Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – October 7, 2015
Last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives we passed some major bills concerning the bond issue, farm issues, banning sale of aborted baby body parts, judicial elections, and sanctuary cities, we were in session around the clock on Tuesday and Wednesday, and we adjourned the 2015 session early Wednesday morning.
As storms threatened the Carolinas last week, the NC House and Senate had a quiet storm taking place in Raleigh. We were determined to adjourn by the end of September, so we had some long days on Monday and Tuesday, which led to a session after midnight Wednesday morning. Senate bill 119 – Technical Corrections 2015 took several hours to perfect in a conference committee, so was delayed until after midnight. This led to a session on Wednesday at 12:05 Wednesday morning. It was 4:12 a.m. when we took the final vote and adjourned at 4:17 a.m.
A very controversial bill came to the floor Monday. House Bill 297 – End Marketing/Sale Unborn Children Body Parts contains a prohibition against the sale of body parts and tissue from aborted babies. It also defunds groups such as Planned Parenthood that has been shown to engage in such practices. It passed by a vote of 79 – 29 and was presented to the Governor on Wednesday.
The Farm Act, Senate Bill 513 – North Carolina Farm Act of 2015 also came up Monday after months of negotiations with different groups and public input. It contained a controversial provision transferring deer farms from Wildlife to the Dept. of Agriculture. Deer hunting will stay in the NC Wildlife Division. After some adjustments to this provision the vote was a bipartisan 99 – 11.
The bill authorizing a bond referendum for capital projects at community colleges, universities, and other facilities came to the House floor. House Bill 943 – Connect NC Bond Act of 2015 is a $2 billion bond proposal which will be voted on next year. It received a lot of debate on Monday and passed at about 11:00 p.m. It was on Tuesday’s calendar, but actually received a final vote of 93 – 20 at 12:20 Wednesday morning.
House Bill 8 – Court of Appeals Election Modifications has been around since the session started. As a primary sponsor of this bill, I had hoped that it would succeed in adding party labels on the ballots for the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals. It originally passed the House in April, but when the Senate voted on it and sent it back to us, it applied only to the Court of Appeals. We had a short time to consider and vote on it, so we concurred with the Senate by a vote of 70 – 44. We hope to come back and add the Supreme Court in a future session.
Another controversial bill, House Bill 318 – Protect North Carolina Workers Act, strengthens the E-Verify system to determine workers’ immigration status and bans sanctuary cities in NC. It passed on Tuesday by a vote of 70 – 43.
Last week was indeed an interesting and tiring exercise in legislative action. After a late night Monday, my day Tuesday started at 8:30 a.m. in an Appropriations Committee meeting and ended at 4:17 a.m. Wednesday morning. This is not unusual at the end of a session. The good news is that we are out of session until Monday, April 25th at 7:00 p.m. Besides some committee meetings during the interim, I hope to be able to get around the county and pursue some educational, transportation, and coastal issues in preparation for next year’s short session. We all hope it will be a “short” short session!