North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper (D) in August signed legislation that subjects any new agency rule carrying criminal penalties to automatic legislative review.

 

Legislative bodies often delegate authority to administrative agencies to implement the law by issuing regulations, some of which carry criminal penalties. Research from the American Bar Association found that federal agencies have created more than 300,000 regulatory crimes.

 

North Carolina legislators in 2018 aimed to quantify the extent of regulatory crimes in the state by passing a bill requiring state agencies to report their regulations that carry criminal penalties. The 2019 bill seeks to slow the growth of the state’s criminal code by subjecting all new agency rules carrying criminal penalties to review by the legislature’s General Statutes Commission. After review, the commission must recommend the removal of any criminal penalties to the legislature.

 

North Carolina’s legislative review provision is just one of the methods that state governments have applied to address the administrative state. Ballotpedia tracks state approaches to address the administrative state, including actions directed toward regulatory review, the separation of powers, and judicial deference, as part of The Administrative State Project. Click the link below to find out more.