Lawmaker Resurrects Legislation with the Goal of Growing State's Business Climate | Eastern North Carolina Now

    Publisher's note: The author of this post is Dan Way, who is an associate editor for the Carolina Journal, John Hood Publisher.

    Rep. Dennis Riddell, R-Alamance, has resurrected legislation to create a task force to identify and eliminate regulations harming the state's economic climate and stunting business growth.

    The new legislation, House Bill 379, got unanimous approval vote in the House Regulatory Reform Committee on Tuesday morning. It passed with no debate, other than a technical amendment clarifying who would be co-chairmen of the Joint Legislative Task Force on Regulatory Reform.

    Riddell said the previous bill passed in the House, and went to the Senate to die. That previous legislation, House Bill 760, never made it out of the Senate Commerce Committee after passing the House, 77-32, on a mostly party-line vote, with seven Democratic defections.

    Other primary sponsors of the new bill are Reps. Chris Millis, R-Pender; John Bradford, R-Mecklenburg; and Brenden Jones, R-Columbus.

    The task force would seek to eliminate ineffective or burdensome regulation, Riddell told committee members. The measure would streamline implementation, and reduce the cost of regulations, as well as add mechanisms to identify and review regulations that draw a high number of challenges or are misinterpreted more than others.

    If created, the panel would hold meetings around the state to gather feedback from owners and managers of businesses, economic development professionals, employers, employees, independent contractors, consumers, and residents, Riddell said.

    The task force would be a 12-member panel, with House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, and Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, equally appointing six members.

    A member of the House, and a member of the Senate would be co-chairman. Others would be at-large members of the public and representatives of business and environmental services, or with expertise in education and workforce development.

    Results of the study, and any recommended legislation, would have to be reported by Dec. 31, 2018, to legislative leadership.