Revised moratorium moves to House floor

The House Judiciary II Committee adopted a revised version of HB 2367 – Involuntary Annexation Moratorium on Tuesday. The revised bill prohibits city-initiated annexation ordinances from becoming effective between July 31, 2008 and April 30, 2009.

This is an improvement over the previous version of the bill, although municipal officials still do not believe that an annexation moratorium is warranted and will continue to oppose a moratorium. We appreciate Rep. Dan Blue, chairman of the committee, for allowing an opportunity to address concerns about the impact of a moratorium on pending annexations.

HB 2367 is now on the calendar for a vote by the full House, and we expect the vote early next week. If it passes the House, it will then go to the Senate for consideration.

Child information protection bill goes to conference
This week the House unanimously approved legislation to protect the identifying information of children involved in local parks and recreation programs. SB 212 – Local Park and Rec Participant Records would create an exception under the public records law so that a child's name, age, date of birth, home address, telephone number and other personal information would not be considered public record. Local governments could develop their own policies to allow disclosure, but they would not be required to release this information. Certain information, such as the child's county, municipality, and zip code would remain public. The League supports the legislation as an important step toward protecting minors from predators.

The legislation was originally introduced as a local bill, HB 2778 , sponsored by Reps. Alice Bordsen, Cary Allred and Karen Ray. Its provisions were made statewide and placed into a committee substitute for SB 212 , which had passed the Senate last year as a bill on a different subject. On Thursday, the Senate voted not to concur in the House changes to the bill, so it will go to a conference committee. The N.C. Press Association has opposed the bill, asking that the names of the children remain a public record, so that is likely to be an issue that the conference committee must resolve. Senate conferees are Sens. Tony Foriest (chair), Doug Berger, Fletcher Hartsell and Ellie Kinnaird. House conferees have not yet been announced.

Gang bill awaits Governor's signature

SB 1358 – Street Gang/Prevention and Intervention has been ratified by the General Assembly and awaits Governor Mike Easley's signature. One of two major anti-gang bills, this legislation focuses on local prevention and intervention measures. Anti-gang legislation has been a priority goal on the NCLM advocacy agenda. The other bill, HB 274 – Street Gang Prevention Act , amends the criminal laws to create new offenses and enhance penalties for gang activity. It remains in a conference committee. Both the House and the Senate included $10 million in their budget proposals for implementation of gang legislation.

Tip tax delay advances

The House Finance Committee approved HB-2541 – Delay Solid Waste Tax Effective Date this week. The bill would delay until January 1, 2009 the effective date of the $2 per ton solid waste tip tax that is scheduled to go into effect on July1. The General Assembly enacted the tip tax in the waning days of the 2007 session. The League supports the delay in the effective date of this tax to allow more time to prepare for implementation.

Drought discussion continues

League staff members continue to negotiate on proposed legislation concerning drought issues. HB 2499 and SB 1879 – Drought/Water Management Recommendations would shift the authority to declare water emergencies and to order the diversion of water from the Environmental Management Commission to the Governor. The legislation would also allow the EMC to adopt minimum conservation measures that local water systems in drought-designated areas would have to implement. Among other items, staff members are working to keep existing local participation provisions in the process for declaring a water emergency, retain local flexibility in choosing the best practices in responding to drought conditions, and protect local ability to set water system rates.

A draft proposal now under discussion would require reduction in water use by 10 percent for systems in areas of extreme drought, and 20 percent in areas of exceptional drought. Among the issues with such an approach is how to determine a baseline against which to measure reductions, how to credit those systems that have implemented year-round restrictions, how to avoid penalizing those that have invested substantial resources to increase their water supply, and how to address those that have effective shortage response plans unique to the circumstances of their watershed or basin.. A substitute bill may be offered in committee next week.

Coastal stormwater bill anticipated

We anticipate that a bill revising the stormwater rules applicable in the 20 coastal counties will be offered in committee early next week. A committee substitute for HB 2138 – Disapprove Coastal Stormwater Rule is likely to be the vehicle for the legislation. Discussions in the stakeholders' negotiation group contributed to some progress on the draft legislation, although consensus could not be reached on all issues. League staff members have been participating in the meetings and were able to obtain some modifications to the draft to address concerns of member municipalities that are already under Phase II stormwater requirements. The legislation remains controversial and it is difficult to predict whether it will advance this session.

Vehicle bill moves
The House Transportation Committee approved SB 1695 – Vehicle Size and Weight Changes this week, and the bill was re-referred to House Finance. The legislation, which has already passed the Senate unanimously, would allow longer trucks on most highways. It would also allow vehicles hauling certain commodities to be heavier, and allow wider boat trailers to be towed day or night without a permit. Opponents have raised safety concerns as well as concerns over damage to roads. The League is concerned about a provision that would eliminate the existing requirement for the Department of Transportation to get concurrence of the municipality when designating truck routes on portions of the state highway system that are within municipal limits.

Following are some of the bills that were introduced or acted upon this week. If you need a copy of these or any other bills, please contact the Legislative Printed Bills Office at 919-733-5648 or the League office. Remember that bills and legislative calendars are now available on the Internet at http://www.ncleg.net . Please contact the League staff if you have any particular interest or concern regarding any piece of legislation.

FINANCE & TAX
Bill:   HB 2530

Sponsors:   Luebke; Harrison; Harrell, T.; Thomas

Title:   TAX CREDIT FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY EQUIPMENT
Status:   H passed 2 nd reading

Allows tax credit to a taxpayer who donates money to a taxing entity to enable the entity to construct, purchase, or lease renewable energy property.

Bill:   SB 1716

Sponsors:   Clodfelter

Title:   SUPPLEMENTAL PEG SUPPORT

Status:   Passed Senate; to House Public Utilities

Clarifies the distribution of supplemental PEG channel support funding.

Bill:   SB 1878

Sponsors:   Clodfelter

Title:   PROPERTY TAX MODIFICATIONS

Status:   H passed 2 nd reading
Among other things, excludes from property tax 80% of the appraised value of a solar energy electric system. Also provides that a low-income housing development allocated a federal tax credit is to be assessed using the income approach as the method of valuation, taking into account rent restrictions but not income tax credits.