Up and Coming Weekly is a weekly publication in Fayetteville, NC and Fort Bragg, NC area offering local news, views, arts, entertainment and community event and business information.
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WWW.UPANDCOMINGWEEKLY.COM OCTOBER 19 - 25, 2022 UCW 5 OPINION Time to lighten the load of regulatory burdens by JOHN HOOD North Carolina is a pro-growth place — the best state in which to do busi- ness, I hear — and yet we continue to saddle our job creators with heavy regulatory burdens that discourage capital formation and investment in our state. I don't mean to suggest we haven't made some progress over the past decade. e General Assembly enacted a series of regulatory reforms. Some localities have made it a priority to slash rules, permitting times, and other forms of red tape. When it comes to regulatory bur- dens, however, we still compare unfa- vorably with many of our competitors. According to the Cato Institute's latest study, North Carolina ranks 26th in regulatory freedom — better than the likes of New York (48th), New Jersey (49th), and California (50th), to be sure, but worse than South Carolina (13th), Tennessee (16th) and Virginia (18th). Policymakers, activists and journal- ists often treat regulation as if it were just a "big business" concern, but the practical effects extend well beyond corporate boardrooms. While large en- terprises can certainly incur significant expense from environmental, health or safety rules, the compliance costs are far more onerous for small companies that lack specialized knowledge or in- house counsel. And if they try to "wing it" to save money and then run afoul of the rules, they have a harder time absorbing the resulting legal fees and fines. Now consider another set of affected parties: individuals who'd like to start a new business but can't get the required licenses and permits to do so. Russ Sobel, a professor at e Citadel in Charleston, has researched this issue extensively. One of his studies found "a clear and strong relationship between the economic freedom scores of states and their levels of net entrepreneurial productivity." What happens when overly burden- some regulations suppress business starts, expansions and investment? Among the consequences are lower and more unequal incomes among the general population. In a 2022 paper published in the European Journal of Political Economy, economists Dustin Chambers and Colin O'Reilly agreed that "regulations disproportionately impact small businesses and stifle entrepreneurship," examining a large set of economic data from all 50 states from 1997 to 2015. ey found that each 10% increase in federal regulation was associated with an approximate 0.5% increase in income inequal- ity. Applying their findings to North Carolina alone, Chambers and O'Reilly estimated that since 1997, regulation had increased the number of residents living below the poverty line by about 256,000. e same logic applies to state and local regulation. We need it, of course. North Carolinians deserve clear air and clear water, for example, and because these are commons rather than per- sonally owned property, some kind of government intervention is required to protect public health and safety. All too often, however, the costs of imposing and complying with regula- tion greatly exceed any reasonable ex- pectation of public benefit. at's why the agencies that issue rules, and the elected officials who authorize them to do so, need to apply rigorous cost-ben- efit tests to any proposed regulation. Cost-benefit analysis is far from the only policy we need to curtail exces- sive regulation in our state. As my John Locke Foundation colleague Jon Sanders has written, the North Carolina General Assembly should also take the interests of small businesses into account when writing rules, require just compensation when regulations reduce or eliminate the profitable use of private property, speed up North Carolina's "review and sunset" pro- cess for outmoded regulations, and repeal ambiguous laws that surrender too much policymaking authority to unelected agency heads. Although political debate and news coverage about it might suggest other- wise, regulatory reform isn't some hob- byhorse for special interests. It is very much in the general interest of North Carolinians. We need much more of it. JOHN HOOD, Board Member, John Locke Foundation. COMMENTS? Editor@upandcomingweekly.com. 910-484-6200 DEMOCRATS AND REPUBLICANS AGREE: FAYETTEVILLE CITIZENS DESERVE MORE SAY ON CITY COUNCIL REMEMBER TO VOTE YES FOR THE FAYETTEVILLE CHARTER AMENDMENT AT THE END OF YOUR BALLOT! As a former City Council member, I recognize the district model of Council's impact on addressing issues across district lines. Not being accountable for ignoring concerns in a fellow council member's area has led to delays in handling infrastructure improvements, public safety concerns, and other critical needs. Allowing citizens to hold more of their elected body responsible through their vote is vital to our city's success. - Tisha Waddell, Democrat, Council Member from 2017-2021. To me it's a simple choice, this amendment allows for us to vote for six council members instead of two. There's no better example of a representative government than to be able to vote for a majority of members of a governmental board. - Nat Robertson, Republican, Mayor of Fayetteville from 2013-2017 During my eight years as mayor, I witnessed first-hand the ineffectiveness of a council structure that rewards elected people to think small and often not consider what is best for the entire city. The proposed structure with five districts and four at-large seats provides an effective balance that allows Fayetteville to compete for better jobs with other cities in the state. - Tony Chavonne, Democrat, Mayor of Fayetteville from 2005-2013