With all eyes focused on potential budget veto overrides this week, the House and Senate also conducted other business. Legislation potentially impacting counties was considered, including pre-emption over short term vacation rentals, criminal law reform, the farm act, voting machine decertification, and legislation limiting the creation of new ABC boards.
It appears the end of the legislative session may be near, at least temporarily, as Senate Rules Committee chair, Sen. Bill Rabon, filed an adjournment resolution this week. However, instead of adjournment until the 2020 short session, the resolution calls for the current session to end on Monday, July 22 and reconvene on Tuesday, August 27. The resolution does not limit the matters that may be taken up during the reconvened session.
Lastly, another former county commissioner joined the ranks of state legislators this week. Governor Cooper appointed Rep. Jeff McNeely of Iredell County to the House of Representatives to fulfill the remainder of former Rep. Rena Turner’s term. NCACC congratulates Rep. McNeely on his appointment and looks forward to working with him at the state legislature.
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New Budget Still Not in Place for 2019-2021; House Approves Stopgap Spending Plan
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The state is still operating without a 2019-2021 spending plan this week as a budget stalemate remains in place between Governor Cooper and the General Assembly. While leadership in the House and Senate worked to gather enough votes to override Governor Cooper’s veto of the budget approved in late June, Governor Cooper presented the General Assembly with a compromise budget proposal. As a top priority for the Cooper administration, that proposal still hinges on Medicaid expansion. Other highlights on the Governor’s compromise proposal include:
- A $1.5 billion bond for public school construction as opposed to pay-as-you-go plan in General Assembly budget
- Higher teacher and state employee salary increases
- Elimination of certain tax cuts found in General Assembly budget
- Maintain private school voucher funding at current level as opposed to expansion found in General Assembly budget
General Assembly leadership indicated they will not accept this compromise offer. Instead, it is likely the House and Senate will continue to look for a path to override the Governor’s veto of the General Assembly budget while beginning further negotiations with the Governor on a new 2019-2021 spending plan for the state.
The House signaled its willingness to consider a modified version of Medicaid expansion if the budget becomes law. This week the House Health committee approved House Bill 655 NC Health Care for Working Families providing for Medicaid coverage for certain individuals currently ineligible for Medicaid benefits. HB655 was explained in an earlier version of the Brief. The bill also establishes and appropriates funding to the Rural Access to Healthcare Grant Fund. Although the bill passed the House Health committee and leadership placed the bill on the calendar for a full vote by the House later the same day, the bill did not receive a vote by the full House. The bill’s consideration by the full House is likely contingent on the House voting to override the Governor’s veto of the budget.
Although a new state spending plan is not in place, the state is operating under a continuation budget as provided by a state law enacted in 2016. In essence, that law provides that state spending continue at the previous fiscal year’s levels for all state recurring dollars and salaries. It does not provide for non-recurring funds to be dispersed, nor does it allow for state employee or teacher pay raises unless expressly authorized by the General Assembly. To that end, the House approved legislation providing for some non-recurring funding for specific programs while the budget remains in limbo.
House Bill 111 Supplemental Appropriations Act aims to draw down federal money for programs where state changes are needed to keep that funding flowing, and to provide new funding that was not already in place for required commitments. The bill includes funding to cover school population growth, language tweaks widening how disaster recovery money can be spent, funds for Medicaid Transformation and NC FAST, and funding for Raise the Age implementation. The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.
For more information on the state budget, please contact NCACC Legislative Counsel Adam Pridemore or NCACC Government Relations Coordinator Amber Harris.
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Bills Impacting Counties and Elections Heard in Committee
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House Bill 851 Delay Decertification/Certain Voting Machines, got its first hearing in the House Ethics and Election Committee. The bill is similar to House Bill 19 Certain DRE Equipment, and extends the deadline for decertification of voting machines that do not use paper ballots from December 2019 to December 2021. Due to uncertainties about the makeup of the State Board of Elections, and more recently, the manufacturers of certain machines, there have been delays in the approval of new machines by the State Board, inhibiting counties’ ability to purchase and test new machines as required. The legislation addresses an issue for more than 20 counties that would be out of compliance with the 2013 law requiring the change.
Senate Bill 683 Combat Absentee Ballot Fraud, was filed late last month and has moved through the legislative process quickly. The bill makes a number of changes related to the process of requesting and tracking absentee ballots including:
- Eliminating the form created by the State Board of Elections for requesting absentee ballots and instead requiring voters to request an absentee ballot in writing, along with a copy of the voter’s photo identification
- Requiring county boards of elections to maintain logs of “one-stop” voter requests; and that photo identification submitted with voter requests remain confidential
The bill also increases penalties for absentee voter fraud, and makes changes to hours for early voting, restoring the last Saturday of early voting that had been eliminated in 2018 election law changes. The bill passed the Senate and now heads to the House for committee hearings.
For more information on elections issues, contact Government Relations Coordinator Amber Harris.
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Legislation Limiting Local Authority Over Residential Rentals Emerges in House
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Legislation limiting county and city ability to regulate short-term residential rentals, such as through websites likes Airbnb, emerged in a House committee this week. Due to opposition among committee members over the limitation of local authority, the bill did not receive a vote.
The proposal explicitly authorizes counties and cities to adopt ordinances uniformly regulating residential rental property whether the property is used for vacation rental, long-term rental, or is owner-occupied, provided the ordinance does not do any of the following:
- Prohibit rentals, impose occupancy restrictions, or regulate rental frequency or duration
- Require licensing or registration of rentals or their owners
- Require inspections of rentals, except those for hazardous or unlawful conditions
- Regulate or require licensing or registration of a landlord's real estate broker except as required by the North Carolina Real Estate Commission
The bill further requires local governments to treat a residential vacation rental or a long-term residential rental as residential property for purposes of zoning regulations applicable to land use regulations.
Although the proposal did not receive a vote in committee this week, the bill could reemerge at any time during the remainder of the legislative session. If you have concerns about this limitation of local authority, NCACC encourages you to contact your legislators to express such concern.
For more information on this issue, please contact NCACC Legislative Counsel Adam Pridemore.
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House Removes the Sunset of Criminal Enforcement of Local Ordinances From Legislation
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A House committee approved legislation this week extending the deadline for counties and cities to submit a list of local ordinances subject to criminal punishment pursuant to G.S. 14-4(a). Senate Bill 584 Criminal Law Reform is part of a long-term project to reorganize North Carolina’s Criminal Code, initiated by last year’s House Bill 379 Recodification Working Group. SB 584 extends the report filing deadline to November 1, 2019, and limits the report requirement to counties with a population of 20,000 or more according to the last federal decennial census, and cities or towns with a population of 1,000 or more.
SB 584 prohibits counties and cities from passing ordinances that include a criminal penalty on or after January 1, 2020 and before January 1, 2022, if they were required to submit a report by November 1, 2019 and have not done so.
This version of the bill marks a vast improvement over the previous bill, which would have stripped the ability for local governments to criminally enforce any local ordinance starting at the end of next year.
NCACC thanks Rep. Dennis Riddell for his willingness to work with local government advocates to address our concerns with the legislation and for his improvements to the bill.
The House could approve the legislation early next week before returning it to the Senate for concurrence with House changes.
For more information on criminal law reform, please contact NCACC Legislative Counsel Adam Pridemore.
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Legislation Limiting the Creation of New ABC Boards Gains House Approval, Twice
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Legislation restricting the creation of new ABC systems in jurisdictions where an ABC board is already in operation gained approval in the House this week. House Bill 536 ABC Omnibus Regulatory Reform restricts the creation of new ABC boards by prohibiting any jurisdiction located in a county that already has an ABC board from holding an ABC store election unless the entity negotiates a merger with an existing ABC board and makes those details available to the public prior to the election. From a county perspective, that merger could take place with a city board in its jurisdiction, a city board in a neighboring county, or with a neighboring county’s board. In a county where there is currently no ABC board in the county, only a county election may be held. The bill next goes to the House Rules committee for further consideration.
Later in the week, a House committee rolled the entire contents of HB 536 into legislation relaxing regulation of distilleries. That legislation, Senate Bill 290 ABC Regulatory Reform Bill, also passed the House this week. On the House floor an amendment was put forth removing the limitation of the creation of new ABC boards, but that amendment was defeated. Both pieces of legislation now reside in the Senate for further consideration.
For more information on ABC issues, please contact NCACC Legislative Counsel Adam Pridemore.
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Legislation Addressing County Goals Still in Play
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As the session winds down, legislation addressing several of the Association’s priority legislative goals remains in committee or otherwise awaits action. The following bills are related to NCACC legislative goals or forward county interests and remain eligible for hearing this session. Please contact your legislators to express your support for these important proposals.
H667 Local Option Sales Tax Flexibility: authorizes counties to levy, subject to voter approval, an additional local option sales and use tax at either a ¼ or ½ cent, in quarter-cent increments, and within current sales tax caps for each county. The bill also allows counties to specify the purpose for revenues from the tax on the ballot, designating the funds for either public education or any public purpose. This legislation has passed the House and been referred to Senate Rules, and would address a priority NCACC legislative goal.
H79 Academic Alignment/Boards of Education & CC: allows local boards of education to align school calendars with the start of the local community college. The bill passed the House earlier in session and now sits in the Senate Rules committee.
H431 Fiber NC Act: allows local governments in under/unserved areas to build broadband infrastructure and lease that equipment to service providers. H431 did not have to meet the March crossover deadline. It has been referred to House State and Local Government and is awaiting a hearing.
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Other Provisions Affecting Counties in a Variety of Bills
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S315 North Carolina Farm Act of 2019 received a hearing in the House Finance committee this week, but did not receive a vote. Section 20, which adds hunting, fishing, shooting sports, and equestrian activities to the definition of agritourism and exempts those activities from county zoning regulation, was amended to require that properties used for these purposes comply with standards set out by the Wildlife Resources Commission as well as local ordinances. NCACC thanks Representative Brandon Lofton for filing the amendment and his attention to this issue. The bill will be voted on at a later committee meeting, and must then move through two additional committees.
S553 Regulatory Reform Act of 2019, passed the House this week but did not receive an affirmative concurrence vote by the Senate, and a conference committee was appointed. The provision related to flood mitigation has been removed. New provisions include a property tax study for billboards and a study on recycling options for computers and televisions. Conferees have been appointed from both chambers to address differences.
H108 PED/Safekeeper Healthcare Recovery Cost passed the full Senate and received a unanimous concurrence vote in the House. The bill would require counties to cover the cost of transportation of “safekeepers”— high risk county inmates housed in state prisons. It also establishes that the initial stay for safekeepers be 30 days and establishes a process for extending the stay. It now goes to the Governor for his signature.
S523 Rev. Laws Clarifying & Administrative Changes passed the House and is now headed back to the Senate for a concurrence vote. The bill contains a provision prohibiting counties from holding more than one local quarter-cent sales tax referendum within one year.
H268 Disapprove Certain On-site Wastewater Rules, passed the Senate and House this week. As the title indicates, the bill disapproves certain wastewater treatment rules adopted by the N.C. Commission for Public Health, and creates a new task force to rewrite the rules. The bill has been presented to Governor Cooper for his signature.
H777 Various Retirement Chngs/Wastewater Reform passed the Senate this week. The legislation enacts water and wastewater public enterprise reform, assists distressed public water and wastewater infrastructure systems, and now includes provisions related to state retirement plans. Details on this bill can be found in earlier Legislative Briefs. The bill has returned to the House for further consideration.
H922 Enhance Insurance Coverage/Educ. Buildings passed the Senate this week. The bill transfers the School Insurance Fund of the Department of Public Instruction that oversees the management and operation of a system of insurance for public education property, to the Department of Insurance. The bill also requires local boards of education, regional schools, and community colleges to purchase flood insurance for all educational property. The bill heads back to the House and has been referred to the House Insurance committee for further consideration.
S212 NC FAST/Early Child/Transformation/ACH Assessment, passed the House and was sent to the Senate for concurrence. The bill postpones deployment of the NC FAST case management system for child welfare and aging/adult services programs until at least March 1, 2020. The new version also includes a provision postponing the transition to Medicaid managed care if a state budget does not become law by July 15th.
H675 2019 Building Code Regulatory Reform received a concurrence vote in the House and the bill was sent to the Governor. The legislation makes various changes to building code requirements including preempting local governments from requiring certain information from licensed engineers and architects, requiring developers to bury existing above-ground power lines, or requiring a minimum square footage for residential structures. The bill would void any inconsistent local ordinances, and also requires local governments to complete residential plan reviews within 15 business days.
H217, DIT Changes, Conferees were appointed by both chambers to address differences with this legislation, which contains a number of provisions requested by the Department of Information Technology. One provision of interest to counties would require local governments to report any technology security breaches to DIT, while protecting shared information from public disclosure. The method of reporting is not specified, but NCACC will work with DIT as they implement this change.
H935, Social Services Reform, received approval by the House Health committee this week. The bill includes several social services reforms related to the 2017 Family and Child Protection and Accountability Act, which established the Social Services Regional Supervision and Collaboration Working Group. It postpones until March 2022 the establishment of seven supervisory regional offices and appropriates funding to support the offices; continues the work of the Working Group; and directs a stakeholder group including the NC Association of County Commissioners to develop a required training program for county social services board members.
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