SB 512 - Greater Accountability for Boards/Commissions

SB 512: Greater Accountability for Boards/Commissions helps provide a check on the unchallenged power of the governor’s office to appoint allies to these highly influential boards and commissions single-handedly. Regardless of party, healthy tension among the branches of government providing checks and balances is good for policymaking.

In particular, SB 512 takes critical first steps to reform the N.C. Utilities Commission (NCUC). The current executive branch monopoly on the NCUC appears to have created a problem with how the commission handles policy, impacting North Carolinians’ energy costs, disjointing their mandate from the legislature in H.B. 951, and chilling free speech at public comment hearings.

The current structure needs reform, and this bill is a necessary step to addressing separation of powers issues in our state.