Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – August 25, 2014

northcarolina_sealLast week was the final week of the 2013 -2014 session. The only thing that can bring us back is a special session called by the Governor. The session this year lasted from mid-May until last Wednesday, August 20th. We had hoped to be finished by July 4th, but negotiations on the budget and other major subjects kept us in session for about three months. The next session for 2015-2016 begins in mid-January.

There were three things on everyone’s mind as we went to Raleigh last Monday. They were the economic development incentives bill, the coal ash bill, and the adjournment resolution.

House Bill 1224 – Local Sales Tax Options and Economic Development Changes contained a closing fund that the Secretary of Commerce could use to attract new industry that might be considering North Carolina and other states. The funds were contained in the budget, but this bill had to pass to authorize it. There were other provisions concerning sales tax caps for the counties. There was a lot of debate over the different provisions, and the vote was 47 – 54 against it. The defeat of this bill throws a major project in Brunswick County into doubt.

There were two other bills that depended on the passage of this bill, so an adjustment to the film incentive program that might have saved a series such as “Under the Dome” also was defeated. This was extremely disappointing to me. Even the most avid tax reform advocates in my party agree that this is a transition period where incentives should be phased out while we get to a zero tax rate, not chopped off altogether, as we are doing here.

Senate Bill 729 – Coal Ash Management Act of 2014 had been in negotiations for weeks, and it appeared that we might not have a coal ash bill this session. A breakthrough came last week in time for a vote in both the House and Senate on the final conference report. The bill spells out that four sites are high priority, including the Sutton Plant site just north of us on the Cape Fear River. Even though this plant has been converted to natural gas for two years, it still has coal ash ponds which must be dealt with. The bill sets up a commission to prioritize all the sites across the state, and work with the Dept. of Environment and Natural Resources and Duke Energy to clean them up over a 15 to 20 year period starting now. After much debate, the vote in the House was 84 – 13 for approval and 38 – 2 in the Senate. It went to the Governor for his signature last Wednesday.

The adjournment resolution finally arrived on the House floor Wednesday and was voted on unanimously. As disappointed as I was with some of the unfinished business, I knew we had done all that we could, and it was time to go home. We adjourned Wednesday afternoon “sine die”, which means “without a date certain”. This meant that the session was over, all bills that did not pass are now dead, and we would not be back until a new General Assembly is elected in November and takes office in January. Only a special session called by the Governor or some extreme emergency could bring us back. These last two and a half terms have been interesting, challenging, and rewarding. I look forward to the 2015 – 2016 term to take care of unfinished business as well as new challenges.