Do you know how many regulations North Carolina has?

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Hi John,

Do you know how many regulations North Carolina has?

Turns out, our state’s administrative code is more than 6 million pages… that’s more than 10x the length of War and Peace!

A new study ([link removed]) from George Mason University’s Mercatus Center, which itemizes each state’s regulatory or administrative code, found that North Carolina imposes 109,244 regulations on its citizens. Though that may sound like a huge number, it puts North Carolina in the middle of the pack nationally, coming in at 27th.

So what policy issues are most heavily-regulated?
* Environmental protection, natural resources, and public utilities, all clock in at 31,229 regulations
* Health services comes in second with 23,460 regulations
* And in third place, industry/commerce/development check with 20,711 regulations

Is that bad?
* Research indicates that growth in regulation “is correlated with increased poverty rates, lost jobs, and higher inflation”
* Additionally, more regulation comes with administrative bloat, bigger budgets, higher taxes, and greater liabilities for state employees

So what can be done to improve our regulatory environment?
* Well, our friends at Mercatus offer two major recommendations:
+ First, a “regulatory budget,” which would place a cap on the number of regulations (that would definitely be lower than the current 109,244)
o Any new regulation the government wants would require an existing regulation be purged
o This recommendation is already included in Locke’s 2024-2025 Policy Solutions Guide ([link removed])
+ Second, a “sunset” requirement, which ensures that a regulation must be removed after a certain number of years, unless it is explicitly renewed by the legislature
o North Carolina currently enacted a version of this rule in 2013; however, periodic reviews are performed just once every ten years… and we definitely need to shorten that
* Other recommendations include:
+ Expanding the “regulatory sandbox” approved for the finance and insurance industries in 2021 to more industries
o A regulatory sandbox temporarily lefts restrictions to allow for greater innovation, and if restrictions are found to be unnecessary, to be eliminated permanently
+ Requiring any regulation which imposes costs at a certain threshold be approved the legislature passing a bill

Though it might not seem like it, regulations act as a hidden tax, driving up costs for businesses and prices for consumers. In order for North Carolina’s economy to continue to grow and deliver real prosperity for its citizens, administrative overreach needs to be rolled back so that markets can operate more efficiently and businesses can innovate.

You can read more about regulatory and tax reform in North Carolina here ([link removed]) , here ([link removed]) and here ([link removed]) .

Esse quam videri,

Brooke Medina


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** More from Locke
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1. 🗳️🗳️🗳️ Election Changes in North Carolina Since 2020: Problems with Mail Voting ([link removed])
Is the convenience worth the risk?
* Everyone can agree there is convenience with mail-in voting
+ And it can be necessary for the sick, disabled, elderly, and our soldiers and sailors
* But that convenience has a potentially steep cost around election security
+ Mail ballots are vulnerable to “ballot harvesting” after they leave election facilities
o And that can mean that the harvesters:
# Destroy or discard ballots from those whom they believe voted for the “wrong” candidate
# Collect ballots in unsealed envelopes or open sealed envelopes to alter votes or fill in blank portions of ballots in which the voter did not vote in every race
# Collect unmarked ballots and vote themselves
# Improperly influence voters while the voter completes their ballot
* And, sadly, this danger isn’t just theoretical…
+ The 2018 election for NC’s 9th Congressional District was overturned due to concerns that the outcome was affected by trafficked mail ballots
* So what happened in 2020 when mail in voting surged by about 4X?
+ Well, there is some good news:
o No evidence was found of large-scale ballot harvesting in 2020 like those that plagued other recent elections
* Unfortunately…
+ 18.8% percent (almost 1 in 5) mail ballots were discarded
+ Another 12.3% of mail in ballots were unaccounted for
+ And 1.1% of ballots weren’t counted for a wide variety of reasons (including incomplete witness information)
* And since the 2020 elections, Locke has advocated for mail ballot reform
+ This included making Election Day the deadline for most mail ballots
o This passed and now NC is one of 32 states with a mail ballot deadline of Election Day or earlier
+ Another bill mandates voter ID for all voters
+ And a final bill would require county boards of elections to use “signature verification software to check the signatures of voters noted on executed absentee ballots”

Read the whole story here ([link removed])

2. 🚌🚌🚌Passing Educational-Freedom Legislation is Only the First Step ([link removed])
* School choice is great, but it doesn’t stop with implementation (even in states that support it)
+ Let’s look at Utah & North Carolina
o UT passed a universal school choice program in 2023
o NC expanded its program the same year
* But both programs face BIG challenges
+ Utah: Legal problems
o Last year the Utah Education Association (UEA) filed a lawsuit claiming the program is unconstitutional (after 10k accounts were awarded to families)
o The UEA claims that it’s unconstitutional because the Utah constitution requires the legislature to “establish and maintain” a public education system…
# That requirement does not preclude outside programs existing
# And when you really read the lawsuit, it basically comes down to a policy disagreement with the UEA claiming that it will harm funding for public schools
# But if they win, 10k families could be forced to change schools arbitrarily
+ North Carolina: Politicians
o Politics is hindering the OSP’s expansion
o In May of 2024, the state Senate approved $463 million to support the 72,000 new applicants… but the House decided to wait for its formal budget
o The House hopes that this will give them more leverage over the Senate when it comes to budget negotiations
# Coincidentally House Speaker Tim Moore is running for Congress. Moore has pledged to support public school teachers, and some theorize he doesn’t want to expand the OSP unless he can have the political cover of also increasing public school teacher pay at the same time
+ Lessons learned?
o States can’t just declare victory after passing school choice. They need to consider:
# The drafting of the language
@ The legislative champions within the legislature
@ Funding for expansion of the program
@ And the fact that new threats can always emerge

If you want to learn more you can get the whole story right now! ([link removed])

3. 🌭🌭🌭Is the Fact that We’re Eating More Sausage a Sign of Economic Collapse? ([link removed])
* (You read that right)
+ According to the Dallas Federal Reserve’s Texas Manufacturing Outlook survey, there has been “modest” growth in the dinner sausage category
+ That’s not a good thing (though everyone likes a bratwurst) because this industry tends to grow when the economy weakens
o Sausages are a cheap way to get protein
* That means that people are still feeling the impact of the last few years of inflation
+ Basically, while inflation’s growth has started to slow, we’re all feeling the effects from the last few years at the grocery store and the gas station
+ And that’s why people are buying more sausage and less steak
* And as people save money buying sausages, there are potential downstream effects
+ Butchers selling more expensive proteins could see a drop in business revenue
+ And we’re seeing businesses respond. North Carolina’s Smithfield recently purchased a dry sausage company in TN
o This means that’s where they see demand growing
+ And as consumers spend less, businesses could see less revenue leading to cost-cutting measures like layoffs
* That’s a bit unsettling…so what should we do?
+ Policy makers need to look at the underlying issues causing meat and food production to be so expensive
+ With that being said, this could be a warning sign about consumer behavior, and it’s critical that we pay attention for other early warning signs so that policymakers and businesses can address them before we have big problems

Get all of the facts about sausage and economics here ([link removed]) .

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