North Carolina Legislative Report - May 1, 2015
May 1, 2015
The General Assembly convened for the 2015 legislative session on January 14. Lawmakers returned to Raleigh on January 28 to begin the session in earnest. The MVA Public Affairs Legislative Report on North Carolina will be distributed weekly basis to keep you up to date on the latest legislative issues facing the state.
On The Floor
The General Assembly’s crossover deadline was April 30th, so a flurry of legislative activity took place this week as lawmakers rushed to get legislative priorities passed through the chambers.
For legislative action lookup by day, click below:
Committees
House Regulatory Reform Committee
The House Regulatory Reform Committee met on Monday and Tuesday. On Monday, the House Regulatory Reform Committee approved three bills. H 705, Amend Septic Tank Requirements, seeks to broaden the types of subsurface wastewater treatment systems that may serve as the basis for designated repair area requirements for replacement wastewater treatment systems. H 742, Clarify PE Licensure, seeks to clarify the requirements for initial licensure as a professional engineer. H 760, seeks to provide further regulatory relief to the citizens of NC by providing various administrative reforms, by eliminating certainly unnecessary statues and regulations. It also seeks to modernize or simplify outdated regulations.
On Tuesday, the House Regulatory Reform Committee passed three bills. H 763, seeks to establish the NC Joint Legislative Task Force on Regulatory Reform. H 706, Building Code/Rustic Cabins, would require the Building Code Council to amend the NC Building Code to exempt open air camp cabins from certain requirements of the code. H 812, Grant Recipients Posted on Grantor Web Site, seeks to ensure that information on grant funds awarded buy state agencies is readily available on state agency websites.
House Banking Committee
The House Banking Committee met on Monday, April 27, and approved four bills. H 511, Credit Unions/Statutory Changes, would replace the terms "insured bank or savings and loan association" with "federally insured depository institution"; provide an additional way that credit unions can invest their funds; and provide that certain officials of credit unions may also be reimbursed for "reasonable expenses". H 126, Mortgage Origination Support Registration, would authorize the Office of the Commissioner of Banks to implement a registration system for person engaged exclusively in the processing or underwriting of residential mortgage loans and not otherwise engaged in the mortgage business. H 289, NC Money Transmitters Act.-AB, would enact a new Money Transmitters Act (MTA) as requested by the Office of the North Carolina Commissioner of Banks. H 627, Study Financial Transaction Card Fraud, would direct the Legislative Research Commission to study methods to provide additional protections to users of financial transaction cards.
House Health Committee
The House Health Committee meeting met on Monday and approved thirteen bills. H 135, Modernize Physical Therapy Practice, seeks to update the definition of physical therapy to include manipulation of the spine without a prescription from a physician licensed to practice medicine in this state. H 309, Got Natural Milk, would allow the dispensing of raw milk and raw milk products to independent or partial owners of lactating animals for personal use or consumption. H 290, Prohibit Powdered Alcohol, seeks to prohibit the sale, possession or consumption of powdered alcohol and to clarify that the APA applies to certain actions taken by the ABC Commission. H 712, Pilot Project/Used Needle Disposal, seeks to direct SBI to establish and implement a used needle and hypodermic syringe disposal pilot program. H 724, Amend Composition of NC Medical Board, would revise the membership of the NC Medical Board to ensure that at least on physician assistant and at least one nurse practitioner serve as members of the board. H 768, Heat Stroke Prevention/Student Athletes, seeks to require the SBOE and local boards of education to address heat-related illnesses during school athletic activities and to recodify the statutory provisions on concussion safety. H 823, Establish Advisory Council on Rare Diseases, would establish an Advisory Council on Rare Diseases within DHHS. H 832, Revise Certain Policies/Child Care Subsidy, seeks to provide for prorated co-payments for part-time subsidized child care and revise the definition of income unit in the child care subsidy policy to no longer include nonparent relative caretaker. H 814, would require the chief medical examiner to establish a medical examiner training program that includes training regarding sudden unexplained death in epilepsy during medicolegal death investigations. H 847, Parental Rights and Med. Treatment of Minors, seeks to protect parents from reports of abuse or neglect based solely on a decision to follow treatment recommended by a health care provider and to provide for parents’ fundamental rights. H 20, Reegan’s Rule/Childhood Diabetes Education, would require parent education during well-child visits at specific age intervals regarding type I diabetes. H 925, Require Hospitals to Offer Influenza Vaccine, seeks to amend the Hospital Licensure Act to require hospitals to offer inpatients sixty-five years of age or older immunization against the flu virus. H 729, Standards for Chiropractic Peer Review, seeks to require chiropractic peer review of motor vehicle liability and medical payment claims to be performed by individuals licensed to practice chiropractic in this state.
Senate Heath Care Committee
The Senate Health Care Committee met on Monday and approved two bills. S 363, Expand Outdoor Food Service at Public Events, would authorize pushcarts or mobile food units to prepare and serve food on the premises, provided they are based from a commissary or restaurant located on the premises of a facility containing three thousand permanent seats. S 598, would require DHHS to adopt rules addressing substance-exposed newborn child protective services cases.
House Education – K-12 Committee
The House Education – K-12 Committee met on Tuesday and approved seven bills. H 238, Duty-Free Time/Lunch for Teachers, seeks to provide that all teachers have duty-free instructional planning time and duty-free lunch. H 581, Computer Coding Course Elective, seeks to require the SBOE to develop and identify courses in computer programming and coding that can be offered as elective courses for middle school and high school students. H 587, School Flexibility Act, seeks to establish public school flexibility. H 673, Modify Read to Achieve, seeks to modify the statutes pertaining to Reach to Achieve. H 687, Public Schools/Testing Schedule, seeks to provide flexibility to local school administrative units in establishing the annual testing schedule and ensuring that the teacher of record may administer tests to students. H 803, School Performance Scores, seeks to act to increase the weight of school growth in the calculation of school performance scores. H 248, Eliminate NC Final Exam, seeks to eliminate the NC final exam and the analysis of student work process as the measures used to populate standard six of the teacher evaluation instrument and instead use school-wide growth values for teachers who teach less than sixty percent of their time in end-of-grade or end-of-course subjects.
Senate Commerce Committee
The Senate Commerce Committee met on Tuesday and approved four bills. S 429, Labor/2015 Technical and Conforming Changes, seeks to make technical and conforming changes to the labor laws of North Carolina. S 694, seeks to enact the Employee Fair Classification Act. S 88, Pole Attachment Disputes, seeks to assign pole attachment disputes to the NC Utilities Commission. S 363, Expand Outdoor Food Service at Public Events, would authorize pushcarts or mobile food unites to prepare and serve food on the premises, provided they are based from a commissary or restaurant located on the premises of a facility containing three thousand permanent seats.
House Finance
The House Finance Committee met on Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. On Tuesday, the Committee passed four bills. H 392 Fayetteville Charter/PWC Changes, would amend the Charter of the City of Fayetteville to make changes related to the membership and operation of the Public Works Commission. H 307, Zebulon Charter/Use of Certain Fees, would amend the charter of the Town of Zebulon to make the several changes with respect to road or drainage projects fees, open space project fees, and recreation project fees. H 476, Driver’s License Fee/Donate Life NC, would require the Division of Motor Vehicles (DMV) to accept a voluntary contribution of $2 or more from every person paying for a remote renewal of a driver’s license and credit all donations to the License to Give Trust Fund for the benefit of Donate Life North Carolina. H 739, Repeal Business License Fees, would repeal the authority of cities to charge a reasonable fee for regulating and licensing businesses operating within their limits. H 800, Clarify Motor Vehicle Dealer Laws, would make numerous changes to North Carolina's Motor Vehicle Dealers and Manufacturers Licensing Law.
On Wednesday, the Committee approved two bills. H 126, Mortgage Origination Support Registration, would amend the Secure and Fair Enforcement Mortgage Licensing Act to authorize the Commissioner of Banks to implement a registration system for persons engaged exclusively in the processing or underwriting of mortgage loans and not engaged in the mortgage business. H 909, Sale of Antique Spirituous Liquor, would authorize and regulate the sale of antique spirituous liquor. "Antique spirituous liquor" is spirituous liquor in the original, unopened bottle, that has been bottled at least 20 years, is intended for beverage use, and is no longer in production.
Senate Finance Committee
On Tuesday, the Committee approved seven bills. S 120, DOI License Processing Fees, would allow the contracting party the option to charge different fees based on the effort necessary to process licenses for each category of applicant or licensees. S 273, Motor Vehicle Tax: Waive Penalties/Interest, would authorize counties to reduce or waive interest or penalties on delinquent motor vehicle taxes for tax years prior to July 1, 2013. S 330, Change Orders on School Construction Projects, would allow a local school board to adopt a policy to allow a superintendent or the superintendent's designee to approve change orders on school construction projects in some instances, and provide a mechanism for approval by the chair of the local board of education or the chair's designee in certain instances such as health and safety issues or increased costs. S 332, Register of Deeds-POA Indexing Fees. S 345, Limit Storage Duration for Damaged Vehicle, would limit the period of time a vehicle can be impounded after a collision to 20 days unless a court order provides otherwise. S 386, Registers of Deeds/UCC Recording Fees, would specify fees for filing instruments governed by the Uniform Commercial Code with registers of deeds. S 472, Local Incentives for Historic Rehabilitation, would authorize cities and counties to make grants or loans for the rehabilitation of commercial or noncommercial historic structures, whether the structure is publicly or privately owned. In addition, the Committee continued its discussions of several large tax and economic development bills – H 117, NC Competes Act; S 338, Economic Development/Tax Modifications; and S 526, Job Creation and Tax Relief Act of 2015 – but took no action on those bills.
Senate Education
The Senate Education Committee met twice on Tuesday, April 28, to take action on nine bills. SB 95, Performance-Based RIF/School Policy, directs local boards of education to adopt performance based reduction in force policies. SB 97, State Advisory Council on Indian Education, changes the composition of the State Advisory Council on Indian Education. SB 211, Damages for Late Payment of Monies/Charters, provides for an additional five percent monetary penalty for the prevailing party in an action between a local school administrative unit and a charter school regarding the transfer of per pupil share of the local current expense fund. SB 400, Encourage Access to Boy Scouts/Girl Scouts, directs local boards of education to encourage schools to facilitate access for students to participate in activities provided by the Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts. SB 456, Charter School Modifications, makes various changes to the charter school. SB 478, In-State Tuition for Certain Vets/Fed Prog makes certain veterans and other individuals entitled to federal education benefits under the Montgomery GI Bill Active Duty Education Program or the Post-9/11 Educational Assistance Program eligible for in-state tuition by waiving the twelve month residency requirement. SB 524, Founding Principles/Graduation Requirement, makes changes to the Founding Principles Act. SB 561, Career and College Ready Graduates, requires State Board of Community Colleges to develop a program providing community college remediation to high school seniors beginning with the 2016-17 school year. SB 597, Repeal References to ABCs, repeals references to the ABCs program in the general statutes. All nine bills received favorable reports in Committee and given approval by the full Senate on the floor.
Senate Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee
The Senate Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources Committee met on Wednesday and approved two bills. S 546, seeks to require DHHS to establish regulations governing the sanitation of deer processing establishments that make charitable donations of venison for human consumption to food banks and other nonprofit organizations. S 132, Carteret Fox Trapping, seeks to establish a season for trapping foxes in Carteret County.
In The News
WRAL: Costly, Controversial: Lawmakers have just month to tame Medicaid beast
Asheville Citizen-Times: Duke plant focus of air quality public meeting
Associated Press: U.S. Rep. Mark Sanford opposes off shore testing, drilling
News and Observer: House oks testing for student testing, school grades
WRAL: School grading formula tweaked again
WRAL: Delay on incentives worries former commerce leaders
News and Observer: House adjourns as crossover deadline arrives
News and Observer: Duke Energy to build ash landfills at 2 NC power plants
News and Observer: Lyons Gray to move from Revenue to Utilities Commission
WRAL: House votes to weaken renewable energy requirements
News and Observer: NC Legislature’s deadline kills many bills, at least for now
WRAL: After crossover, what’s next?
Calendar
| Mon, May 04, 2015 | ||
| 3:00 PM | Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee -- CORRECTED | |
| 4:00 PM | Session Convenes (House) | |
| 7:00 PM | Session Convenes (Senate) | |
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| 8:30 AM | Appropriations (House) Second Amendment Affirmation Act. (H562) | |
| 9:00 AM | Appropriations, Justice and Public Safety -- CANCELLED (House) | |
| 10:00 AM | Judiciary II (Senate) Self-Settled Trusts (for discussion only) (S466) | 1124/1224 LB |
| 11:00 AM | Senator Jeff Jackson and Senator Woodard Press Conference | |
| 12:00 PM | Transportation -- CORRECTED (House) Reestablish NC as the "Good Roads State". (FOR DISCUSSION ONLY) (H927) | |
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| 8:30 AM | Finance (House) Exempt Builders' Inventory. (H168) | |
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| 11:15 AM | Senator Brown Press Conference | |