By George Reed, Retired Executive Director
Bills are being introduced at a rapid pace as the Senate’s deadline for new bills has passed and the House’s deadline on non-money approaches. This Raleigh Report and another one later in the week will try to catch up with the flood of bills.
Newly Introduced Bills
CHILDREN AND FAMILIES
S 439, Eliminate NC Pre-K Waitlist Statewide, would appropriate $36 million over the next two fiscal years to eliminate the waiting list for the NC Pre-Kindergarten Program (formerly known as More at Four).
Introduced by Sens. Waddell (D-Mecklenburg), Woodard (D-Durham), and Van Duyn (D-Asheville). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 463/H 543, Caregiver Relief Act, would add grandparents, grandchildren, step relatives and in-laws to the list of family members for whom caregiviers can take time off from work using unpaid Family Medical Leave.
Introduced by Sens. Bryant (D-Rocky Mount), Robinson (D-Greensboro), and Foushee (D-Hillsborough) and by Reps. Fisher (D-Asheville), Farmer-Butterfield (D-Wilson), Cunningham (D-Charlotte), and Insko (D-Chapel Hill). Referred to Senate Rules and to House Aging and, if favorable, to House Commerce and then Regulatory Reform.
CRIMINAL AND JUVENILE JUSTICE
S 456, Increase De-escalation Training, would require the state to provide training for all law enforcement officers that would include crisis intervention training for interaction with people with mental illness and de-escalation training for diffusing potentially dangerous situations.
Introduced by Sens. McKissick (D-Durham), Daniel (R-Morganton), and Britt (R-Lumberton). Referred to Senate Rules.
EDUCATION
H 437, Expand Local Option Sales Tax for Education, is substantively equal to S 166. (See RR, March 13.)
Introduced by Rep. Rogers (R-Rutherfordton). Referred to House Finance.
H 458, Annual Report Card, would alter school performance grades by giving two separate grades, one for school achievement and a separate one for school growth. Currently the two are combined in giving grades to schools, with a much heavier weight given to school achievement.
Introduced by Reps. Conrad (R-Winston-Salem), Riddell (R-Snow Camp), and Elmore (R-North Wilkesboro). Passed by the House and now in the Senate Rules Comm.
S 483, NC Comprehensive School Accountability. Current law requires 1) that students in nonpublic schools who are receiving Opportunity Scholarships (i.e., vouchers) take a nationally standardized test each year that is chosen by each school’s administrator and 2) that aggregated test results (i.e., not showing an individual student’s scores) be released if the school has more than 25 scholarship students. S 483 would require that the tests be chosen from a list of four nationally recognized tests and would drop the threshold for released aggregated scores to 10 students.
Introduced by Sens. Smith-Ingram (D-Gaston), Curtis (R-Denver), and Clark (D-Raeford). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 418, Dyslexia Kindergarten Screening, would require that every kindergarten student be screened as part of reading assessment.
Introduced by Sens. Lee (R-Wilmington) and Lowe (D-Winston-Salem). Referred to Senate Rules.
ELECTION LAWS
H 453/S 354, “We the People” Act/Referendum, would put a referendum on the ballot next year urging Congress to pass an amendment to the US Constitution stating that constitutional rights belong to individuals, not corporations or “other artificial entities,” and that “free speech” does not include unlimited spending on political campaign contributions.
Introduced by Reps. Insko (D-Chapel Hill), Gill (D-Raleigh), W. Richardson (D-Fayetteville), and Quick (D-Greensboro) and by Sens. Van Duyn (D-Asheville), McKissick (D-Durham), and Foushee (D-Hillsborough). Referred to House Rules and Senate Rules.
H 496, Fair and Nonpartisan Ballot Placement. Current law places names on the ballot with nominees of the party of the current governor listed first and minor parties or unaffiliated candidates last. The General Assembly and governor added the provision giving top billing to the governor’s party in 2013, when there were Republican majorities in both houses and a Republican governor. H 496 would require that candidates appear in either alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order by the candidate’s last name, with the order determined each election by a drawing.
Introduced by Rep. Bert Jones (R-Reidsville). Referred to House Elections.
S 440, National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, would add North Carolina to a list of states seeking to work within the existing Electoral College to guarantee that the presidential candidate who receives the most popular votes becomes president. Specifically, states signing on to the Interstate Compact agree that their electors would vote for the presidential candidate with the most votes nationally. The Compact would not go into effect until states having a majority of the electoral votes have signed on, thus guaranteeing that the candidate who wins the popular vote would also win the Electoral College vote. (The Compact has been adopted in 10 states and the District of Columbia. They have a total of 165 electoral votes, out of the 270 required for the Compact to be put into operation.)
Introduced by Sens. Chaudhuri (D-Raleigh) and Waddell (D-Charlotte). Referred to Senate Rules.
ENVIRONMENTAL ISSUES
H 470/S 366, Responsible Wind Energy Implementation, would put significant restrictions on the development of wind energy in eastern NC. Among its many limiting provisions, turbines on a wind farm would have to be located at least 30 miles from major military installations and at least five miles from low-level military flight paths. (Wind farms already have to be approved by the Department of Defense’s Siting Clearinghouse.) Turbines would also have to be located at least a mile from nearby residential property lines, the exact distances being related to the height of the blades, and they could create no more than 35 decibels of sound at the property line. (According to IAC Acoustics, 35 dB falls halfway between “quiet rural area” (30 dB) and “library” (40 dB).) Offshore turbines would have to be at least 24 miles from shore.
Introduced by Rep. Millis (R-Hampstead) and Sens. Cook (R-Chocowinity), Sanderson (R-Arapahoe), and Brock (R-Mocksville). H 470 has already been heard in the House Homeland Security Comm., where it was opposed as unnecessary regulation and failed to get committee approval. S 366 was referred to Senate Rules.
S 487, Increase Energy Efficiency, would alter the current renewable energy portfolio requirements that power companies must meet by dropping a cap on how much of the portfolio can come from energy efficiency and a cap on the amount spent on research that can be included.
Introduced by Sens. Brock (R-Mocksville) and Wade (R-Greensboro). Referred to Senate Rules.
GUN VIOLENCE
H 438, Concealed Handgun Standardization Act, changes the grounds on which a concealed handgun permit could be denied. Current law requires that an applicant for a permit “not suffer from a physical or mental infirmity that prevents the safe handling of a handgun.” H 438 would weaken that provision to say that an application could be denied for a currently diagnosed and ongoing mental disorder, with previous treatment for “transient” disorders not mattering. In addition, the determination of a lower court is not final. Presumably the state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court could be taking up their time with appeals from individual handgun permit questions.
Introduced by Reps. Adams (R-Hickory), Brody (R-Monroe), Cleveland (R-Jacksonville), and Williams (R-Holly Springs). Referred to House Judiciary I.
S 465, Courthouse Concealed Carry/Elected Officials. Current law prohibits carrying a concealed weapon in courthouses. S 465 would permit mayors and members of boards of commissions and city councils to carry in all parts of a courthouse except a courtroom itself.
Introduced by Sen. J. Davis (R-Franklin). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 504, Educational Property Definitions/Firearms. Current law prohibits carrying firearms on “educational property.” As we’ve seen this session with the bills pertaining to churches that share space with schools, the exact definition of educational property is not clear. S 504 seeks to clarify by listing four exclusions (i.e., places where guns may be carried): 1) buildings and other real estate owned by an educational institutions, but not used primarily for “educational purposes” (a term which is not defined), 2) a religious institution for which facilities are used as a school part-time, during times when those facilities aren’t in use as a school, 3) a road which crosses an educational campus, and 4) a medical facility for which the primary purpose is patient care, not education.
Introduced by Sens. Tarte (R-Cornelius), Brock (R-Mocksville), and Britt (R-Lumberton). Referred to Senate Rules.
HEALTH AND HEALTH CARE
H 435, Raise Minimum Age to Access Tobacco Products, would raise the legal age from 18 to 21 for people to purchase or possess tobacco products, vapor products and cigarette papers.
Introduced by Reps. Murphy (R-Greenville), Bert Jones (R-Reidsville), Lambeth (R-Winston-Salem), and Grange (R-Wilmington). Referred to House Rules.
H 456, Establish Mandatory Dementia Care Training, would require adult care homes, nursing homes, and other facilities providing care to people with dementias to provide dementia care training to staff.
Introduced by Rep. Torbett (R-Stanley). Referred to House Health and, if favorable, to Regulatory Reform.
S 425, Unborn Child Protection from Dismemberment. S 425 would make it illegal for anyone to perform a “dismemberment abortion,” defined in stark detail in the bill, unless it is necessary to prevent serious health risk to the mother. A physician violating the law would be subject to action by the Medical Board, and anyone violating the law would be liable for monetary damages, including punitive damages. The violation would also be a misdemeanor crime.
Introduced by Sens. Krawiec (R-Kernersville), Randleman (R-Wilkesboro), and Ballard (R-Boone). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 429, Home Visits/Pregnant Women & Children/Medicaid, would require the state to include home visits for pregnant women and families with young children in Medicaid and Health Choice coverage. The bill cites anticipated benefits: improve maternal and child health, prevent child abuse and neglect, encourage positive parenting, and promote child development and school readiness. By the middle of next year, the state would have to initiate these home visits either statewide or in a pilot program.
Introduced by Sens. Hise (R-Spruce Pine), Pate (R-Mount Olive), and Krawiec (R-Kernersville). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 478, Strengthen Youth Tobacco Use Prevention/Funds. See H 276, RR, March 13.
Introduced by Sens. Woodard (D-Durham) and Dunn (R-Southmont). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 481, Waiver/Prohibit Certain Foods/SNAP, would prohibit the use of SNAP funds to purchase food items of little or no nutrituional value, such as soft drinks, cakes, and cookies, or to purchase in bulk grocery items that would be considered prepared food if bought in smaller quantities. The proposal would have to be approved by the US Department of Agriculture before it would go into effect.
Introduced by Sen. J. Davis (R-Franklin). Referred to Senate Rules.
HUMAN RIGHTS
S 500, Strengthen Human Trafficking Law, would create the new crime of profiting from human trafficking and impose penalties, which are more severe if the person trafficked is a child.
Introduced by Sen. D. Davis (D-Greenville). Referred to Senate Rules.
IMMIGRATION
H 471, Fail to Obtain Drivers License/Increase Punishment, would add additional punishments for failing to obtain a drivers license before driving a motor vehicle. These would include a $400 fine for a second or subsequent violation and forfeiture of the vehicle for a third or subsequent violation. While the bill’s provisions are not limited to immigrants, its impact could fall hardest on undocumented immigrants, who can’t obtain drivers licenses but need to be able to drive to work.
Introduced by Reps. Millis (R-Hampstead), Destin Hall (R-Lenoir), Cleveland (R-Jacksonville), and Burr (R-Albemarle). Referred to House Judiciary II and, if favorable, to Finance.
LOTTERY AND OTHER GAMBLING
H 481, Restore Lottery Revenue Distribution Structure. Current law requires only that lottery net proceeds (after prizes, commissions to outlets, advertising, and other operating expenses) be spent “for education-related purposes.” H 481 would specify a return to the lottery’s initial distribution of funds: 50% to reduce class size in early grades, 40% for construction of public schools, and 10% for college scholarships.
Introduced by Reps. Boles (R-Southern Pines) and McNeill (R-Asheboro). Referred to House Appropriations.
S 406/H 649, Sweepstakes Control Act. Current law prohibits electronic sweepstakes machines. S 406 would change the outright prohibition to a limitation of no more than four machines per establishment.
Introduced by Sen. Wells (R-Hickory) and by Rep. Malone (R-Wake Forest). Referred to Senate Rules; not yet referred in the House.
POVERTY
S 422, Eligibility Reform/Medicaid/SNAP, would require a quarterly review of the eligibility of Medicaid recipients. It would also require applicants for SNAP (formerly known as food stamps) to cooperate with the Child Support Enforcement Program in order to be eligible for food and nutrition benefits.
Introduced by Sens. Krawiec (R-Kernersville), Pate (R-Mount Olive), and Hise (R-Spruce Pine). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 498, Healthy Food Small Retailer Program, is similar to H 387. See RR, March 20.
Introduced by Sens. D. Davis (D-Greenville) and Pate (R-Mount Olive). Referred to Senate Rules.
WORKER ISSUES
H 474, Up Minimum Wage/Set Rates/COLA, would raise the state’s minimum wage, with the amount being based on the size of the business. Employers doing more than $500,000 of sales or business would have to pay workers at least $10.75 per hour. Smaller employers would pay at least $7.75. There would be an annual increase in these amounts based on increases in the Consumer Price Index.
Introduced by Reps. Cunningham (D-Charlotte), Earle (D-Charlotte), and W. Richardson (D-Fayetteville). Referred to House Rules.
S 407, Employee Misclassification Reform. Employee misclassification is what happens when an employer labels a worker as an independent contractor, not an employee, and thereby avoids payment of certain taxes and other obligations. It hurts both the employee and competing businesses that are playing by the rules. S 407 would create a new office within the Industrial Commission to investigate reports of employee misclassification and coordinate state efforts to collect back taxes, wages, benefits, etc. from violators. This new office would be required to publish an annual report on how many reports of misclassification had been received, how many cases had been referred to other state agencies, and how much money had been recovered, but the records of specific cases would not be public records.
Introduced by Sen. Wells (R-Hickory). Referred to Senate Finance and, if favorable, to Rules.
MISCELLANEOUS
S 453, Driver Instruction/Law Enforcement Stops, is identical to H 21. See RR, January 31.
Introduced by Sens. McKissick (D-Durham), Daniel (R-Morganton), and Britt (R-Lumberton). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 387, Limit Session Length, would limit General Assembly sessions to 135 calendar days in odd-numbered years and 60 days in even-numbered years, with the possibility of one 10-day extension in each session if both houses agree.
Introduced by Sens. Chaudhuri (D-Raleigh) and Tillman (R-Archdale). Referred to Senate Rules.
S 497, Nonprofit Sales Tax Exemption, would exempt most 501(c)(3) nonprofits, including churches, from paying sales tax on their purchases. Currently, most nonprofits pay sales tax and are eligible for semi-annual refunds. Under the proposal, most 501(c)(3) nonprofits (those that are currently eligible for sales tax refunds) would get sales tax exemption certificates, and they would use these sales tax exemption numbers to avoid paying sales tax. Many others states use a similar process for exempting nonprofits from sales tax. This change would reduce nonprofits’ recordkeeping and reporting burdens and would also free up more of nonprofits’ financial resources to be used immediately, rather than requiring nonprofits to “loan” money to the state for up to six months. (Bill summary by David Heinen, NC Center for Nonprofits.)
Introduced by Sens. D. Davis (D-Greenville) and Pate (R-Mount Olive). Referred to Senate Rules.
Current Status of Introduced Bills
H 142, Reset of S.L. 2016-3 (a.k.a. H.B. 2), was quickly passed by the General Assembly and signed by Governor Cooper after a compromise on rolling back H.B. 2 had been reached. Steve Ford wrote an excellent piece about the bill which, inadvertently, was not sent to the Raleigh Report network last week. To read it, click here.
H 105, Constitutional Amendment-Limit Governor/Lt. Gov. to Two Terms, has been re-referred to the House Elections Comm.
H 174, Concealed Carry/Church School Property, has been amended to make clear that it does not apply to public school facilities that are rented by churches. It has passed the House and is in Senate Rules.
H 134, Pistol Permit/Mental Health Record to Sheriff, has been passed by the House and is now in Senate Rules.
H 161, Divestment from Companies that Boycott Israel, has been passed by the House and is in Senate Rules.
S 145, Government Immigration Compliance, has been re-referred to Senate Judiciary and, if favorable, to Senate Finance and then Senate Rules.
S 252, NC Teaching Fellows, has been re-referred to Senate Education/Higher Ed and, if favorable, to Appropriations and then to Rules.
S 304, Required Financial Audits, has been amended in ways that are beneficial to nonprofits. Specifically, full audits for nonprofits receiving state or local funds would be required every four years only for large nonprofits (with $1 million in revenues or more); smaller nonprofits could have a financial review. In addition, nonprofits that already conduct audits or reviews would not have to do a separate one, and nonprofits could choose their own CPA firms, not have it done for them by the State Auditor.
S 325, Billion Dollar Middle Class Tax Cut, has been passed by the Senate and sent to the House. For analysis by the News & Observer’s Ned Barnett, click here. As he notes, citing the NC Budget and Tax Center, the “billion dollar” cut is really $800 million, and it benefits wealthy individuals and profitable companies, not just the middle class.
