Inside this issue
 
  This Week at the General Assembly  
 

Things continue to move along quickly as the General Assembly finished its seventh week.  What has changed is the demeanor of the legislature, especially in the House where party politics and tempers are flaring on a daily basis.  Last Saturday, the Governor vetoed HB 2 An Act to Protect the Freedom to Choose Health Care and Health Insurance (would authorize NC to join in the suit against the federal government over “Obamacare”).  The Senate Republicans, with a 31-19 majority have the votes to override a veto, but the House Republicans fall four votes short.  All eyes were on the House chamber as the Republicans tried to get 4 Democrats to vote to override the Governor’s veto.  The vote ultimately failed in the House, but it set the tone for some long and heated debate on bills unrelated to health care! 

One of those bills was HB 92 Repeal Land Transfer Tax, which passed the House by a vote of 78-38.  Twelve Democrats and all but one Republican voted YES on the bill.  HB 92 now resides in the Senate.  Another bill caught in an extended and heated debate was SB 22  APA Rules: Limit Additional Costs.  SB 22 is the first step toward regulatory reform and is strongly supported by NCHBA and a number of business interests.  SB 22 passed the House on Thursday by a vote of 74-40 and goes back to the Senate for concurrence. 

 

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  Bills Introduced This Week  
 

SB 231 Interconnection of Public Water Systems would require interconnection of public water & wastewater systems to regional systems when necessary to protect public health or protect the environment.

 

SB 232/HB 116 Delineate Coastal Wetlands Riparian Buffers would clarify where buffers exist in the Neuse River Basin.

 

SB 243 Public-Private Partnership for Schools would extend the sunset on the law allowing capital lease financing for public schools.

 

SB 281 Municipal Service District/Streets would authorize cities to establish a municipal service district for the purpose of converting private residential streets to public streets and for community associations to transfer planned community property to cities.

 

SB 320 Municipal Systems would broaden the authority of cities concerning water and wastewater systems.

 

HB 268 Disapprove Certain Reclaimed Water Rules would disapprove the EMC’s rule on reclaimed water utilization.

 

HB 281 ETJ Restrictions would eliminate ETJ when countywide zoning is in effect and would allow ETJ residents where countywide zoning was not in effect to vote in municipal elections.

 

HB 282 HOAs/No Prohibit Water or Energy Savings would restrict HOAs from prohibiting the installation of any water or energy saving devices.

 

HB 295 Sampson: No Permits to Delinquent Taxpayers would prohibit the county from issuing a land use or building permit to delinquent taxpayers.

 

HB 332 Clarify Development Moratoria Authority would clarify that local governments may not impose moratoria for the purpose of developing and adopting new or revised development ordinances.  This bill was introduced at the request of NCHBA.

 

 

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  Bills on the Move  
 

SB 22 APA Rules: Limit Additional Costs passed 3rd reading in the House and goes back to the Senate for concurrence.

SB 110 Permit Terminal Groins passed 2nd reading in the Senate.

 

HB 92 Repeal Land Transfer Tax passed the House and moves on to the Senate.

 

 

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  NAHB Legislative Day in Washington, DC is NEXT WEEK!  
 

NAHB’s upcoming Legislative Conference on Wednesday, March 16, will focus on all the issues that are so central to the survival of our businesses — availability of credit for new and existing projects; housing incentives in the tax code; and the future of the housing government-sponsored enterprises.  Especially in these challenging times, participation by NAHB members can make a huge difference as various interest groups compete to push their agendas in Washington.

A strong builder turnout on March 16 will send a powerful message to members of Congress that housing must remain a top national priority.

NCHBA will be making appointments with Senators and Representatives from North Carolina. Register for the March 16 Legislative Conference by visiting www.nahb.org/legcon. Once you register, NCHBA will send out a master schedule of all legislative appointments by email prior to March 16.

For more information, you may contact Erin Jones at
ejones@nchba.org or Lisa Martin at lmartin@nchba.org.

 

 

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  Quote of the Week  
 

"Let's just take it off the table as one of the rusty tools in the rusty tool box.”

 

Representative Julia Howard in her remarks as a sponsor of HB 92 Repeal Land Transfer Tax. We couldn’t agree more Rep. Howard!

 

See you next week.

 

 

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