Stein vetoes REINS Act, Republican-backed effort to make environmental regulations harder to pass
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Stein vetoes REINS Act, Republican-backed effort to make environmental regulations harder to pass
The REINS Act would require state lawmakers to vote on any proposed regulation that might have as little as a $20 million cost spread over five years. Supporters say the bill would cut costs for businesses that could then be passed down to every North Carolinians. Opponents have said the bill is unconstitutional and would stop the government from helping protect public health and safety. The bill is part of a national effort by pro-business political groups to pass versions of the RE INS Act. Similar bills have been filed in many individual states as well as in the U.S. Congress. It has already become law in Utah, Florida and a few other states and is being pushed by Americans for Prosperity, a group tied to libertarian billionaire Charles Koch. The group says state agencies would still be allowed to propose rules and regulations even if the bill becomes law in North Carolina.
The REINS Act would require state lawmakers to vote on any proposed regulation that might have as little as a $20 million cost spread over five years for businesses in the state’s multi-trillion-dollar economy. And even less costly rules could still have to receive unanimous approval from various other state commissions, even if they wouldn’t also require legislative approval.
“This bill would make it harder for the state to keep people’s drinking water clean from PFAS and other dangerous chemicals, their air free from toxic pollutants, and their health care facilities providing high quality care,” Stein wrote in his veto message. “It would impose red tape, including an unworkable unanimity requirement, that would hamstring the decision-making of agencies, boards, and commissions, making them less effective at protecting people’s health, safety, and welfare.”
Supporters say the REINS Act, House Bill 402, would cut costs for businesses that could then be passed down to every North Carolinians. State lawmakers can’t do much about inflation, when it comes to helping people’s pocketbooks, but they can take other steps including regulatory changes.
“Regulation is the largest cost-driver to the citizens of the state, next to inflation,” bill sponsor Rep. Allen Chesser, R-Nash, said in this year’s House debate over the bill.
Stein wouldn’t be the only official affected by the bill — the state’s executive branch is run by 10 elected leaders called the Council of State, currently made up of five Republicans and five Democrats — but the governor’s office is in charge of agencies with a notable regulatory footprint over the environment, transportation and more.
The bill is part of a national effort by pro-business political groups to pass versions of the REINS Act, named for its intent to rein in government oversight. Similar bills have been filed in many individual states as well as in the U.S. Congress. It has already become law in Utah, Florida and a few other states.
One of the main forces behind the bill is Americans for Prosperity, a pro-business group tied to libertarian billionaire Charles Koch. Representatives of the group say state agencies would still be allowed to propose rules and regulations even if the REINS Act becomes law in North Carolina. They’ll just have to be able to defend those proposals well enough to win support for them at the legislature.
“Unelected bureaucrats shouldn’t impose million-dollar regulations in the dark—but Governor Stein’s veto of the REINS Act protects that very overreach,” Donald Bryson, chief executive of the John Locke Foundation, a libertatian think tank in Raleigh. “By rejecting this commonsense reform, the governor has chosen bureaucratic power over democratic accountability.”
Btyson urged the legislature to vote to override the veto.
Some opponents have said the bill is unconstitutional and would stop the government from helping protect public health and safety. They think it makes more sense to leave regulation in the hands of agencies led by the governor and other officials who are elected statewide, and are therefore accountable to all voters.
But ever since Republicans took control of the legislature in 2011 they have pushed to take power from the executive branch for themselves, under governors of both parties.
The veto comes several months after the Republican-led legislature passed another law weakening Stein’s influence over elections, law enforcement, energy policy and more. Last week, a panel of state judges dismissed one of Stein’s cases against Republican legislative leaders in a ruling that upholds part of a law that prevents Stein from picking the State Highway Patrol commander.
It was one of several actions Stein took on new legislation Friday, including his approval of a new bill appropriating hundreds of millions of dollars more for Hurricane Helene relief in western North Carolina.