States with the Most Enacted Regulations
All states ranked by number of regulations that have been signed into law and are in effect. Regulations are tracked across all 50 states, with data from state legislatures, NCSL, and IAPP; see our methodology.
What This Ranking Tells Us
Enacted regulations represent laws that have passed through the full legislative process, introduced, debated, voted on, and signed by the governor. This count excludes proposed or pending legislation, reflecting only active law. States with many enacted regulations have moved beyond debate to implementation. The gap between total regulations (including pending) and enacted ones reveals how much of a state's regulatory agenda is aspirational versus actionable.
| # | State | Enacted |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | California CA | 12 |
| 2 | Colorado CO | 8 |
| 3 | Illinois IL | 8 |
| 4 | Oregon OR | 8 |
| 5 | New York NY | 7 |
| 6 | Washington WA | 7 |
| 7 | Connecticut CT | 6 |
| 8 | Massachusetts MA | 6 |
| 9 | Minnesota MN | 5 |
| 10 | Texas TX | 5 |
| 11 | Delaware DE | 4 |
| 12 | Nevada NV | 4 |
| 13 | New Jersey NJ | 4 |
| 14 | Utah UT | 4 |
| 15 | Vermont VT | 4 |
| 16 | Virginia VA | 4 |
| 17 | Florida FL | 3 |
| 18 | Hawaii HI | 3 |
| 19 | Maryland MD | 3 |
| 20 | Rhode Island RI | 3 |
| 21 | District of Columbia DC | 3 |
| 22 | Alabama AL | 2 |
| 23 | Arizona AZ | 2 |
| 24 | Indiana IN | 2 |
| 25 | Iowa IA | 2 |
| 26 | Kentucky KY | 2 |
| 27 | Louisiana LA | 2 |
| 28 | Maine ME | 2 |
| 29 | Montana MT | 2 |
| 30 | Nebraska NE | 2 |
| 31 | New Hampshire NH | 2 |
| 32 | North Dakota ND | 2 |
| 33 | Oklahoma OK | 2 |
| 34 | Pennsylvania PA | 2 |
| 35 | Tennessee TN | 2 |
| 36 | West Virginia WV | 2 |
| 37 | Alaska AK | 1 |
| 38 | Arkansas AR | 1 |
| 39 | Georgia GA | 1 |
| 40 | Idaho ID | 1 |
| 41 | Kansas KS | 1 |
| 42 | Michigan MI | 1 |
| 43 | Mississippi MS | 1 |
| 44 | Missouri MO | 1 |
| 45 | New Mexico NM | 1 |
| 46 | North Carolina NC | 1 |
| 47 | Ohio OH | 1 |
| 48 | South Carolina SC | 1 |
| 49 | South Dakota SD | 1 |
| 50 | Wisconsin WI | 1 |
| 51 | Wyoming WY | 1 |
Source: PlainRegWatch State Regulation Tracker.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between enacted and pending regulations?
Enacted regulations have completed the legislative process and are active law. Pending regulations are proposed bills still moving through committees, floor votes, or awaiting the governor's signature. Pending regulations may never become law, many bills die in committee or are vetoed. Only enacted regulations carry legal force.
Do all enacted regulations take effect immediately?
No. Many laws include delayed effective dates to give businesses compliance preparation time. Data privacy laws commonly have 12-18 month implementation periods. Some regulations phase in requirements over years. The effective date is tracked separately from the enactment date.
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Read our methodology - how this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Source: State regulatory agencies / Federal Register State and federal regulatory rule history and changes · 2025
Every figure on PlainRegWatch is rendered directly from state source data, no number is typed in by an editor. This page draws directly on federal and state source data, no figure is typed in by an editor. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error.