By Brianna Kraemer for The Carolina Journal

The North Carolina House of Representatives has passed House Bill 402, the “Regulations from the Executive in Need of Scrutiny (REINS) Act,” a significant move aimed at increasing legislative oversight of state agency rulemaking.

Under the bill, if a regulation created by officials in the executive branch has significant economic impacts upward of $1 million, then the North Carolina General Assembly would have a statutory role in approving the proposed rule.

The House passed the NC REINS Act on Wednesday in a 68-44 vote, with all Republicans and one Democrat support the legislation. A companion bill awaits action in the North Carolina Senate.

Regulation is one of the biggest cost drivers for North Carolina residents, second only to inflation, explained Rep. Allen Chesser, R-Nash. Yet nearly all of the state’s 110,000 rules go into effect without legislative oversight.

Chesser said the REINS Act ensures elected lawmakers — not unelected agencies — are accountable for major regulatory decisions, giving citizens someone to hold responsible. 

“Right now, we’ve got over 110,000 regulations on the books in North Carolina, and almost 100% of them pass through our current system,” Chesser explained on the House floor. “Very few would cross this threshold to where it comes into our body, where we get to get to review it. What we’re saying is that the people should have someone to hold accountable, and that should be us.”

Bill sponsors in the North Carolina General Assembly say the REINS Act provides greater government accountability in the regulatory reform process, returning power to the people and their representatives.

Chesser noted in committee this week that the final version is less intrusive that initially drafted. Democrats in opposition to the bill expressed concern over potential constitutional issues with separation of powers.

Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, argued that during crises like COVID, so-called experts often act more like politicians than impartial advisors, and emphasized that the legislature must reclaim its authority to ensure accountability for the laws and rules the public must follow.

“It’s just a fact that more and more of the legislative power has been punted from the legislative bodies into what some people call the bureaucracy, the administrative state,” said Blust. “What we’ve seen at the federal level, on this level, in the last few years is an attempt by the legislative branch to take back some of that power they have let slip that properly belongs in the legislative branch.”

According to data from Americans for Prosperity, 80% of North Carolinians agree that new state regulations that could have a major impact on North Carolina’s economy and taxpayers should require approval from our state legislature before going into effect. The data includes 88% of Republicans and 75% of Democrats.

The preceding article originally appeared on April 17, 2025 at The Carolina Journal’s website and is made available here for educational purposes only. This constitutes a ‘fair use’ of any such copyrighted material as provided for in Title 17 U.S.C. section 106A-117 of the U.S. Copyright Law. Any views or opinions expressed here are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Carolina Leadership Coalition.