By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
Thursday was crossover at the NC General Assembly, which made this week one of the most hectic of the session. The other busiest legislative time is at the end of session, when legislators are similarly racing to pass bills.
When will the session end? Good question!The NC legislature makes its own schedule, unlike in some other states that have start and end dates set by law. Note that certain categories of bills, such as those with budget implications, are not subject to crossover, so there will still be new bills emerging, but not as many.
Harmful environmental bills that crossed over to the other chamber this week:
House sends Senate anti-tree bill: H 496, “Property Owners’ Rights/Tree Ordinances,” sponsored by Representatives Boles (R - Moore), Hunter (D - Gates, Hertford, Pasquotank), Moffitt (R - Henderson), and Brody (R - Anson, Union), would prohibit communities from adopting tree protection ordinances that regulate the removal of trees from private property without the express authorization of the General Assembly. That means that a local government would have to count on getting a bill passed by the legislature to have a tree ordinance, even though it sometimes takes years to get bills passed and there is no guarantee that a bill would ever be passed. This would make it more difficult for communities to protect trees, including large, historic trees and trees that provide natural flood and erosion control. The House approved H 496 with a vote of 72-43.
Senate puts “lipstick on a pig:" This week the Senate approved S 605, the Farm Act, with a vote of 28-21. The bill includes a section to require the NC Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) to create a general permit for biogas at industrial hog operations. A general permit is normally used when there’s a large number of similar projects with little environmental impact. It’s not appropriate for projects that vary widely in size, geography, and environmental impacts like biogas projects. Please thank Sen. Julie Mayfield (D - Buncombe) for giving a strong speech against the bill in which she called the measure “lipstick on a pig” - the pig being the antiquated lagoon-and-sprayfield system. In addition, a new controversial provision was added to the Farm Act last week. Sec. 13 “Retailiatory Employment Discrimination Act Amendment” would be harmful to workers’ rights by weakening workers’ protections against retaliation for filing discrimination cases. Please reach out to your House member to ask them to oppose S 605.
House passes bill to help developers at the expense of local sediment control: The House approved H 489, “Building Code & Development Reg Reform,” with a vote of 80-33. Representative Harrison (D - Guilford) helpfully raised environmental concerns about the measure in the House debate. H 489 would be harmful to sediment control efforts designed to protect water quality by undercutting local sediment programs.
Helpful environmental bills that crossed over this week:
Senate approves “Native Plants Right to Work Act:" S 628, sponsored by Senators Rabon (R - Bladen, Brunswick, New Hanover, Pender) and McInnis (R - Anson, Moore, Richmond, Scotland), passed the Senate with a vote of 46-2. This bill would require the use of native North Carolina plants and seeds on state property and highways and on local projects that use state funds for landscaping.
House OKs rooftop solar bill: H 842, “Clarify Deed Restrictions/Solar Collectors,” would be helpful to people who live in communities with HOAs (homeowners associations) and who want to install rooftop solar. The bill is sponsored by Representatives Warren (R - Rowan), Hanig (R - Currituck, Dare, Hyde, Pamlico), Penny (R - Harnett), and Carter (R - Rockingham), and it would disallow deed restrictions that negatively impact the efficiency of a solar system by more than 10%. This is meant to address the problem of antiquated HOA rules that effectively disallow rooftop solar. Representative Dixon (R - Duplin, Onslow) voiced opposition to the measure in committee and in the House debate due to his concern that it would be too restrictive to developers. H 842 passed with a bipartisan vote of 83-32.