NC Bill Lifted Word-For-Word From ALEC; No Pollution Penalties, Secret Self-Audits, Fine Waivers

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Introduced this week, the Regulatory Reform Act of 2014 won preliminary approval Thursday in the GOP-led state Senate. The bill's three GOP co-sponsors said in a joint statement that the measure removes "many ambiguous, onerous and obsolete regulations that increase the burden and expense on North Carolina families and job-creating businesses."

Some of the changes appear straightforward, such as getting rid of a century-old ban on cursing while on state highways. But environmentalists are alarmed by a section that encourages industries to self-report environmental violations to the state or to seek a voluntary compliance audit. As an incentive, the state could waive civil penalties or fines for the self-reported pollution and the audits pertaining to the violations would be kept confidential. Parts of the provision appear to have been copied word for word from a model bill displayed on the website of the American Legislative Exchange Council, an association of corporations and conservative lawmakers that seek to influence legislation nationwide.

"This is more customer service from the legislature to polluters," said Derb Carter, the North Carolina director of the Southern Environmental Law Center. "Penalties are a deterrent to polluters. Waiving civil penalties for self-reported violations creates an incentive to pollute then self-report later."

Sen. Trudy Wade, R-Guilford and a primary sponsor of the wide-ranging regulatory overhaul, told colleagues the idea of self-audits was designed to encourage companies and other potential polluters to clean up problems proactively.

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http://www.news-record.com/news/north_carolina_ap/article_d7db667a-43b3-596a-93a1-e7c78fe9a51d.html