Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – March 20, 2017
Last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives we heard the State of the State address from Governor Cooper, we introduced and passed several important education bills, and we introduced more local bills for Brunswick County.
Monday night’s session last week was devoted to receiving the Governor into a joint session of the House and Senate for his State of the State address. This is held in the House chamber, due to having more seating. Extra seating is brought in for the Senators, the Supreme Court Justices, the Court of Appeals Judges, and the Council of State and Cabinet Officers. The Governor spoke about some important priorities for the state. In education he mentioned teacher pay, classroom supplies, and pre-kindergarten expansion. In healthcare he emphasized the opioid epidemic, as well as being sensitive to the huge changes coming in national health insurance policy. In economic development, he covered infrastructure needs such as transportation, and preparing our industrial parks for large industries. He also mentioned film incentives.
Several education bills were moving through the Education K-12 committee, of which I am a member. One that also got to the floor was House Bill 235 – Teacher Mentor Qualifications. It makes it easier for principals to find mentors for new teachers by allowing them to use retired teachers as well as teachers from neighboring schools as mentors, not just current teachers in the same school.
A bill I am particularly interested in, House Bill 339 – North Carolina Teaching Fellows, provides scholarships for N.C. high school graduates that commit to teach three or four years in our schools. This program was discontinued a few years ago due to the politics of it, and this bill brings it back with changes in its organization. I am pleased to be one of the primary sponsors of this bill, and will help get it through the process.
On Thursday, I filed two local bills that had been requested by our Brunswick County towns. House Bill 397 – Carolina Shores Deannexation de-annexes a fraction of an acre from Carolina Shores at the request of the property owner and the town. House Bill 398 – Brunswick County/ Municipal Meals Tax allows towns in Brunswick County to levy a prepared meals tax of up to one half percent to fund beach nourishment and infrastructure needs. It can be done by resolution or referendum. It was officially requested by Southport and Oak Island, and was mentioned by officials of other towns. Rep. Butler and I agreed to sponsor it for any town in the county that wants it and for the county, if they ever decide to do it. This conforms to what other counties have done, but most of them have done a full percent. As an example, this will be 10 cents on a dinner tab of $20.00.
I expect to file at least two more local bills by the deadline of March 29th.