North Carolina lawmakers have an opportunity to reclaim some of their authority from the administrative state, joining a growing movement of states around the country seeking to restore the separation of powers.
Gov. Josh Stein vetoed North Carolina’s version of the REINS (Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny) Act in late June. The bill is back before the General Assembly, which can override the governor’s veto with a three-fifths vote of both chambers. It’s on the House’s calendar for July 29.
House Bill 402 would require the General Assembly to approve any rule with an estimated cost of at least $20,000,000 over five years. Until the legislature approves, the rule wouldn’t go into effect.
This reform is especially necessary in North Carolina. At Pacific Legal Foundation, we recently published a report tallying all 50 states’ legislative review procedures. In our report, states earn a point just for having some form of legislative review whatsoever in addition to earning points for each example of oversight. Here, North Carolina earned just two — one for review by the General Assembly for rules to which 10 or more individuals object, and one for having any sort of review whatsoever. It’s one of only 12 states to have two or fewer total points.
The North Carolina legislature can take a more active role in the regulatory process by adopting REINS over the governor’s veto.
This reform would give North Carolina three oversight provisions, restoring more lawmaking power to the General Assembly. According to our report, nine states have already passed a version of the REINS Act. North Carolina would join the likes of Florida, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Minnesota, Oklahoma, Utah, West Virginia, and Wisconsin in prohibiting certain rules unless they receive legislative approval — one of the strongest reforms a state legislature can adopt to check its bureaucracy. (Similarly, states like Illinois, Louisiana, and Nevada require mandatory approval of rules by certain legislative committees.)
While surrounding states like Alabama, Georgia, Maryland, South Carolina, and Virginia sit at three and four total oversight provisions, North Carolina would be the first among them to adopt REINS.
North Carolina legislators should see this vote as their opportunity to reassert authority over the regulatory process. Over several decades, state administrative agencies have gained significant rulemaking power that resembles lawmaking power. And North Carolina is no exception. As of 2023, North Carolina had 109,244 total regulatory restrictions on the books and 6,095,264 words in its administrative code.
Combine these regulations with the Code of Federal Regulations, and the state’s total regulatory burden on its citizens reaches over 1.2 million combined regulatory restrictions. These regulations affect jobs, prices, and other aspects of the Tar Heel State’s economy. In fact, the total cost of North Carolina’s Administrative Code alone was estimated to be at least $3.1 billion and as much as $25 billion annually back in 2015, according to a report by the John Locke Foundation.
Regulations mean real costs for North Carolinians, and REINS is one of several legislative review provisions from which states can choose to restore some of the traditional balance of power between the branches of government and provide meaningful oversight of regulatory agencies. And it’s a way for legislatures to ensure they have a say over the costliest regulations that will undoubtedly affect North Carolina businesses and families.
North Carolina voters expect North Carolina’s lawmakers to make the laws — not administrative bureaucrats. It’s the bare minimum for regulations impacting people’s life, liberty, and property to be scrutinized by the people’s representatives. Otherwise, the very people who enforce the laws end up becoming the people who write them too. Combining these powers in one branch’s hands is the recipe for overregulation. And individual liberty is the true cost.
If state regulatory agencies are going to continue making significant rules with the force of law, then approving those rules is the least that North Carolina’s General Assembly can do.