With real-time diagnostics, cutting-edge compliance management systems, and an underlying focus on sustainability as a good economic and reputational practice in many industry sectors, environmental compliance is increasingly self-policed and self-corrected by regulated entities. There is also much discussion about “cooperative federalism” and the need to ensure that program administration reflects the significant expertise and experience state agencies now have after decades of administering environmental protection laws. What would changes to the cooperative federalism model mean for the business community? More fundamentally, with private governance systems increasingly finding and solving compliance problems, how might the government role be re-envisioned in a way that aligns with, reflects, and harnesses this phenomenon? Last October, ELI’s 2017 Corporate Forum convened an array of experts to consider these and other questions. Here we present a transcript of the discussion, which has been edited for style, clarity, and space considerations.