The Mercatus Center at George Mason University has quantified North Carolina’s regulatory burden — and it is huge. Remember, these are state-based regulations in addition to federal regulations. Just imagine the impact.

State RegData also reveals that the NCAC contains 109,350 restrictions and roughly 8.7 million words. It would take an individual about 483 hours—or more than 12 weeks—to read the entire NCAC. That’s assuming the reader spends 40 hours per week reading and reads at a rate of 300 words per minute. For comparison, in 2017 there were more than 1.15 million additional restrictions in the federal code. Individuals and businesses in North Carolina must navigate these different layers of restrictions to remain in compliance.

This Mercatus report illustrates why it is so critical that North Carolina pare back the rules/regulatory burden. Thankfully, North Carolina’s rules review process is working.