Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – June 24, 2013
As I have said before, the weather in Raleigh often seems to reflect the action inside the General Assembly. It was very unsettled last week, as we were never sure if it were going to rain or shine. In like manner, our major bills, such as the budget, were in doubt from day to day. Some passed very easily, and others ran into trouble.
Monday night the Senate decided not to concur with our budget as we returned it to them the previous Thursday. This means that conference committees had to be named by the House and Senate to work out the differences between the House budget and the Senate budget. The House Speaker named our conferees on Thursday. We hope the joint conference committees will meet early and often this week to come up with a budget on which we all can agree. This is Senate bill 402. The prediction now is that we may not finish our budget and our other work by July 4th.
House Bill 817 – Strategic Transportation Investments passed its final vote in the Senate on Monday by a vote of 44 – 2. The House had to concur in two votes Tuesday and Wednesday, and the final House vote was 105 – 8. This is the most important change in transportation spending policy in 24 years. It had been through six committees, six floor votes, and went to Governor McCrory’s desk on Wednesday. Since this idea started with him and Transportation Secretary Tata, we expect the Governor to sign it at a ceremonial signing, possibly on Wednesday of this week.
House Bill 785 – Cost Sharing/Transportation Improvements also passed its final Senate vote, and was back in the House for concurrence. When it left the House, it concerned agreements with DOT and multiple developers on large projects. In a Senate committee, they added a section that required DOT to look for 10% savings in their operations. We agreed with the addition and passed it 104 – 0 on Thursday. It also goes to the Governor early this week for his signature.
When a Senate bill comes to the House, one of us has to present it on the floor. The Senators do the same for our bills we send over to them. On Thursday I presented two bills for Senator Hunt that I first saw when they came to the House Transportation Committee. They looked pretty harmless to me, but one became controversial on the House floor. We passed Senate Bill 712 – ID Card for Homebound Persons with some debate and a vote of 104 – 1. Senate Bill 709 – Allow DOT to Set Maximum Speed of 75 MPH met with more resistance than I had anticipated, since it had passed the Senate 45 -1. After almost 30 minutes of debate and the defeat of an amendment making a legal correction, I decided to have it pulled from the House floor and referred back to the House Transportation Committee. There we can make some changes that I believe will be acceptable to the full House. This bill received more publicity than I had expected, but it only allowed DOT to raise the speed limit, and does not require it.
While conference committees are meeting on many bills, including the budget, our schedule for this week is very uncertain. The Speaker told us to be prepared for a rare Friday session, if needed. You can see our calendars and follow any of our bills at the General Assembly website, www.ncleg.net.