Womble Carlyle Legislative Update - April 24, 2015
By Unknown
Crossover is the
deadline established by House and Senate Rules by which a House bill must be
received by the Senate, and a Senate bill must be received by the House, in
order to remain eligible for action for the rest of the biennium. Bills not
subject to Crossover are those that contain a fee, tax or appropriation, or a
constitutional amendment, local bill or a bill recommended to the 2016 session
by a study committee. Thursday, April 30th
is crossover so the volume of work on Jones Street is huge, the atmosphere is
chaotic, and the very clever people are getting things done under the radar. Here are the highlights/lowlights:
House Republicans took a different political approach with this
bill by having only female primary sponsors on the bill and agreeing that no male
caucus members would debate the bill on the floor. It was a robust debate of
women legislators. The party-line vote included the Speaker, who historically
doesn’t cast a vote except in close votes, on memorializing resolutions, and on
major tax and budget issues. Also of
note was the “no” vote of Rep. Tine (Dare County) who was elected as a
Democrat, dropped his party affiliation just before the session convened, and
has been caucusing with Republicans this session. We expect this bill to sail
through the Senate.
Economic Development
The Senate Finance Committee began discussing HB 117 this
week. Sen. Rucho suggested that the
committee will develop a new plan from parts of the three bills below. This is
the first Senate movement on Economic Development this session.
HB 117 – NC Competes – is the
first plan passed by the House and supported by Governor McCrory. It:
·
doubles JDIG
money to $45 million· extends the sales tax refund for aviation fuel
· enacts a sales tax exemption for datacenters
SB 526 – Job Creation and Tax Relief
Act of 2015 – is the first plan introduced by the Senate. It:
·
proposes a move
to a “single sales factor” where a company would be taxed only on what they
sell in-state· refunds taxes for companies investing at least $1 billion and hiring 2,500 workers
· reduces the corporate income tax rate from 5% to 4% over the next two years
· reduces the individual income tax rate from 5.75% to 5.5% over the next two years
· retools JDIG to benefit rural counties
SB 338 – Economic Development/Tax
Modifications – is the second plan introduced by the Senate. It:
·
proposes a
move to a “single sales factor” · refunds taxes for companies investing at least $1 billion and hiring 2,500 workers
· reduces the corporate income tax rate from 5% to 3%
· retools JDIG to benefit rural counties
Failed Legislation
It’s rare for a bill to fail on a vote
and there has been a flurry of them recently. Typically a bill sponsor or
committee chair will pull a bill if the votes don’t appear to be there. This session we’ve seen some bills go down and
we’re wondering if vote counting is a lost art. HB 344 – Gubernatorial Team Ticket – failed on the House floor this week. It is the proposed constitutional amendment that we told you about last week that, if approved by voters, would require candidates for governor and lieutenant governor to run together on one ticket. It received 60 votes with 58 against it, but fell short of the necessary three-fifths votes needed to get on the ballot. Although bill sponsors argued that it’s important to have a lieutenant governor from the same party as the governor in case something were to happen to the governor, the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” argument won out in the end. So, don’t worry, you can still split the top of your ticket.
HB 128
– Referendum for Certain Local Debt – failed in committee this
week. It would have allowed residents to
force a referendum on proposed spending by local governments for projects
costing $5 million or more. Rep. Speciale argued that the bill would
protect citizens and give them more of a voice in preventing local tax
increases. Rep. Ross reminded the committee that citizens elect their
local officials as he made a motion for an unfavorable report. The motion
passed easily killing the bill.
HB 761
– Charter School Capital Funds – failed on a motion for a
favorable report. It would have allowed for county money for capital
needs for schools be shared with charter schools to help with construction and
renovation needs, the purchase of property, furniture or equipment for charter
schools. The committee chairman ruled the motion to approve failed on a
voice vote. After counting hands, the
motion failed 12-7.
Health Insurance Mandates
The NC Chamber and the National
Federation of Independent Businesses (NFIB) has made opposing health insurance
mandates, which can be costly for businesses, one of their top priorities.
There are a number of bills moving this session that impact health insurance:
HB 306 – NC Cancer Treatment Fairness
– requires health insurers to offer coverage for oral chemotherapy drugs that
is at least as good as coverage for IV chemo. The bill sponsor argued in the
House Insurance Committee that some chemo drugs are only available in in oral
form. The bill received strong support in committee, then passed the House
floor by a vote of 104-10. The bill has been sent to the Senate where it died
last session. No indication whether the
Senate will take up the bill.
SB 676 – Autism Health Insurance Coverage
passed the Senate Insurance Committee and will be on the Senate floor next week
where it is expected to pass. This bill
mandates that health insurance cover treatment therapies for autism. Some
advocates believe the bill still needs some tweaks.
HB 528 - Chiropractor Co-Pay Parity
is scheduled for consideration by the House Insurance Committee next week. It
would require that an insurance plan treat a chiropractic visit the same as a
general practitioner visit for purposes of co-pay. The bill does not set the
amount of the co-pay so some argue it is not an insurance mandate.
LegalZoom
HB 436 – Unauthorized Practice of Law
Changes – passed the House on Monday by a vote of 115-4 and has been
sent to the Senate. This bill would allow legal service websites such as
LegalZoom to continue offering products in North Carolina only if they meet
certain criteria but they will not be allowed to offer legal advice or legal
documents based upon questions and answers with a consumer, which are both
considered the practice of law and can only be performed by a licensed
attorney. Legislators say this version of the bill has the support of the NC
Bar.
SEPA
HB 795 – Amend State Environmental Policy
Act passed committee and is on Monday’s House Calendar. The bill puts thresholds
into law in order to trigger to the need for a SEPA document by requiring the
expenditure of public funds or disturbing of public lands to be “substantial”
which they define with a dollar trigger of $20 million and disturbed publicly-owned
land area threshold of 20 acres. A SEPA
document is a comprehensive, time-intensive and costly study of the potential
adverse environmental impacts from the projects using public funds or public
lands for development, ie a public wastewater plant. Sierra Club and other conservation groups
strongly oppose the change. The state
Department of Environment and Natural Resources has not taken a formal position
on the bill.
Next week will be a zoo on Jones Street. Wish us
luck and let us know what your questions are.
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