Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – June 28, 2016

Last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives we got closer to a final 2016 -2017 budget bill, we modified a major transportation bill, we saw two bills of local interest studied, and we received more visitors from back home.

Our senior House budget chairs continued to work toward a compromise budget with their Senate counterparts. As of the end of the week the tax plan was said to be close to a resolution, and the spending plan was narrowed down to the education and health portions. Of course, this is all subject to change this week until we vote on the final budget bill, House Bill 1030 – Appropriations Act of 2016.

House Bill 959 – DOT Proposed Legislative Changes came back to the House from the Senate on Thursday. We voted unanimously NOT to concur with it, so that we can go into a conference committee with the Senate to make changes to it. The primary change is to include language that suspends the Map Act, which creates corridors for roadways that in some cases have tied up peoples’ property for years. This is in response to a court ruling that could cost the state millions of transportation dollars. We are attempting to get ahead of the problem and balance the interests of the taxpayers with the interests of the affected property owners.

Two local bills that directly affect Brunswick County have come over to the House. House Bill 215 – Abolish Brunswick County Coroner was on the House calendar for Thursday. I asked that it be moved to Tuesday’s calendar to have more time to study the medical examiner system, which 95 of 100 counties in the state now use instead of the coroner system.

House Bill 875 – Town of Sunset Beach/Deannexation has been in a House committee for three weeks now, while the local town council and affected property owners have had a chance to talk about the issues surrounding these properties. Some of the issues appear to have been resolved. Many rumors are out there, but I am still deciding the best course of action moving forward for the best interests of the involved parties.

On Wednesday we had a large group of Realtors to visit our office from the Brunswick County Association of Realtors. It was great seeing and discussing issues with so many friends from this group, which is so important to the economy of Brunswick County.

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