States with the Most Enacted Regulations

All states ranked by the number of records marked enacted in this tracker; effective dates are shown separately on detail pages. Rankings use the jurisdictions PlainRegWatch tracks, with data from state legislatures, NCSL, and IAPP; see our methodology.

What This Ranking Tells Us

This count includes records marked enacted in PlainRegWatch's source snapshot and excludes records marked pending. Enactment and an effective date are separate facts: a record may be enacted before its listed effective date. The gap between tracked enacted and pending records describes this dataset, not a complete state regulatory agenda.

States with the Most Enacted Regulations

51 states tracked

  1. 1
    California 12 Enacted
    CA
  2. 2
    Colorado 8 Enacted
    CO
  3. 3
    Illinois 8 Enacted
    IL
  4. 4
    Oregon 8 Enacted
    OR
  5. 5
    New York 7 Enacted
    NY
  6. 6
    Washington 7 Enacted
    WA
  7. 7
    Connecticut 6 Enacted
    CT
  8. 8
    Massachusetts 6 Enacted
    MA
  9. 9
    Minnesota 5 Enacted
    MN
  10. 10
    Texas 5 Enacted
    TX
  11. 11
    Delaware 4 Enacted
    DE
  12. 12
    Nevada 4 Enacted
    NV
  13. 13
    New Jersey 4 Enacted
    NJ
  14. 14
    Utah 4 Enacted
    UT
  15. 15
    Vermont 4 Enacted
    VT
  16. 16
    Virginia 4 Enacted
    VA
  17. 17
    Florida 3 Enacted
    FL
  18. 18
    Hawaii 3 Enacted
    HI
  19. 19
    Maryland 3 Enacted
    MD
  20. 20
    Rhode Island 3 Enacted
    RI
  21. 21
    District of Columbia 3 Enacted
    DC
  22. 22
    Alabama 2 Enacted
    AL
  23. 23
    Arizona 2 Enacted
    AZ
  24. 24
    Indiana 2 Enacted
    IN
  25. 25
    Iowa 2 Enacted
    IA
  26. 26
    Kentucky 2 Enacted
    KY
  27. 27
    Louisiana 2 Enacted
    LA
  28. 28
    Maine 2 Enacted
    ME
  29. 29
    Montana 2 Enacted
    MT
  30. 30
    Nebraska 2 Enacted
    NE
  31. 31
    New Hampshire 2 Enacted
    NH
  32. 32
    North Dakota 2 Enacted
    ND
  33. 33
    Oklahoma 2 Enacted
    OK
  34. 34
    Pennsylvania 2 Enacted
    PA
  35. 35
    Tennessee 2 Enacted
    TN
  36. 36
    West Virginia 2 Enacted
    WV
  37. 37
    Alaska 1 Enacted
    AK
  38. 38
    Arkansas 1 Enacted
    AR
  39. 39
    Georgia 1 Enacted
    GA
  40. 40
    Idaho 1 Enacted
    ID
  41. 41
    Kansas 1 Enacted
    KS
  42. 42
    Michigan 1 Enacted
    MI
  43. 43
    Mississippi 1 Enacted
    MS
  44. 44
    Missouri 1 Enacted
    MO
  45. 45
    New Mexico 1 Enacted
    NM
  46. 46
    North Carolina 1 Enacted
    NC
  47. 47
    Ohio 1 Enacted
    OH
  48. 48
    South Carolina 1 Enacted
    SC
  49. 49
    South Dakota 1 Enacted
    SD
  50. 50
    Wisconsin 1 Enacted
    WI
  51. 51
    Wyoming 1 Enacted
    WY

Source PlainRegWatch State Regulation Tracker · July 2026

Source: PlainRegWatch State Regulation Tracker.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between enacted and pending records?

An enacted record has been marked enacted in the source snapshot; a pending record is still tracked as pending. Check the record's listed effective date and official source for the current legal position, because an enacted law can have a future effective date and records can change after the snapshot.

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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Source: State regulatory agencies / Federal Register State and federal regulatory rule history and changes · 2025

Every figure on PlainRegWatch is rendered from curated state legislative and Federal Register source data, no number is typed in by an editor. Positions use the displayed measure on the same state or category totals as the profile pages. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of July 2026. Tracker scores and rule counts are curated records in five tracked categories - not enforcement strength, legal advice, a complete inventory of US law, or a live bill-status feed.