On January 10, 1977, Governor James B. Hunt, Jr. used his first executive order to create the North Carolina Board of Ethics. It consisted of five persons appointed by the Governor. The list of those covered by the order and thus subject to the Board’s jurisdiction was substantially the same as it is today and included employees in the Governor’s office, department heads and their chief assistants, employees in exempt policy-making positions, and appointees to non-advisory boards and commissions. The financial disclosures required in "Statements of Economic Interest" (SEI) were also very similar to those in the current Order. The Board’s main duties and responsibilities in 1977 were reviewing SEIs, rendering advisory opinions, and investigating complaints. The Board’s enforcement powers were much more limited, however: the Board could investigate complaints, issue a report to the appropriate appointing authority, and recommend "remedial action with respect to any problem revealed by such an investigation." Note that the Board did not have the power to issue sanctions against individual Public Officials found in violation of the Order. "Sanctions" consisted of appropriate disciplinary action against employees, but such disciplinary action was not for the Board to mete out.

Governor Hunt’s original ethics order remained in effect for his two terms. Like his predecessor, Governor James G. Martin used his first executive order to establish a Board of Ethics on January 31, 1985. Persons subject to the Order and the financial disclosures required remained substantially the same. The Board’s duties and powers likewise remained substantially the same, including its ability to investigate and report on complaints. Once again the Board did not have the power to issue sanctions against individual Public Officials found in violation of the Order.

In 1986, Governor Martin expanded the Board’s membership to seven gubernatorial appointees, and in 1990 he amended his ethics order "to include all members of boards, commissions, and councils within the executive branch that exercise the sovereignty of the State and/or advise the heads of principal departments, irrespective of appointing authority." He also used Executive Order 127 to extend the Board of Ethics for a period of five years.

When Governor Hunt returned to office in 1993, he once again used his first executive order (January 9, 1993) to establish the Board of Ethics. The Board’s membership, jurisdiction, and duties, including its investigative and enforcement powers, remained substantially the same as they had been under the prior version of the Order. In May of 1993, Governor Hunt slightly amended Executive Order 1 to delete the provision which prohibited full-time State employees subject to the Order from holding any other public employment for compensation (EO 14; May 20, 1993).

Things changed dramatically in 1997. As a result of real and perceived problems at the Department of Transportation that year, Governor Hunt totally revised his ethics order in early 1998. Executive Orders 127 and 131 greatly expanded the Board of Ethics’ powers and duties, particularly in the areas of ethics education, financial disclosure and evaluation, and enforcement. For example, the new Order charged the Board with developing and implementing an ethics education and awareness program for all covered Public Officials. In addition, the Board was given broader powers to investigate complaints and take strong remedial action in appropriate cases. For the first time in its 20-year history, the Board was charged with issuing specific sanctions against Public Officials. Moreover, the Board could recommend that an offending Public Official be removed from his or her State position. Agency heads (which included board chairs) were given more supervisory and leadership responsibilities, and specific "rules of conduct" for covered Public Officials were expanded and explained in greater detail. For the first time, Public Officials were directed to avoid "even the appearance of a conflict of interest." Other rules regarding the disclosure of confidential information, the hiring of family members, and the acceptance of honoraria were added. Overall, EO 127 was the greatest expansion of the Board’s powers and duties in its 20-year history.

Governor Easley’s first executive order modified, but largely left intact, the significant changes of Governor Hunt’s EO 127. While Governor Easley’s Executive Order Number One retained the basic philosophical approach of its predecessor, the new Order made some significant changes. The most obvious change was a general reorganization of sections and subsections in order to, among other things, combine all duties and responsibilities pertaining to individuals (e.g., Agency heads) or public bodies (e.g., the Board of Ethics) into comprehensive sections. The Board’s ability to sanction Public Officials was also retained, although the Board was given more discretion in that area.

Today, the Board of Ethics remains the State’s primary conflict of interest "watchdog" for high-level employees and appointees in the executive branch of State government. As always, the Board's overall mission is to protect the public interest and maintain the public trust by helping Public Officials, and the boards and commissions on which they sit, avoid conflicts of interest and appearances of conflict of interest as they perform their public duties.