Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – July 20, 2015

Last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives the Speaker appointed the committee who will negotiate the budget, we passed a bill to make amusement rides and zip lines safer, and we continued discussing the differences between the House and Senate budgets.

On Tuesday Speaker Moore appointed the House conferees or members of the committee which will negotiate with the Senate to resolve the differences between our two budgets. It is a very large committee, as many of us will negotiate parts of it and the major or “big” chairs will negotiate the final product when it is put together. I was appointed as a Vice Chair of the conference committee.

Many of our local governments are anxiously awaiting the final budget to see if the sales tax package, school issues, and coastal issues are resolved to their satisfaction. I will be active in all these issues, although my most direct focus is in the transportation budget.

A little-known bill came back to the House for our concurrence on Tuesday that deals with safety on two categories of popular entertainment. House Bill 39 – Labor/Up Amusement Device Penalties increases by five times the penalties for safety violations on amusement rides, such as are used at the NC State Fair. This is a response to an accident at the State Fair just a couple of years ago where safety violations led to injury and death. The bill also authorizes a study of zip line safety. Many zip line locations have sprung up in recent years, on both public and private land. It is hoped this study will lead to uniformity in insuring the safety of these installations.

We have a new zip line park in Brunswick County on Ocean Isle Beach Road, also known as Four Mile Road. The Shallotte River Swamp Park has recently opened and many visitors are enjoying it. I know that Mr. McMullen had experts design and build this new facility, and that it should be at the peak of safety. However, many of the public and private facilities will not be of this quality. The question is how much regulation is needed to make all the facilities safe while not overdoing it with the “backyard” zip lines. This is also a response to two recent incidents which were at summer camps.

Budget discussions that have been ongoing among the Appropriations chairs got more detailed and pointed last week. We hope that the transportation section will be completed soon. Some of the other issues will take quite a bit longer.