DEADLINES NOW AND AGAIN

This week marked the House deadline for introduction of statewide legislation not related to appropriations or taxes. As a result, 220 bills were introduced on Thursday, 320 over the course of the week. The next major deadline – one that affects both the House and the Senate – is the May 19 Crossover Deadline. This is the date by which bills from one chamber must be received by the other in order to be eligible for action this year. The next four weeks will be busy as committee meetings will be scheduled on top of each other to move legislation to the House and Senate chambers and across the aisle.

SENATE BUDGET – MEDICAID RELIEF

With the Senate budget scheduled (?) to be reported from committee by the end of April, speculation continues on whether it will include Medicaid relief for counties. The Senate budget is rumored to be spartan and to include major cuts in current program costs, particularly affecting education and other human services. WATCH THIS SPACE.

CRIMINAL JUSTICE, LAW ENFORCEMENT AND EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
Introductions

H1261
“Amending the laws regulating wireless telephone service.” Rep. Alice Underhill (Craven). This bill would grant additional powers and duties to the state Wireless 911 Board. It would reduce from 80 cents to 70 cents the enhanced 911 service charge for users of Commercial Mobile Radio Service (CMRS) and require those users to collect the charge from their subscribers. The bill would reallocate a portion of the Wireless Fund from those CMRS providers to primary Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs). The bill would require PSAPs to comply with federal wireless enhanced 911 service requirements to receive funds. It would require counties and cities with more than one PSAP to identify those PSAPs to the Wireless Board. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Public Utilities.

ENVIRONMENT
Introductions

H1281
“To grant counties the authority to make special assessments for noxious weed control projects in rivers and lakes and to grant certain counties the authority to define noxious Weed Control Service Districts.” Rep. Lucy Allen (Franklin). This bill would authorize assessments under G.S. 153A-185 for “noxious weed control projects in rivers, lakes and tributaries of a river or lake.” It would also allow for creation of service districts, pursuant to G.S. 153A-301, composed of property next to water or accessible to water through shared access sites. The bill was referred to the House Environment Committee.

GENERAL GOVERNMENT
Introductions

H1305
“Requiring cities to file certified charters and boundary maps and counties to file certified boundary and township maps with the Secretary of State.” Rep. Lucy Allen (Franklin). This bill would require each county to file with the secretary of state a certified map of county boundaries in 2006 and each year preceding a census, and a map of townships within the county on the same schedule. The bill was referred to the House Local Government Committee No. 2.

PERSONNEL
Introductions

H1237
“To provide for four additional members of the Board of Trustees of the Local Governmental Employees’ Retirement System.” Rep. Russell Tucker (Duplin). This bill, if enacted, would accomplish an Association legislative goal. It would reconfigure the Board of Trustees of the local system by removing seven members who are teachers or state employees and adding a county manager, a city or town manager, an active local government employee and a retired local government employee. The bill was referred to the House Committee on Pensions and Retirement.

PLANNING, LAND USE AND DEVELOPMENT
Introductions

H1288
“To protect public health and the environment by requiring counties to develop plans that provide for the deconstruction of abandoned manufactured homes and the removal of reusable or recyclable components, by providing for the abatement of abandoned manufactured homes that are determined to be a nuisance, and by imposing an advance disposal tax on the sale of new and used manufactured homes to ensure that funds will be available for the deconstruction of abandoned manufactured homes.” Rep. Phil Haire (Jackson). This bill would create a “Manufactured Home Disposal Tax” of $300 for each new or used single wide manufactured home or $300 for each section of a multi-section manufactured home, with proceeds to be placed in the Manufactured Homes Management Account to be used to assist and reimburse counties for expenses related to identifying, removing, deconstructing, recycling and disposing of abandoned manufactured homes. Counties would be required to make plans for management of abandoned manufactured homes. Each plan would be required to: 1) identify all abandoned manufactured homes in the county, 2) provide for the deconstruction of these abandoned manufactured homes, 3) provide for the removal thereof for reuse or recycling, as appropriate, and 4) provide for the proper disposal of the remaining manufactured homes that were not deconstructed. The bill eliminates disposal fees for disposal of abandoned manufactured homes and prohibit disposal of these homes in landfills, incinerators or waste-to-energy facilities if the county implements the required plan. The bill was referred to the House Environment Committee.

TAXATION AND FINANCE
Introductions

H1287
“To include trout farms of five or more acres, or those producing twenty thousand or more pounds of trout, in the classification of agricultural land for the purposes of present use value taxes.” Rep. Phil Haire (Jackson). This bill would add trout farms, as described in the title, to those properties eligible for taxation at present use value under G. S. 105-277.3(a)(1).The bill was referred to the House Finance Committee.