THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, January 22, 1996 TAG: 9601220123
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: DURHAM LENGTH: Short : 47 lines
A review of state regulations proposed just before a new law went into effect only will keep a fraction of rules filed by agencies under the governor's control off the books.
Eighty-four percent of the 420 rules proposed by workers under Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. will go on as scheduled because they met the criteria he established. And Hunt's staff did not even review almost half of the more than 1,000 rules proposed from across state government because they were not submitted as ordered, The Herald-Sun of Durham reported in Sunday's editions.
State bureaucrats and regulatory boards asked for rule changes at a record pace late last year in an effort to beat the Dec. 1 law making it harder to win their approval.
This flood angered Hunt, who ordered the review, and legislative leaders, who threatened to introduce a bill this year repealing all of the new rules rushed into place.
Hunt was disappointed with the results of the review, according to a spokesman.
``The governor is not real happy about the 84 percent that are going to be pursued, even though they met his criteria,'' said Clay Johnson, adding Hunt is ``not happy that a lot of folks did not submit their rules for review. He's going to be talking to folks about that.''
Hunt's staff reviewed 566 of a little more than 1,000 new rules in the last issue of the N.C. Register - the state's official publication for rules - before the new law went into effect.
About half of the new rules that escaped the scrutiny of Hunt's staff came from departments run by other statewide elected officials and half came from boards and commissions.
In ordering the review, Hunt told cabinet secretaries to stop pursuing the rules unless they were technical corrections, were necessary to comply with state of federal law or needed to be adopted immediately.
A legislative panel set up in the Dec. 1 law to review future rules has yet to meet after its meeting was postponed earlier this month due to bad weather. by CNB