Legislative Update from Rep. Iler — June 30, 2025
The last 2 weeks in the North Carolina General Assembly have been filled with bills going back and forth between the House and Senate. There were some of particular interest to coastal North Carolina.
Reforms – local and statewide:
Several of the House bills were omnibus bills which addressed local issues such as annexations, deannexations, and town charter changes. Some of the statewide bills involved issues such as modernization of Medicaid modernization, healthcare workforce reforms, and other regulatory reforms. Some of these bills had been sent to the Senate, changed, and returned to the House. We then had to move to concur or not concur. Others were Senate bills which we passed.
Flounder, Turtles, and Shrimp:
Two bills of particular interest were House Bill 441 and House Bill 442. House Bill 442 – Restore Flounder/Red Snapper Season had gone to the Senate in early May. After holding it in the Senate Rules Committee for almost 7 weeks, it was changed to Flounder/Red Snapper Seasons & Shrimp Trawl, voted out of the Senate, and sent to the House. It is estimated it would put 75% of the N.C. shrimp industry out of business.
House Bill 441 – Loggerhead Turtle/State Saltwater Reptile, was also held almost 7 weeks, but this time it was totally “stripped out” and came back to the House as Shrimp Trawling Transition Program/Fees. This bill would put most of the shrimp industry out of business by paying the shrimpers for a few years, when they could then go out of business. This would be paid for by increasing fishing license fees and boat registration fees for N.C. fishing licenses and commercial vessel owners. A bill making the loggerhead sea turtle the state saltwater reptile had passed the House unanimously in 2019, 2021, 2023 and 2025 and never voted on in the Senate. They were held in Senate Rules until this session, when they were used to put forward this trawl ban, harmful to the livelihood and culture of our state.
I, along with all the primary House sponsors, quickly removed our names from these harmful bills. Then it was decided by a large majority that these bills should never be heard on the House floor. They will rest quietly in the House Rules Committee, where I have been assured, they will stay. We have a thorough committee process to fully vet proposed legislation in the House and Senate. If these bills were the supposed environmental conservation bills, as claimed, they could have been introduced at the beginning of session by any House or Senate member that was supportive of the amendments and not sneaked into my good bills that had already passed the House on bi-partisan votes. As the author of these 2 bills, I don’t expect an apology for trying to ruin my reputation and credibility, but the Senate should apologize to the shrimpers whose livelihood was threatened and who came out in force to protect their way of life. I am very proud of them as well as the House legislators who stood strong and did not cave into these tactics.
We adjourned for July 4th break and are expected to be out for two weeks.