Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – Mar. 27, 2017

Last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives we voted to override the Governor’s veto for the first time this session, we introduced many local bills, and we welcomed visitors from Brunswick County.

Last Wednesday we had the first bill vetoed by Governor Cooper to come back to the House and Senate for possible override votes.  House Bill 100 – Restore Partisan Elections/Superior and District Court requires the party affiliation to be on the ballot in the election of judges, giving the voter more information when frequently they do not know anything about the judges.  The vote was 74 – 44 in the House and 32 – 15 in the Senate, well in excess of the three fifths or 60% required.  So, the bill becomes law “notwithstanding the objections of the Governor”, as we say.

With the deadline passing for filing local bills, many local bills were filed last week.  I filed two additional bills, one on behalf of Brunswick County and one for a municipality in the county.  House Bill 445 – Brunswick Fire Protection Fees was filed by Rep. Deb Butler and myself at the request of the county commissioners.  It enables the county to adjust fire districts and to adjust fire fees.  The district changes must be at the request of the fire departments or 15% of the citizens within the district.  The fee section allows the county to adjust fees but does not mandate that they do so. 

House Bill 446 – ABC Store Election/Town of Leland enables Leland to hold an election to allow an ABC store within its town limits.  A series of laws going back to 1991, when Leland had about 1800 residents, had prevented them from it. It is now our largest town.  After years of negotiations with surrounding municipalities, there has not been a satisfactory solution found.  It is hoped that this will expedite the process to the benefit or at least the convenience of the citizens and restaurant businesses that are required to buy from the state-owned ABC stores.

At this time during the session we frequently have visitors from our home districts, and it is always a pleasure to welcome them and discuss issues of interest to them.  The Brunswick Electric Membership Corporation board members and President Don Hughes came by to catch up on current issues and make sure we stay in communication on this vital part of our region’s economic activity.  They were in Raleigh for their state-wide organization’s conference, in which they are very active.  District Attorney Jon David was at the D.A.’s conference and came by the office for a quick visit.  It is always important for me to stay in touch with leaders like this, because they are a great source of information for me when bills come up for votes that impact our county in their areas of expertise.