Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – September 21, 2015
Last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives we passed the 2015 – 2017 state budget, we made it a felony to post certain revenge postings on the internet and we addressed sex trafficking prevention
The conference committees and the House and Senate leaders finally finished negotiating the state budget and released the final compromise budget on Monday, the 14th. Since the House has a rule that it must be published three days before the vote is taken, it was Thursday before we could vote on it. Since it is also a two day vote, we convened late Thursday for the second reading and after midnight Friday morning for the Third reading. The final vote was taken at 12:08, and we adjourned shortly thereafter. The Governor signed the budget, House Bill – 97, later in the day on Friday. Since I listed most of the key provisions last week, I will only say that the provision on Teacher Assistants and the correction of the sales tax redistribution plan convinced me to vote for it. The vote on Thursday was 80 – 35, and the Friday vote was 81 – 33.
On Tuesday House Bill 792 – Privacy/Protection From Revenge Postings makes it a felony to post private images of another person in order to cause harm or harass the other person. This provides additional protection to persons, such as ex-spouses or ex-girl or boyfriends who may the targets of graphic photos posted by their ex. This bill passed the House by a vote of 104 – 0 and went to the Governor for his signature.
On Wednesday Senate Bill 279 – Amend Qualifications/Practice of Counseling was on the House floor for a vote. It changes the qualifications for the practice of counseling and requires local boards of education to include information about sex trafficking in their courses on sex education. It passed the House by a vote of 108 – 2. Since it was amended by the House, it goes back to the Senate for their concurrence vote.
It is expected that we will take up several key issues this week. The 2016 primary date move to March 15th is expected, as is a major bill on Medicaid reform.