Legislative Update from Rep. Iler — February 27, 2023
Last week at the North Carolina General Assembly was incredibly busy with back-to-back committee meetings and important bills making their way through the House and Senate. Some bills up for House votes dealt with law enforcement, second amendment rights, and hotel safety rules. We also heard the forecast of state revenue as we prepare to put together the biennial budget.
On Tuesday, we heard the revenue forecast for the General Fund and Transportation funds in the Appropriations Committee. The General Fund projection is just over $33 billion for this fiscal year and an almost equal amount for each of the two budget years of 2023-24 and 2024-25. This is about a 10% increase over the prior budget and is approximately equal to the sum of inflation plus the state’s population growth. Transportation funds of the Highway Fund (maintenance) and Highway Trust Fund (capital projects) will increase slightly into the $5 billion range per year. These funds are up mainly due to a recent 2 cent per gallon increase in the motor fuels tax and newly implemented transfers from the General Fund in the three fiscal years.
We continued our 8:30 Transportation Appropriations budget meetings on Wednesday and Thursday, where we heard details of the forecast numbers, and presentations from NCDOT Ports Division and Rail Division. These meetings will continue this week with additional information from other NCDOT divisions.
One of the significant bills that came to a House vote last week was House Bill 50 – Pistol Purchase Permit Repeal, which would do away with this archaic practice and replace it with a modern data base. It passed on a party line vote of 67 – 48 and went to the Senate.
House Bill 34 – Protect Those Who Serve and Protect Act increases the penalties for pointing a laser at an emergency worker or animal in the performance of their duties, or for firing a weapon into an unoccupied emergency vehicle. It passed on an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 112 – 3 and also was sent to the Senate. Rep. Miller and I were cosponsors of HB 34.
House Bill 41 – Hotel Safety Rules is of particular interest to our short-term rental industry here on the coast as well as across the state. I was a cosponsor of this bill also. It says that a resident staying less than 90 days at a hotel, motel, RV park, or any similar lodging does not create a tenancy, but is a transient occupancy. This means the eviction process, if needed, would be much easier for the owner or rental company. (Think: rowdy house party in a vacation rental or hotel room.) It passed 84 – 31 with 17 Democrats joining all Republicans for a strong vote, and it went to the Senate.
We continued to have many local school calendar flexibility bills which passed on voice votes. This means the state is relinquishing authority to influence school calendar days. Our traditional 3 months of summer is coming down to 7 weeks, and in my opinion is not good for the children or for family vacation time. Many others have a different opinion.
This week will be equally as busy, and I hope to soon have several bills ready to introduce.