Representative Frank Iler – Frank Iler for NC House – Frank Iler Campaign – Elect Frank Iler – Brunswick County – NC – North Carolina

“Budget Week” would be an apt description of last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives.  Virtually all day Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were dedicated to budget discussions and debate.  Many other important bills were handled, but they were primarily passing in the Senate while we in the House focused on the budget.

The budget bill this session is Senate Bill 402 – Appropriations Act of 2013.  It started in the Senate and is the state budget for expenditures for the biennium, which is the two year period beginning July 1, 2013 and going through June 30, 2015.  It seems as if we have worked on it for months, but the Senate passed it and sent it to the House just three weeks ago.  After being analyzed and rewritten in appropriations subcommittees, we met in the full House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday.  We met all day, 8:30 until 5:30, considered over 60 amendments, and voted it out.  Wednesday it was on the House floor for debate.  We convened at 12:00 noon, considered 30 more amendments, and voted at about 8:00 p.m.  The vote was 77 – 41, mostly along party lines, as expected.  Thursday was the final vote, which we call the third reading, and after four more hours of debate it was basically the same 77 – 40 vote.  Now the budget, as revised by the House, goes back to the Senate.  They are expected to not concur (not agree), and it will go to a conference committee to work out the differences.

All during this budget week, I had bills which I had sponsored that had to be presented and passed in Senate committees.  A local bill concerning dredging funds for Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach, House Bill 229, was in the Senate State and Local Government Committee.  It passed and now it goes to Senate Finance Committee.  As is our practice, I left my committee and went to the Senate committee to present it.

Also on Tuesday, our most important transportation bill in over 20 years was in the Senate Appropriations/Base Budget Committee.  House Bill 817 – Strategic Transportation Investments, which I have explained previously, was presented and passed.  It then went to the Senate floor on Thursday, where it was presented by Senator Rabon and Senator Harrington.  They had put a lot of work into this bill after it went to the Senate, and they did an excellent job presenting it.  I was able to leave the budget debate in the House and witness their debate and the vote on the Senate floor.  It passed 42 – 5 on second reading and should be voted out early this week.  If all goes well, it should be signed by Governor McCrory by mid-week, possibly Wednesday.  This bill will change the way DOT evaluates projects, and will spend our funds much more efficiently, getting the state many more projects over the next 10 years.

Another significant transportation bill, House Bill 785 – Cost-Sharing/Transportation Improvements, was in the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday.  It helps developers and the Dept. of Transportation work out fair agreements on large development projects that require private money for traffic improvements like turn lanes and signals.  A good example is the Hwy. 17 corridor in Leland with Brunswick Forest, Wal-Mart, and other large developments.  The bill was amended in committee to include directions to DOT to find future efficiency savings in their operations.  As the primary sponsor, I had to present it to the committee.  It passed unanimously and should be on the Senate floor Monday night.

To follow these and other bills, please visit the General Assembly website at www.ncleg.net.

With a tropical storm approaching Raleigh last week, it seemed to reflect some of the storms inside the legislative building.  Our House committees had long meetings on many bills, including the tax reform bill, and the fracking bill, while the full House debated the racial justice act repeal bill.  All the while we were working on the House budget, which should be voted out by Thursday of this week.

Our budget, based on Senate Bill 402 – Appropriations Act of 2013, was being analyzed over the past two weeks in our appropriations subcommittees.  In my case, that’s the Transportation Subcommittee.  All the subcommittees finished their work in rare Friday meetings.  The budget will be published over the weekend, debated in the full Appropriations Committee this Tuesday, and voted out of the House on Wednesday and Thursday.  As the House budget has many differences with the Senate budget, there are sure to be conference committees to work out the differences.

In addition to the budget, we had one of the most important tax bills in decades.  House Bill 998 – Tax Simplification and Reduction Act gives an income tax reduction to every North Carolina taxpayer. It replaces the three income tax rates of 7.75%, 7.0%, and 6.0% with a new flat rate of 5.9%.  The standard deduction also doubles.  So, a married couple filing jointly gets a $12,000 deduction, which is a huge tax cut for lower income taxpayers.   The sales tax on some services is charged in cases where a retail business is already collecting sales taxes on products.  For example, an auto repair shop which now collects sales tax on parts will also begin to collect it on labor.  Overall, this should be a tax reduction for almost every working family.  This is the House version of tax reform, and it is different from the Senate version.  The final bill could be different.

Senate Bill 76 – Domestic Energy Jobs Act is the long-awaited bill about hydraulic extraction of shale gas or “fracking.”  It has been thoroughly vetted in the Senate and the House.  It contains many safeguards, rule-making deadlines, and reporting requirements that must be met before permits are issued.  The General Assembly must give final approval to the permits, which will likely be no sooner than March 1, 2015.  This bill passed the House 70 – 33 on Friday with many members absent.

Another controversial bill, Senate Bill 306 – Capital Punishment/Amendments, was heavily debated last Tuesday and Wednesday.  This bill effectively repeals the former Racial Justice Act, which let death row inmates use statistics in other trials to get appeals in addition to the 15 years of appeals which they now have.  It has nothing to do with guilt or innocence, as that has been well established by other juries and appeals.  We heard all the old arguments, but the RJA was basically a moratorium on the death penalty in spite of all the denials by the opponents of SB 306.  It passed by a final vote of 77 – 39.

Many other bills are progressing through the committee system.  Senate Bill 81 – Charlotte Regional Airport Authority passed the House Transportation Committee last Tuesday.  It turns the Charlotte-Douglas Airport over to a regional authority when it finally passes the House and is signed by the Governor.  House Bill 268 – Sunset Beach/Dredging Maintenance Fee allows Sunset Beach to collect self-imposed fees by homeowners to do maintenance dredging in the canals behind their homes.  This is something already allowed for Holden Beach and Ocean Isle Beach, as well as other towns.  It passed the House 100 – 0 on Friday.  Please follow these and other bills at www.ncleg.net.

I suppose every one noticed that Memorial Day Weekend at the Brunswick Beaches was one of the busiest on record.  At least, every time I left my house in Oak Island to go somewhere, the traffic seemed the busiest I can remember.  Once I even turned around and went back home.  I hope it was one of the best weekends for our local businesses.  I’ve heard good reports from many of them.

Well, in Raleigh it was one of the shortest weeks on record.  The NC House had no session on Monday, a no-vote session on Tuesday, and an early no-vote session on Thursday.  I was able to leave my house early Tuesday morning and return Thursday afternoon.  It was very unusual.  The Senate had more voting sessions than we did.

However, some of the most controversial issues were on our committee agendas.  Our budget subcommittees met Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, we heard about a huge shortfall in the state’s Medicaid funds, and a major education bill passed the House Education Committee.

In the House Transportation Committee Tuesday we took up House Bill 475 – Ferry Tolling Alternatives.  It would take all ferry fares or tolls to zero while DOT studies selling naming rights, concessions, and other ideas to raise funds for ferry operations.  Although I was a sponsor of this bill, I offered an amendment to keep the tolls on the three tolled routes the same as they are now while DOT does its study.  I felt that we have been jerking DOT around by passing different toll bills to raise or lower the tolls, and wanted to offer stability while they consider these new ideas.  The amendment passed and the bill now goes to the House Finance Committee.  I hope it moves fast.

Also on Tuesday, the House Education Committee, of which I am a member, heard House Bill 944 – Opportunity Scholarship Act.  It gives a scholarship up to $4200 per year to low income families to help them send their children to a non-public school if they choose and can make up the difference in tuition.  For me, it is clearly a fairness issue of educational freedom of choice for low income students and parents.  To many involved in the public education system, it is seen as a threat to their funding.  This has been shown to actually add to their funding, but the perception continues.  It will cost the state and our taxpayers $4,200 per student versus the normal $7,254 in the public system.  It was very controversial, but passed the committee on a recorded voice vote of 27 – 21.  We will hear it again in the House Appropriations Committee.

On Wednesday we had the Medicaid bill back from the Senate for us to concur (agree to). House Bill 980 – Medicaid/2012-2013 Additional Appropriations provides $333 million in emergency Medicaid funds to finish out the fiscal year, which ends June 30th.  The Medicaid program has been a constant drain on the state treasury. It is one of the programs the McCrory administration is trying to fix so that we will know more certainly what the expenses will be, as well as eliminate waste and abuse.

We expect a lot of work on the budget this week as well as many more controversial bills.  Our House Transportation Committee will be hearing Senate Bill 81 – Charlotte Regional Airport Authority, the bill that turns over the Charlotte – Douglas Airport from the city of Charlotte to a regional authority.  It was amended heavily in the Senate, and should be an interesting meeting, which I will be chairing Tuesday.  You can follow the audio of this meeting and information on other bills at www.ncleg.net .

It was an interesting week in Raleigh.  After the previous week that saw us vote out over 150 bills on the House floor, last week had less activity in floor sessions and more activity in committees, party caucuses, and lobbying.  It was a real pleasure to welcome Brunswick County Commissioners Marty Cooke and Frank Williams to Raleigh.  They were in town for the Commissioners’ Day at the Legislature.

The Senate finalized its budget, Senate Bill 402.  As they heard more amendments in committees and on the Senate floor, we in the House heard opinions from lobbyists and our constituents back home about which parts we should vote for or against when it comes to us.

After the Senate’s final vote on the budget Thursday, we expect to spend most of our time this week on it.  The House Appropriations Committee will be meeting early and often.  The Appropriations sub-committees will also be meeting.  I am on the House Appropriations Sub-committee for Transportation.  We will work on our section before combining it for the final budget, which could take two to four weeks.  It will be hotly debated on the House floor before a final vote.  Then it will have to go back to the Senate to concur with our changes.  If they don’t agree, it goes to a conference committee to work out the differences, to a final vote, and then on to Governor McCrory for his signature.  It’s a long process, but one that usually yields a good budget for the state, based on the revenue that is expected.  Explaining to people what it does or does not do to their particular issue is frequently the hardest part, but the most interesting.

Another important bill passed its final vote in the House last week.  House Bill 267 – Limit Tolling on Existing Interstates was up for its third reading and vote.  This bill will prohibit the tolling of existing lanes on interstate highways unless the Department of Transportation comes back to the General Assembly for permission.  It effectively protects existing interstates form tolling, but does not prohibit the tolling of new lanes that are built onto them.  These would be optional for drivers to use, and they would only pay if they used that lane.  It passed 108 – 7.  In this age of shrinking funds for road-building you might wonder why anyone would vote against a bill that will provide new highway lanes sooner rather than later or never, and lets the people who will use the lanes pay for it, all the while providing existing lanes for non-payers.

Our most important transportation bill, House Bill 817 – Strategic Transportation Investments, continues to make its way through the Senate after passing the House almost unanimously a few weeks ago.  Rep. Bill Brawley and I presented it to the Senate Transportation Committee on Wednesday, where it received a unanimous voice vote.  It now should be in the Senate Finance Committee, and then the Senate Appropriations Committee very soon, probably this week.  Sen. Bill Rabon, a Vice Chair of the Transportation Committee, made the motion for approval last week.  We anticipate strong support from him as Chair of the Senate Finance Committee, as well as on the Senate floor.  This bill revolutionizes how we will spend the Highway Trust Fund, the road-building fund of the state.  It will allow us to get many more highway projects faster over the next ten years and beyond.  Senator Rabon and I are advocates for building more and better roads as soon as possible with what have become shrinking resources for them.

Please feel free to follow our progress on these and other bills on the General Assembly website at www.ncleg.net.

Many described last week as “organized chaos” in the General Assembly.  The House of Representatives was probably more chaotic than the Senate, as one of our floor sessions lasted until near midnight.  We acted on more than 150 bills. This seems like more than the rest of the session, which started in late January.  The main reason was the “crossover deadline” of midnight Thursday.  Any bills that didn’t make it across to the other chamber would be dead for this session, with a few exceptions, such as the budget bill.

Speaking of the budget, we are expecting to receive it from the Senate on Monday or Tuesday of this week, possibly by the time you read this.  The budget has been the subject of much speculation, but now we will find out what is in it, and begin to analyze, amend, and probably make some changes before we pass it in a few weeks.

Another subject of a lot of controversy has been the Senate’s tax plan.  Well, last week, the House came out with its tax plan.  They are not the same.  A lot of the comments in newspaper articles and letters to the editor have been made with incomplete and sometimes inaccurate information.  We will be working on this, along with the budget for the next four to six weeks.  The goal of the tax plan is to be revenue neutral, or in other words, no increase in overall taxes.  We will be striving to take the income tax to zero as soon as possible without burdening our families with additional sales taxes on food and other essentials.  It is a challenge, but one we believe must be done to spur economic growth and help the economy create more well-paying jobs for working families.  At the same time, our retired workers, who have earned a comfortable retirement, cannot be overlooked.

The major bills that we passed or defeated last week are too numerous to list here, but I will list a few.  House Bill 182 – Establish Efficiency & Cost-saving Commission will take two state departments at a time and use zero-based budgeting, so that they will have to justify their entire budget each year.  This is how businesses operate, and many people are surprised that the state doesn’t.  It passed 103 – 10.

A bill involving insurance fairness to the coast passed unanimously.  House Bill 519 – Property Insurance Rate-making Reform, on which I was a primary sponsor, will require that the Rate Bureau use two models instead of one to forecast casualties on the coast when they file for a rate increase.  They must also include actual loss history across the state.  We feel that this will be fairer to the coast compared to the hurricane models they have been using.  The vote was 116 – 0.

Two bills on health insurance also passed last week.  House Bill 498 – Autism Health Insurance Coverage will require insurance companies to offer autism coverage.  It passed 105 – 7.  The other bill, House Bill 730 – Insurance & Health Care Conscience Protection was more controversial.  It protects all health caregivers when they object to providing abortions.  Nurses were already protected.  It also provides that no city or county can offer their employees more coverage for abortion than the state health plan, which currently doesn’t offer coverage for abortion.

Bills concerning electronic public notice rather than newspaper notice were stalled in the House before final votes were taken, and may be dead for this session.  There were so many other bills that I suggest visiting www.ncleg.net for more complete information on your favorite issues.

Last week, bills that had been piling up in committees began to be heard and moved to the House floor. Our sessions got longer and longer.  Floor sessions averaged three or four hours.  Some of our committee meetings lasted two hours and handled up to ten bills.  In the House Transportation Committee, we planned on hearing 14 bills on Tuesday, handled 4 of them, and had to call a second meeting to handle the other 10.

House Bill 817 – Strategic Transportation Investments, the Governor’s transportation plan to spend our highway construction funds more efficiently, passed the House Appropriations Committee on Tuesday morning, and went to the floor of the full House on Wednesday.  After some debate, it passed by a bipartisan vote of 96 – 22 on Wednesday and 102 – 15 on Thursday, and it now goes to the Senate.  This was a good example of the committee system.  By the time this bill had been heard in three committees and had been amended or changed several times, it had already been seen by every House member before it got to the floor.  This made passage more certain and thorough than if it had been a surprise bill.

Several more major bills were heard and passed last week.  House Bill 930 – Dog Breeding Standards/Law Enforcement Tools is the “puppy mill” bill for this session.  However, this year a thorough hearing was given to the sporting dog and agricultural interests in the state.  The result was a bill that most in the House could support.  Also, First Lady Ann McCrory took a personal interest in the passage of HB 930, and it passed the House by a vote of 101 – 14.

A very controversial bill on gun laws, House Bill 937 – Amend Various Firearms Laws, passed the House after many attempts at amendments.  The vote was 83 – 36.  This bill reduces the number and requirements on “gun-free zones.”  It lifts some bans on law-abiding citizens, and should make it tougher on criminals intent on harming our citizens.

Two other bills based on fairness passed the House last week.  House Bill 609 – NC Cancer Treatment makes patients’ insurance costs for oral cancer treatments equal to treatments by injection or chemotherapy.  The oral care had been either not covered or had much higher co-pays and other costs. House Bill 101 – Repeal state Tax was very controversial.  It was portrayed as only for the rich, but the intent is to protect family farms from having to be sold off to pay the estate taxes.  It passed by a margin of 83 – 36.

This week the crossover deadline of midnight on Thursday, the 16th, will keep us working late into the night beginning Monday evening.  I expect multiple committee meetings, long agendas, and long floor sessions.  There are still many important bills to be acted upon.  We also expect the budget to come over from the Senate this week, so we can begin our work on it.  To follow us on line go to www.ncleg.net.

As the clouds gathered over Raleigh last week, we were inside in dozens of committee meetings.  Many of our major bills are moving through committees in anticipation of the dreaded crossover deadline.

Crossover means a bill must pass the House or Senate, and be received by the other chamber.  The deadline for this to happen is May 16^th.  Bills that do not make the crossover deadline will not be heard this session.  Finance and Appropriations bills, such as the budget bill, are not subject to this deadline.

One of the main bills heard in committees last week was House Bill 817 Strategic Transportation Investments.  This is the new funding strategy, which began with Governor McCrory and Transportation Secretary Tata.  The bill was first presented in the House Transportation committee on Tuesday and passed unanimously.  I chaired the meeting and Representative Bill Brawley, a primary sponsor, presented it.  On Thursday we were in the House Finance committee where I assisted Representative Brawley in presenting HB 817.  It now goes to the House Appropriations committee on Tuesday of this week, and we hope it is passed by the full House by the end of the week.

House Bill 817 Divides Funds in Highway Trust Fund into three categories:  Statewide projects, regional projects and divisional projects.  Statewide projects will be data-driven and regional and division projects will be driven by a combination of data and local input.  It should be a more efficient way of spending our shrinking transportation dollars.

The 10-year projection of population and available funds shows an increase of 1.3 million people, but a decrease of $1.7 billion in Highway Trust Fund construction money.  Changing to this method of funds allocation should produce an increase in the number of projects from 174 to over 260, as well as push the projected number of jobs from 174,000 to over 240,000.

On other major bills:  The Voter Photo ID bill is currently in the Senate Rules committee.  The Budget and Tax Reform bills are in the Senate awaiting final action before coming to the House.  Several Regulatory Reform bills are being acted upon prior to the cross-over deadline next week.  For more information, please visit the General Assembly website at www.ncleg.net.

It seems as if the days and weeks are flying by faster in Raleigh as we take up more bills in committee and on the House floor.  Committees are often back-to-back, and appointments with constituents and lobbyists squeezed in between.  Frequently, we have to excuse ourselves from one committee meeting to present one of our bills before another committee.  It makes for an exhilarating schedule, and one has to pace oneself to avoid exhaustion.

A particularly welcome meeting last week was the visit by the Brunswick County Association of REALTORS®.  About thirty of our Brunswick REALTORS® met with me at noon on Wednesday for almost an hour.  BCAR Executive Director Steve Candler arranges these meetings with Senator Rabon and me each year during the week that the N.C. Association of REALTORS® has their meeting in Raleigh.  We are able to discuss topics ranging from taxes to tourism, and dozens of other topics impacted by the legislation before us this session.  It is always a great time to communicate and renew friendships.

The biggest topic in the news last week was once again the voter photo ID bill, House Bill 589 – Voter Information Verification Act (VIVA).  After previous votes in the Elections Committee and Finance Committee, it came to the Appropriations Committee on Tuesday morning.  About eight more amendments were attempted and mostly voted down before it passed this committee 58 – 29, and was sent to the House floor.  Finally, on Wednesday, we had an extended floor debate, acted on 10 more amendments which were mostly defeated, and passed HB 589 by a vote of 81 – 36.  All Republicans present voted for it, as well as five Democrats.  This bill has been a work in progress for at least three years, and it was rewarding to finally have a photo ID bill that over two-thirds of the people and their representatives can agree on.  HB 589 went to the Senate on Thursday, where it was sent to the Senate Rules committee.

The Coastal Caucus, made up of coastal members of the House and Senate of both parties, is now meeting early Thursday mornings each week to coordinate our efforts on bills concerning dredging, beach nourishment, insurance rates, and other issues important to the coast.  A key bill on inter-basin transfer of water could affect our county water and sewer systems in the future and save millions of dollars for coastal counties.  This deals with transferring water from one river basin to another.  It is very controversial across the state, but of course, there is no one downstream from our coastal counties.

This week we expect to have very full committee agendas and long floor sessions.  I will be chairing the House Transportation Committee on Tuesday, and we have six bills on the agenda.  We will be discussing the new transportation financing plan announced by Governor McCrory last week.  We will have to pass a bill soon to give DOT the authority to implement the plan.  It should be a spirited and thorough process and debate.

For more information on any of these bills, committee information, or information on House and Senate members, go to the General Assembly website at www.ncleg.net.

The first real week of Spring in Raleigh was very warm, with highs in the 80’s and activity at the General Assembly continuing to heat up.  The Voter ID bill was debated for three and one half hours in the House Elections committee, the Governor announced a dramatic new transportation plan, and bills that had been filed were introduced in the House at a dizzying pace and sent to committees.  Our committee agendas got longer as we planned how to bills heard, voted on, and back to the House floor.

Governor Pat McCrory has been inviting small groups of legislators to the Governor’s Mansion.  Tuesday morning was my turn to join a round table discussion with him, two other Representatives, a Senator, and two high-ranking members of the Governor’s staff.  We heard some of the challenges and opportunities of his first hundred days in office.  Halfway through our time together he turned to us and asked each of us to tell him about our issues “back home”.  We talked about education, transportation, and environmental issues, which are similar in most of the state.  However, I brought up concerns about inlet dredging, beach renourishment, coastal insurance rates, and other issues important to our area.  Another coastal legislator there agreed on most of the points I raised.  It was a unique opportunity to share our concerns with the Governor.  He has been extremely open with the legislature, and makes sure to include us in policy discussions with him, his staff, and his cabinet members.

Wednesday is usually filled with committee meetings, and last week was more active than usual.  However, the highlight of a busy day was a visit by 37 students from Civics and Government classes at South Brunswick High School.  Teachers Jennie Bryan and Greg Bland brought them for tours of the legislature and museums, as well as a chance for me to speak with them and have them introduced as visitors in the gallery of the House by Speaker Tillis.  It was a great joy to see them in Raleigh.

The voter ID bill consumed most of Wednesday afternoon.  After the nine hours of public hearings that we had during the past few weeks, we finally came to the House Election Law Committee Wednesday to debate and vote on House Bill 589 – VIVA (Voter Information Verification Act).  After two hours of debate and the offering of many amendments, we had to break to go to the House session.  Then we returned to continue for another hour and a half.  We heard about fifteen amendments, defeated most of them, and finally passed it out on a roll-call partisan vote of 23 – 11.  It was heard in the House Finance Committee early Thursday morning, voted out on a partisan vote of 18 – 10, and now goes to the House Appropriations Committee early Tuesday morning this week.  As a member of that committee, I will be again debating and voting for it, and it should be in the full House for a vote by mid-week.

Thursday morning several of us were invited to attend a major announcement by the Governor on transportation policy.  Senator Rabon and I joined other House and Senate Transportation Committee chairs at the announcement.  Governor McCrory and Transportation Secretary Tony Tata announced a major plan to spend our transportation dollars more efficiently.  It is called the “Strategic Mobility Fund”, and bases the statewide projects on data to increase mobility and spur economic growth.  Our funds are not projected to keep up with our needs in transportation, so this is an effort to stretch the dollars and achieve more “connectivity.”  We will be modifying some of our bills to help accomplish these goals.  The regional and district projects will still have much local input.

Almost all of my committees met last week, including House Transportation, which I chaired on Tuesday, Education, Environment, Elections, and Regulatory Reform subcommittee on Environment. I was appointed by the Speaker to Co-Chair the Joint Oversight Committee on Transportation which meets mainly in the interim between sessions to review transportation policy and DOT.

As I left Raleigh last Thursday afternoon so many bills had been filed in the House and Senate that there was a backlog in the clerk’s office, and the deadlines for filing had been extended.  However, the deadlines have now passed for all bills except Appropriations and Finance bills, which of course, includes the budget bill to come later.  The total number of bills filed is almost 2000, equally divided between the House and Senate.

The voter photo ID bill was finally filed April 4th and read onto the House floor last Monday.  It is House Bill 589 – Voter Information Verification Act or the shorter title of VIVA.  The public hearing on the bill was held on Wednesday from 4:00 p.m. until after 8:00 p.m.  This hearing was somewhat different from the first one held several weeks ago.  Previously, most of the speakers who signed up were against the expected bill, while this time the speakers were mostly for the bill.  A group called the Voter Integrity Project spoke of many instances of observed voter fraud and suspicious activity that were never investigated or prosecuted.  We expect a vote this week on House Bill 589 in the House Elections Committee, of which I am a member.  It has over 60 sponsors and should pass the House easily.

A more controversial bill was filed last Wednesday and sent to the House Judiciary Committee on Thursday.  House Bill 786 – RECLAIM NC Act is the immigration bill that the House has been working on since last year.  RECLAIM stands for Reasonable Enactment of Comprehensive Legislation Addressing Immigration Matters.  There are provisions in this bill that many people will like and many will dislike.  It offers restricted driving permits to some illegal residents with clear markings they are not citizens.  It will require them to have insurance and increases penalties for false documents.  Law enforcement officers could now verify citizenship status of persons stopped for other infractions. This is the Arizona-style provision that many wanted and many others didn’t.  It increases the use of E-verify by employers, but allows exemptions for seasonal work.  It will make the use of the Matricula Consular card or other consular-issued documents unacceptable.  There are many other provisions in the bill.  We expect a lot of debate and amendments on this bill before passage.

While these two bills are getting most of the attention in Raleigh, there are so many other key bills that I can’t list but a sample.  There was a long debate on House Bill 392 – Share Arrest Warrant Status/Public Assistance.  This bill requires that the DSS offices check to see if someone who is applying for benefits is a fleeing felon with an outstanding arrest warrant.  It passed 96 – 22 on Tuesday, was amended, and passed 106 – 6 on Thursday.  It now goes to the Senate.

House Bill 156 – Honest Lottery Act requires the lottery commission to advertise the odds of winning in their advertising and eliminates advertising to college students.  It passed 99 – 12 and now goes to the Senate.  Senate Bill 709 – Allow DOT to set Max. Speed of 75 MPH passed the Senate Thursday on a vote of 45 – 1, and now comes over to the House this week.

We expect long committee meetings this week to deal with all the bills that have been filed.  In the House Transportation Committee, which I will be chairing, we will hear the “Moped Bill” for the second time and expect to vote on it.  The committee has a full agenda of other bills for Tuesday, as well as many others waiting to be heard.  All the other committees on which I sit will have long meetings this week.  For a full list of my committees and their agendas visit the General Assembly website at www.ncleg.net.