North Carolina Legislative Report - July 25, 2014

July 19 - 25, 2014

The General Assembly’s Short Session began Wednesday, May 14, 2014. The MVA Public Affairs Legislative Report on North Carolina will be distributed weekly to keep you up to date on the latest legislative issues facing the state.

Governor's Desk

This week, the Governor signed H 644, Prevent Hazardous Drug Exposure, S 105, Add Towns to SHP, S 614, Military Lands Protection Act, S 794, Disapprove Industrial Commission Rules and S 812, Replace Common Core with NC’s Higher Academic Standards.

On The Floor

This week, the Senate passed H 201, Building Reutilization for Economic Development Act, H 1195, Fiscal Integrity/Pension-Spiking Prevention, H 27, Escheat Savings Bond Trust Fund/Scholarships, H 625, Zoning/Health Care Structure, H 369, Criminal Law Changes, H 1224, Local Sales Tax Options/Economic Development Changes and S 763, Revenue Laws Technical Changes.

The House passed H 1277, Honor Jim Fulghum, H 201, Building Reutilization for Economic Development Act, H 625, Zoning/Health Care Structure, H 1044, Averasboro Township TDA Changes, H 27, Escheat Savings Bond Trust Fund/Scholarships, H 1133, Technical and Other Corrections, H 101, Special License Plate Development Process, and the conference report for S 793, Charter School Modifications.

Committee Reports

Senate Rules Committee

On Wednesday, the Senate Rules Committee met and passed five bills out of Committee. H 1181, NC Medicaid Modernization, seeks to modernize North Carolina's Medicaid program through full-risk capitated health plans to be managed by a new department of medical benefits. H 369, Criminal Law Changes, seeks to make changes to various criminal laws and to clarify to which local government contracts E-Verify applies. S 201, Stanly Community College Capital Project, seeks to authorize Stanly Community College to enter into agreements with Stanly County to jointly erect buildings on property owned by Stanly Community College. S 859, Cities/Regulation of Vacation Rentals, seeks to change zoning regulations for vacation rentals or other transient occupancies for the Town of Cornelius. H 1151, Fayetteville Red Light Changes, seeks to make changes to the law governing red light cameras in Fayetteville.

Senate Finance Committee

The Committee met three times this week. On Monday, the Committee began discussions on H 1224, Local Sales Tax Options/Econ Devpt Changes. The bill would create a new Jobs Catalyst Fund to provide grant money for major economic development projects, provide a one-time increase in availability of funds under the JDIG program, provide additional flexibility in the JMAC program, and an exemption from registration and filing requirements for certain securities marketed through crowd funding. The most controversial parts of the bill would provide more flexibility with respect to local sales taxes for 94 of the State's 100 counties, but would cap the maximum rate of local sales and use tax at 2.5% (except for Durham and Orange Counties which currently impose local taxes at a rate of 2.75%). The counties that would lose flexibility under this proposal are Forsyth, Guilford, Mecklenburg, and Wake.

On Tuesday, the Committee met twice. During the morning meeting, the Committee approved three local bills - H 1044, Averasboro Township TDA Changes; H 1054, Spindale/Cape Fear Sewer Collection Fee; and H 1059, New Hanover Occup. Tax Use. In addition, the Committee approved H 625, Zoning/Health Care Structure, which would exempt temporary family health care structures from zoning requirements but would also require a permit for installation of such a structure. Finally, the Committee approved S 763, Revenue Laws Technical Changes. During the afternoon meeting, the Committee gave approval to H 1224, Local Sales Tax Options/Econ Devpt Changes (discussed above), and H 27, Escheat Savings Bond Trust Fund/Scholarships, which would establish a process for placing certain abandoned U.S. Savings Bonds in the State Escheat Fund.

House Rules Committee

The Committee met on Thursday, July 25 to address four bills. H 1133, Technical and Other Corrections, makes changes to numerous statutes, including grammatical errors and corrections to statute citations. S 773, Implement GSC Recommendations, implements various recommendations by the General Statutes Commission. S 788, Town of Duck/Eminent Domain, allows the Town of Duck to use its eminent domain authority for the purpose of beach erosion control and flood and hurricane protection. S 877, Exempt Time Shares/Rule Against Perpetuities, exempts certain real estate time shares from rules against perpetuities. All bills received favorable reports in Committee and were passed by the House Friday, July 25.

In The News

Fayetteville Observer: Lawmakers work into the evening to reconcile budget differences

Raleigh News & Observer: NC senators push for new incentives to encourage relocating businesses

WRAL: Senate approves sales tax cap after efforts to raise limit fail

WRAL: Senate votes to overhaul Medicaid

Associated Press: McCrory signs Common Core changes into law

Charlotte Observer: Putting coal ash at the airport still on the table

Raleigh News & Observer: Former appeals court judge runs again

Calendar

Mon, July 28, 2014
9:30 AM	Session Convenes (Senate)	Senate

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