Expirations on regulations.

• Author: Hood, John
• Position: FREE&CLEAR

Slowly but surely, North Carolina is emerging from the bottom of the economic heap. While our unemployment rate is still one of the nation's highest, and has remained above 9% since early 2009, broader measures of economic growth show modest improvement. In the Bloomberg Economic Evaluation of the States Index, which includes things such as personal income and asset prices, North Carolina ranked 46th in the first quarter of 2011. Two years later, it was 37th.

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Obviously, it is way too soon to proclaim a Carolina comeback. If you consider not just jobless people looking for work but also those who are not or settling for part-time work, the true unemployment rate for North Carolina during 2012 was 16.3%. Though that's down from 17.7% in 2009, it remains a staggeringly high number.

State economies prosper or struggle for myriad reasons, most outside the control of policymakers. What governors, legislators and local officials can do is ensure the effective delivery of core government services (i.e., public investment) while avoiding high taxes or regulatory burdens that repel entrepreneurs, executives and high-value professionals (i.e., private investment).

For too long, North Carolina got this mix all wrong. We kept the cost of doing business too high while spending too much tax money on giveaway programs that subsidized consumption rather than improving our physical and human capital. Fortunately, things are beginning to change. Since 2011, state lawmakers have reformed our tort system, regulatory process and unemployment-insurance program. Gov. Pat McCrory's new administration wants to reduce the cost of North Carolina's Medicaid program (the most expensive in the South) and shift transportation spending to high-value projects that relieve traffic congestion and create jobs. Both the legislative and executive branches have promised pro-growth reforms of the state's tax code, though in early May it wasn't clear what--or if anything--will pass this year.

Those are good first steps. But there remains plenty of room for improvement. For example, I hope they don't think the regulatory reforms of 2011 and 2012 put an end to overregulation. North Carolina should do more.

The logical next step is in a bill filed in both the Senate and House this year. Called "Periodic Review and Expiration of Rules," it would phase in a 10-year sunset for all state regulations, rules that, if violated, result in fines or civil penalties...