Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – May 6, 2013
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 16th. 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.