By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
The pace has picked up at the General Assembly; legislators have filed hundreds of bills and many are being voted through committees. Lawmakers need to hear from constituents like you about which bills matter!
Opportunity for Action:
Please contact your Representative today to ask them to oppose H 220, “Assuring Choice of Energy Service,” because it would limit local options to address climate change.
Ask your House member to support H 230, “NC Managing Environmental Waste Act of 2021,” to reduce plastic waste and H 245 “Efficient Government Buildings & Savings Act”.
Bill to protect fracked gas hookups approved by committee
This week, the House Energy Committee approved H 220, “Assuring Choice of Energy Service.” The bill would prevent counties and cities from transitioning away from gas-powered buildings to more efficient electric-powered building codes, and make it difficult for them to reach clean energy commitments. NC Sierra Club opposes this bill because we want local governments to retain options to address climate change. Transitioning away from fossil fuels is one of those options.
In committee, Rep. Alexander (D - Mecklenburg) questioned the need for the measure, given that no local governments in North Carolina are trying to ban gas hookups. Charlotte, in his district, is one of the many local governments in the state with climate goals. Rep. Harrison (D - Guilford) also spoke against H 220, noting the need to reduce emissions. Reps. Hawkins (D - Durham), Cunningham (D - Mecklenburg) and Carney (D - Mecklenburg) also asked good questions about the need for the bill. H 220 next goes to the House Commerce Committee, which meets on Tuesday. The bill isn't on the schedule yet but could be added.
NC Policy Watch reported on H 220 in this story: “Natural gas gets a pass in new bill to further curb local government authority.” In the last decade, the General Assembly has passed many laws chipping away at local government authority.
Plastic waste bill deserves support
On Tuesday, the House Commerce Committee will consider H 230, “NC Managing Environmental Waste Act of 2021,” a helpful bill meant to begin to address the problem of single-use plastic waste that’s choking our waterways and littering our roads. This is a bipartisan bill sponsored by Reps. Warren (R - Rowan) and Richardson (D - Cumberland). The measure would provide funding to localities to help reduce plastic waste, establish a pilot program to reduce plastic waste at state food service facilities, and require a legislative study. Please ask your House Representative to support H 230.
Return of the state conservation tax credit?
Reps. Szoka (R - Cumberland), Bell (R - Greene, Johnston, Wayne), Dixon (R - Duplin, Onslow), and Adams (R - Catawba) this week filed H 323, “Military Readiness and Rural Resilience Act,” to restore the state conservation tax credit and allow for its use for land protection in frequently flooded areas. The conservation tax credit helped conserve lands in North Carolina for many years but was phased out. Bringing it back would enable more land protection along our waterways, in floodplains and around military bases. Buffering military bases helps to protect them from encroaching incompatible development and can protect ecologically valuable habitat. H 323 would allow the tax credit to be used for farmland preservation, fish and wildlife conservation, buffering military bases, and floodplain protection in counties that were subject to a disaster declaration in the last five years.
House to try again for more efficient state buildings
Also next week, the House Energy Committee will consider H 245, “Efficient Government Buildings & Savings Act,” sponsored by Reps. Szoka, Arp (R -Union), Saine (R - Lincoln) and Zenger (R-Forsyth). This bill would raise water and energy efficiency standards for government buildings. More efficient buildings would save taxpayers’ money and be good for the environment. Last session, the measure passed the House with a 111-2 vote but the Senate did not take it up.