(The Center Square) – North Carolina agencies would have to get legislative approval for any new regulation that would have more than $1 million in economic impact under bills introduced Friday in the Senate and House of Representatives.
The legislation is part of a nationwide push by conservative groups such as Americans for Prosperity to stop unelected state agency leaders from raising costs for businesses by adding new regulations.
“The NC REINS Act is about giving the people of North Carolina a stronger voice in the rules that shape their lives,” state Rep. Allen Chesser, R-Nash, in a news conference Tuesday. “Right now, unelected bureaucrats can impose regulations with major financial consequences without direct oversight from the General Assembly. The current process is not transparent. We can do better.”
Chesser sponsored NC REINS ACT, or House Bill 402. Companion legislation in the upper chamber is the same name in Senate Bill 290, shepherded by Sen. Benton Sawrey, R-Johnston.
This is not a new issue, Dalton Clark, legislative liaison for Americans for Prosperity said Tuesday.
“It’s something that has been debated several times at the General Assembly,” Clark said. “I think the No. 1 question we’ve got is ‘Why now?”
The legislation now has “overwhelming” bipartisan support, Clark said. A poll shows 80% support for the bill, he said.
Donald Bryson, CEO of the Locke Foundation, said his organization has been pushing for this type of legislation for a decade.
“This is about good governance overall and reinstating accountability and transparency to democratic governance,” he said. ”At what point does a rule or regulation that’s created become so large that it in fact should be a law?”
The proposal “clarifies this strange gray area,” Bryson said.
Similar legislation is pending in at least a dozen states, including Georgia and South Carolina, said Jaimie Cavanaugh, legal policy counsel at Pacific Legal Foundation. Wyoming passed a bill this year, she said.
The Center Square was unsuccessful getting comment from Gov. Josh Stein’s office before publication.
Some legislative critics of the proposal have said that the proposal could be dangerous because it would create an extra layer of approval for regulations aimed at protecting public health.
