By Cassie Gavin
Director of Government Relations
This week, the N.C. General Assembly passed the budget - Senate Bill 99 - which contains a variety of environmental policy provisions. Budgets are about appropriating funds, but they have long been a favorite place for politicians to insert policy provisions that might not garner sufficient votes on their own. By burying policy changes in the budget, lawmakers can keep complicated proposals from receiving the level of public review and debate that they should before becoming law. This 267-page budget bill is no exception. The Sierra Club has long opposed this method of policy-making; instead we advocate for transparency and opportunities for public involvement in the legislative process.
This year, the budget process not only included policy provisions, but sparked criticism statewide in that there was no input from the minority party and no amendments or changes were allowed. Though members could not offer changes to the budget, the policy proposals were hotly debated this week. The House vote on the budget was along party lines, and the Senate vote was, too: Only one senator of the minority party voted for the bill.
The Budget & Water Quality
The budget funding and policy provisions addressing GenX and per- and poly-fluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are an improvement over similar provisions in companion bills filed by the House and Senate (House Bill 972/Senate Bill 724). Please thank Rep. Chuck McGrady (R - Henderson) for his work to improve this section and ensure some funding for the Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
But the section of the budget addressing GenX still fails to provide DEQ with adequate resources to respond to this kind of chemical contamination across the state. The majority of funding to address chemical contamination (about $5 million) will go to the N.C. Policy Collaboratory at UNC rather than to DEQ, the agency responsible under federal law for enforcement of water quality laws. Please thank Representatives Deb Butler (D - New Hanover, Brunswick) and Pricey Harrison (D - Guilford) for raising this issue in the House debate and Sen. Mike Woodard (D - Durham, Person) for doing so in the Senate.
In other water quality impacts, the budget further delays the Jordan Lake cleanup rules that were supposed to go into full effect in 2009 but have not to date. It also delays implementation of the Falls Lake cleanup rules. This is inconsistent with the demands of the Clean Water Act and the need to protect our waters. These lakes provide drinking water to more than 750,000 people in the Triangle and are valuable recreational areas. Please thank Representative Gale Adcock (D - Wake) for highlighting that this is a problem for public health in the Triangle.
On a more positive note, conservation funding - including the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, Parks and Recreation Trust Fund, and Agricultural Development and Farmland Preservation Trust Fund - was increased by more than $22 million. Land conservation plays an important role in protecting water quality.
Budget Takes NC Backwards on Clean Transportation
The transportation sector is now the biggest contributor of climate change emissions in the United States. But some in the legislature seem determined to stymie North Carolina’s transition to a clean transportation future.
A provision in the budget appears intended to kill the planned Orange-Durham light rail project. The provision sets up a “catch-22” by requiring that any light rail project secure federal funding before it can become eligible for state funding, though the federal government requires state funding to be secured first. If the Orange-Durham project is killed, it could mean a loss of more than $1.2 billion in federal funds. Please thank Senators Floyd McKissick (D - Durham, Granville) and Jeff Jackson (D - Mecklenburg) for speaking out against this piece.
The budget also puts at risk $92 million in Volkswagen settlement funds that are intended to compensate North Carolina for pollution caused by Volkswagen’s emissions cheating scandal. The budget requires that the VW settlement funds go into the N.C. State Treasury and then be distributed via an appropriation by the N.C. General Assembly, rather than go directly from the official VW Settlement Trust to DEQ and then to third parties. There is no apparent reason for this process that would justify the risk of losing the federal funds, which DEQ plans to use for electric vehicle infrastructure and other clean transportation investments.
The budget is now on its way to Governor Cooper, who may sign the bill into law, veto it, or let it become law without his signature.
What’s next?
Now that the budget has passed, expectations are that the legislature will take up other bills and possibly constitutional amendments. Stay tuned for more legislative news and opportunities for action!