RALEIGH — The N.C. House is considering a bill that would mandate an official review of every state rule with an eye toward eliminating redundant or burdensome regulations.
The new House Regulatory Reform Committee discussed House Bill 78 this week, a first step as the legislature begins to tackle the issue. The bill was sponsored by Rep. Tom Murry, R-Wake, and Ruth Samuelson, R-Mecklenburg.
“This is a broad, sweeping bill,” Murry said during Wednesday’s committee morning. “The bill was drafted so that it could be amended.”
The bill would require a review of the state’s more than 22,500 administrative rules over the next four years with a periodic review every 10 years. The Department of Health and Human Services review, if the bill is passed, would be finished by 2016, followed by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in 2017. All of the rules would be reviewed by 2019.
No action was taken on the bill Wednesday. It was only on the agenda for discussion as lawmakers seek input. Murry stressed the need for feedback from other lawmakers and stake holders to help shape the bill.
Republican members of the committee applauded the bill, calling it meaningful, and said it could have true impact. Three members of the southeastern North Carolina delegation — Republican Reps. Frank Iler, Rick Catlin and Chris Millis — are members of the committee and support the measure. Millis welcomed the review. He has said regulatory reform is one of his key issues.
“It is more or less a prudent review,” Millis said.
Cameron Moore, governmental affairs director for BASE, plans to support the bill. BASE represents about 12,000 members involved in the real estate and development industry in Southeastern North Carolina.
“Any kind of look at rules and regulations is certainly worthwhile,” Moore said. “This discussion needs to happen.”
But environmentalists had a harsher reaction. They were concerned the bill adds “red tape” and makes regulation more difficult.
“Over the past decade, rule-making has become an increasingly complex and lengthy process that is easily stalled and delayed by anyone that objects to a new rule,” said Todd Miller, executive director of the N.C. Coastal Federation. “This bill will require that all existing rules be re-adopted, and if someone objects, that means that an agency or commission will be tied in knots trying to get standards back in place.”
Miller said the law, if passed in its current form, will keep state agencies “running in place” instead of being productive.
“It will make state government even less capable of carrying out its legal mandates to protect public health, safety, welfare and our natural environment,” Miller said. “It will further erode the ability of government to do its job on behalf of all the citizens of our state.”
