By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
This week was a hectic but short one at the N.C. General Assembly. It was crossover week, so both the House and Senate raced to pass many bills in order to keep them alive for the biennium.
The good news is that the Senate did not pass Sen. Harry Brown’s wind ban bill - Senate Bill 377. That means the proposal likely did not have enough support from senators to pass, which is good news for the future of wind energy in North Carolina!
House Approves Scaled-Back Billboard Protection Act
A heavily amended version of H 645, Revisions to Outdoor Advertising Laws, was passed by the House this week by a vote of 73-43. The bill is still a giveaway to the billboard industry at the expense of local government authority over community appearance, but changes were made that narrowed the proposal. For example, an amendment by Rep. Chuck McGrady (R - Henderson) eliminated provisions that would have allowed a significant expansion of tree-cutting on public right-of-ways to improve the visibility of billboards and taken away special protections for dogwood and redbud trees. In addition, Rep. Joe John (D - Wake) amended the bill to remove a strange provision that would have made it retroactive. Please thank Rep. McGrady for his amendment to protect trees along our highways!
H 645 is likely to receive a friendly reception in the Senate; we are calling on senators to oppose the bill or to at least keep the House amendments intact.
More positive news - House Approves Bill to Limit Single-Use Plastics by State
This week the House approved H 823, N.C. Managing Environmental Waste Act of 2019, by a nearly unanimous vote of 115-1. The bill would start a pilot program to reduce the state’s use of single-use plastics, increase funding to local governments to reduce plastic waste, and study the issue of single-use plastics. H 823 will next go to the Senate for consideration.
Coming Up
When the legislature returns, the Senate will take up the House-proposed budget and likely make many changes over the coming month. The House will continue to consider bills that were not subject to crossover (those with financial ramifications) and may consider bills passed by the Senate, such as S 559, Storm Securitization/Alt. Rates. As you may recall, the N.C. Sierra Club opposes S 559 due to concerns about the part of the bill that would allow multi-year rate-making for Duke Energy. In its current form, the passage of S 559 would protect the interests of Duke Energy shareholders at the expense of residential and commercial rate-payers having a voice in the rate-making process, while also reducing accountability and transparency.
Opportunity for Action
Please ask your state representative to oppose S 559 because customers already do not have a choice in their electricity supplier in North Carolina. If S 559 becomes law, they will have less of a voice in the monopoly utility’s rate increase proposals.