By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
This week at the General Assembly, the House Redistricting Committee discussed three bills that would change the way voting districts are drawn. There were no votes on the environmental bills we’ve been following, but the Farm Act is on the Senate calendar for Monday night along with a possible veto override vote of the state budget.
Opportunity for Action:
Please ask your senator to oppose S 315, the Farm Act, because it would make certain public records secret and would encourage the entrenchment of the outdated lagoon-and-sprayfield method of hog waste management that is harmful to the environment.
More details on the Farm Act
Although most of the debate around the Farm Act has been about the hemp provisions, we remain concerned about two sections that have remained essentially unchanged throughout the session.
- Sec. 25 would exempt certain Soil and Water Conservation Commission documents, including those regarding technical assistance at hog operations and complaints from neighbors, from being considered "public records." This would be an unnecessary new exception to the Public Records Act. Records like this have been used to find problems at industrial hog operations that led neighbors to seek justice.
- Sec. 27 would allow modifications of hog waste management systems without the longstanding requirement to meet environmentally superior technology performance standards. The proponents of this section say this is to encourage waste-to-energy technology. However, that is already allowed under current law. Methane recapture for waste-to-energy is insufficient on its own to address the environmental and health problems created by lagoons and sprayfields; the worry is that entrenching this system would be harmful to health and the environment in the long run.
House considers independent redistricting bills
While North Carolina voters wait on a court to determine if voting district maps passed by the legislature will be approved, a House committee discussed three redistricting bills.
The bills considered were H 140, “The FAIR Act;” H 69, “Nonpartisan Redistricting Commission;” and H 648, “NC FAIR State & Congressional Districts Act.” While all three bills have bipartisan support, H 140 and H 69 have the most co-sponsors. H 140 would authorize an amendment to the state constitution that would be subject to approval by voters in 2020. The other bills would change redistricting laws.
No votes were taken at the Thursday morning committee meeting but the chair, Rep. David Lewis (R - Harnett), said there would be more discussion.
Duke Energy’s bill remains stalled in House
Duke Energy’s multi-year ratemaking bill, S 559, “Storm Securitization/Alt. Rates,” has not been taken up by the House since a conference committee deleted a utility tools study that a majority of the House supported. The House might take up S 559 next week if there are enough votes in support of the bill.