existing laws: Reviewed over 20 years (1/20th per year) ✅ Renewal requires affirmative vote (Congress must justify) ✅ Good laws renewed, bad laws expire, outdated laws removed ✅ Legal code simplified 50% over 20 years
Benefits:
- Laws stay current (adapt to technology, society)
- Unintended consequences fixed (not permanent)
- Special interests can't hide (must re-defend provisions)
- Compliance becomes feasible (fewer, clearer laws)
- Rule of law restored (can understand laws again)
20 years = generational:
Each generation reviews and owns previous generation's laws.
Not burdened by legal sediment from centuries past.
Democracy requires living laws, not fossil laws. 🇺🇸
Project 2029: Reform #18 of 20 Full details: Chapter 30, Section XIII Public Support: 70%+ (everyone hates legal complexity) Timeline: Year 1 legislation → Years 2-20 phased review → Year 21+ ongoing cycle Cost: $700M/year (saves $100-500B/year in compliance costs) Texas, Colorado have similar systems—concept proven viable
SHARE THIS. DEMAND SUNSET REVIEWS. SIMPLIFY THE LAW. 📚