Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – Feb. 27, 2017
Last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives we filed many more bills, now up to around 200, we passed a key education bill, we had more visitors from back home and across the state, and I chaired two different transportation committees.
The bill filing deadlines are looming soon, with the local bill deadline scheduled for March 15th and statewide bills for March 23rd. Many new local bills were filed last week, as well as some interesting bills to change the state constitution. One of the constitutional amendments would remove the outdated literacy test as a requirement to vote and another would remove the secession clause which was put in after the civil war.
We passed a bill to establish a task force of legislators to study methods to better fund education in the state in the future. House Bill 6 – Education Finance Reform Task Force came to the House floor on Wednesday, had several proposed amendments, and passed on its final vote on Thursday by a vote of 106 – 5. It now goes to the Senate. The task force will be made up of nine Representatives and nine Senators.
Tuesday and Wednesday are days that we have lots of visitors discussing issues that are coming before us in the near future or proposing possible bills. Many are paid lobbyists, but many are from our towns and counties back home. On Tuesday I had nine scheduled meetings and events, as well as several drop-ins. It was a pleasure to have Mayor Walt Eccard of Shallotte drop by and discuss the agenda of the League of Municipalities and some local issues. Later in the day there was a reception hosted by the NC Travel Industry Association. It was great to see Mitzi York and the Brunswick County TDA (Tourism Development Authority) represented there.
On Tuesday it was my turn to chair the House Transportation Committee. We had two bills on the agenda. They were simple bills, the bill sponsors did a good concise presentation, and we were able to handle them very quickly, adjourning in less than 15 minutes. Early Wednesday morning I chaired the Appropriations Committee on Transportation. We had a thorough presentation on education funding, and adjourned in about an hour and a half. I am not scheduled to chair a committee this week.