Perdue deals blow to North Carolina’s Job Creators

Raleigh, N.C. – Gov. Beverly Perdue on Thursday vetoed several bills
designed to provide certainty for job-creating businesses in the private
sector. Unemployment in North Carolina remains higher than the national
average, and the state’s economy has shed more than 100,000 jobs over
the past two years.

“Not so long ago, Gov. Perdue claimed to champion several of the issues
she rejected. An indecisive, politically-desperate politician trying to
cater to her base, she now stands squarely with fringe environmental
groups and liberal special interests in opposing the job-creating sector
of North Carolina’s economy,” said Senate President Pro Tempore Phil
Berger (R-Rockingham).

Berger said if the governor had legitimate constitutional concerns, she
should have voiced them before today.

Veto of SB 709, Energy Jobs Act:

“At a time when North Carolina families and businesses are struggling
with outrageous energy costs, Gov. Perdue rejected a golden opportunity
to develop affordable and clean energy alternatives that would create
thousands of new, good-paying jobs,” Berger said. “Once again, she caved
to her liberal political allies instead of doing what’s best for our
state.”

The Energy Jobs Act directed the governor to begin negotiating a
tri-state pact with the governors of Virginia and South Carolina to
encourage President Obama to allow offshore energy exploration.

It also directed her to work with North Carolina’s Congressional
delegation to advocate for state revenue-sharing for resources off the
coast, and directed how that money would be spent. Nearly half of the
funds would have gone to jobs training, energy research and
conservation.

North Carolina’s offshore energy reserves are thought to be mostly
natural gas – the cleanest fossil fuel. The state has 64 million federal
offshore acres, the most on the East Coast and the fourth largest
acreage in the country.

Veto of SB 781, Regulatory Reform Act:

“This is a common-sense bill that passed the Senate unanimously.
Thousands of burdensome and confusing regulations are creating
uncertainty in the private sector and crippling the job-creating
businesses that will lead us out of the recession,” Berger said. “We
will keep fighting to reform the bloated bureaucracy Gov. Perdue helped
create.”

SB 781 clarifies and simplifies some of North Carolina’s confusing and
outdated regulations, making it easier for citizens and businesses to
attain permits and rely on more predictable guidelines. State agencies
have added or changed more than 15,000 rules over the past decade.

Among other important improvements, the bill:

* Prohibits any state environmental rules that are more
restrictive than federal regulations

* Requires the state to review and eliminate burdensome rules
annually

* Gives judges, not agencies, the final say in disputed cases

* Provides more time and opportunity for public input on
crafting and changing rules, making the process more transparent

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