The North Carolina Department of Commerce was formed in 1971 by the North Carolina State Government Reorganization Act. The department is headed by the Secretary of Commerce, who is appointed by the

Governor of North Carolina The governor of North Carolina is the head of government of the U.S. state of North Carolina. The governor directs the executive branch of the government and is the commander in chief of the military forces of the state. The current governor, ...

. The Secretary is part of the Governor's

Cabinet Cabinet or The Cabinet may refer to: Furniture * Cabinetry, a box-shaped piece of furniture with doors and/or drawers * Display cabinet, a piece of furniture with one or more transparent glass sheets or transparent polycarbonate sheets * Filing ...

. The chief function of the department is to connect businesses with locations, workforce and infrastructure in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

that businesses need to succeed. The department also connects local communities with grants and funding sources to attract new business to North Carolina. The department also staffs and receives policy guidance from: the North Carolina Board of Science, Technology, and Innovation; the NCWorks Commission; and the Rural Infrastructure Authority.

History

The North Carolina Department of Commerce was created in 1971 by the

North Carolina State Government Reorganization Act North is one of the four compass points or cardinal directions. It is the opposite of south and is perpendicular to east and west. ''North'' is a noun, adjective, or adverb indicating direction or geography. Etymology The word ''north'' is ...

, specifically General Statute 143B, Article 10, Paragraph 143B-427: :"There is hereby recreated and reconstituted a Department to be known as the Department of Commerce, with the organization, powers, and duties defined in Article 1 of this Chapter, except as modified in this Article." The Reorganization Act was part of an effort to reduce the number of state organizations and improve efficiency in government. The Department of Commerce is headed by the Secretary, who is selected by the Governor, and serves during the governor's tenure. The Secretary is one of the members of the Governor's

. In its early history, the Department was simply an administrative umbrella providing support for a number of different regulatory agencies, each of which exercised its authority independently. In 1977, the North Carolina General Assembly transferred the state Division of Economic Development from the Natural/Economic Resources department into the Commerce department, among other changes.

Secretaries

The Secretaries of the Department of Commerce have included:

Included organizations

The following state organizations are included in the Department of Commerce: * Division of Employment Security (formerly the Employment Security Commission) * State Savings and Loan Commission * Banking Commission * Community Development Council * Credit Union Division * Industrial Commission * Public Staff of the Utilities Commission * Rural Electrification Authority * Seafood Industrial Park Authority * Travel & Tourism Board *

North Carolina Utilities Commission The North Carolina Utilities Commission is a government agency that regulates the various utilities of the state of North Carolina. The Commission also regulates household goods transportation, buses, brokers and ferryboats. The Commission consis ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:North Carolina Department of Commerce Government of North Carolina

Commerce Commerce is the large-scale organized system of activities, functions, procedures and institutions directly and indirectly related to the exchange (buying and selling) of goods and services among two or more parties within local, regional, nation ...

State departments of commerce of the United States

Department of Commerce The United States Department of Commerce is an executive department of the U.S. federal government concerned with creating the conditions for economic growth and opportunity. Among its tasks are gathering economic and demographic data for bu ...

Organizations based in Raleigh, North Carolina State departments of economic development in the United States