When I first got involved in politics, one of the main reasons was the over regulation of the government on our North Carolina businesses. Unneccessary regulations increase costs for business owners, stifle growth and hurt our economy in job creation. Since taking office, I have worked to hold up those principles and cut away senseless regulations from our state government.
Senate Republicans also continued our commitment to improving North Carolina’s climate for job growth by tentatively passing our fourth regulatory reform bill in four years.
The Regulatory Reform Act of 2014 continues to make state rule-making more efficient while increasing needed protections for the environment and the public. It streamlines the environmental permitting process while eliminating avenues for frivolous legal roadblocks. This will make it easier for citizens and businesses to attain needed permits. Mainly, this bill removes many ambiguous, onerous and obsolete regulations that increase costs on North Carolina families and job-creators, but do little to serve the public interest.
Regulatory reform is a key component in helping recruit and retain companies and jobs that otherwise would have gone to places where regulations are less burdensome and the cost of doing business is lower. The numbers from recent years support these principles, over the past four years, North Carolina has gained more than 220,000 net jobs and its unemployment rate fall below the national average.
It’s clear that making overdue changes to our state’s regulatory environment are driving positive growth in North Carolina. The passage of this bill should continue to spur growth in industry while keeping our citizens and resources safe.