Representative Harry Warren
♦ The legislative activity on the House floor this week was primarily about Resolutions, votes for concurrence and action on mostly local bills. Committee work, however, saw some significant public bill activity with legislation coming from both chambers.
I will list the public bills that came up for concurrence, along with the links to the respective bills, but first, I would like to thank everyone who attended the Town Hall meeting last Friday. While that was the last Town Hall meeting planned for this session, I have accepted an invitation to meet with the Senior Democrats of the Rowan County Democrat Party on July 16. The meeting will be held at 1:00 pm at the Hurley Room of the Rowan County Library, located in downtown Salisbury. Geoffrey Hoy, who contacted me regarding the event, was in attendance at the Town Hall meeting last Friday and announced the event. He graciously extended an invitation for all to attend. If you haven’t made it to one of the Town Hall meetings, this will be the last opportunity to attend one until the short session starts up in May of 2014. Wow, 2014! Already?
Voter ID: The Voter ID bill, HB 589 – V.I.V.A., will begin to move in the Senate Rules Committee, where it has been sitting quietly since April 25. The Senate had been waiting on the Supreme Court’s decision regarding the relevance of the 1965 Voting Rights Act in today’s political and social environment. On Tuesday, the Court’s decision that the formula by which Section 5 is determined applicable to the various states and counties is outdated and as such, not enforceable.
This decision rendered the VRA preclearance requirements null and void. I suspect that the Senate will revisit the list of acceptable photo IDs that VIVA allowed and shorten the list. More than likely college IDs will be disallowed. Another change the Senate might make could be to move up the implementation date, but I am only speculating – there may be more or there may be fewer changes to the bill, we should know more very soon.
It is too soon to tell what impact the Supreme Court’s decision on DOMA will have on North Carolina’s recently passed Amendment One from last year. There has been much speculation but the exact impact is not clear at this time. The court decision against DOMA was relative to federal law, therefore, any impact that it may have on state laws is still unclear although on the surface, it would appear that it would have no direct immediate influence.
The House has passed a continuing resolution in order to keep the government running while the House and Senate Chambers work out a compromise on tax revision and a state budget. The resolution mandates a 5% reduction in spending and is slated to terminate at the end of July.
Here are some bills of significance this week:
HB 656 – Forfeiture for “Speeding to Elude” Revisions. This bill would revise the laws governing the seizure, forfeiture and sale of motor vehicles used by defendants in felony speeding to elude arrest. This bill passed both houses and was presented to the Governor on June 26.
HB 700 – Omnibus State IT Governance Changes. The legislation makes changes to State information technology governance.
HB 784 – Worthless Check/Present Cashed Check. This is an act to provide that the remedies and penalties for worthless checks also apply when a check that has been paid in full is presented again for payment. This bill passed both the House and Senate and was presented to the Governor on June 26.
HB 832 – Expand Pharmacists’ Immunizing Authority. This bill would create a new section of the Pharmacy Practice Act authorizing a pharmacist to administer to adults vaccines or immunizations recommended or required by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention and to administer other enumerated vaccinations or immunizations. Having cleared both Houses, this bill was sent to the Governor today.
SB 132 – Health Curriculum/Preterm Birth. The legislation would require that the reproductive health and safety education, provided as part of a reproductive health and safety education program, include information about the preventable causes of preterm birth in subsequent pregnancies.
SB 490 –Exclude Custom Software from Property Tax. This bill excludes custom software from being taxed after it has been customized to suit the purchaser’s specific needs.
SB 613 – Create Military Affairs Commission. This act would abolish the Advisory Commission on Military Affairs and replace it with the North Carolina Military Affairs Commission, effective August, 1, 2013.
HB 122 – Amend Interlocutory Appeals/Family Law. If this bill becomes law it would amend the laws pertaining to interlocutory appeals as related to family law and modify the law regarding discipline for judges.
HB 261 – Kannapolis – Deannexation. This bill, sponsored by Representative Carl Ford, will deannex a 1.85 acre tract of land from the City of Kannapolis and add the tract of land to the City of Landis.
HB 543 – MHDDSA Providers As Uncompensated Guardians. This new law would permit providers of mental health developmental disabilities or substance abuse services to serve as uncompensated court-appointed guardians to unrelated clients.
These bills passed through the Legislature and were presented to the Governor or Secretary of State this week:
HB 664 – Cell Tower Deployment Act. This law will facilitate the deployment of mobile broadband and other enhanced wireless communications services by streamlining the processes used by state agencies and local governments to approve the placement of wireless facilities in their jurisdictions.
HB 60 – Transfer of Indian Cultural Center Property. This is an act to terminate leases at the Indian Cultural Center site and then sell or allocate certain portions of the property, as recommended by the Joint Legislative Program Evaluation Oversight Committee.
HB 223 – Electric Membership Corps/Member Control. This act exempts electric membership corporations from integrated resource planning and service regulations requirements established by the Utilities Commission, returns oversight of the corporations to their member board of directors, and clarifies the authority of the North Carolina Rural Electrification Authority to receive and investigate complaints from members of electric membership corporations.
SB 8 – Increase Fine for Vehicle Removal. This law will increase the fine for the removal of unauthorized vehicles from private lots pursuant to GS 20-219.2.
SB 25 – Hunting and Fishing/Active Duty Military. This act provides that members of the Armed Forces who are serving on active military duty in the Armed Forces of the United States outside the State of North Carolina shall be considered residents for purposes of obtaining certain hunting, fishing, trapping and special activity licenses.
SB 358 – Guaranteed Asset Protection Wavers. This law will authorize guaranteed asset protection waivers to be authorized in this state.
SB 461 – CDL Changes. This act requires the Division of Motor Vehicles to allow third-party commercial drivers license skills testing any day of the week and to extend the validity of a temporary driving certificate issued to an applicant for a commercial drivers license to sixty days.
SB 494 – Community Service/Post Release Supervision. This is an act to authorize community service as a discretionary condition of post-release supervision and to amend the requirements for voting by the Post-release Supervision and Parole Commission on matters coming before the commission.
HB 219 – Update References/Child Born Out of Wedlock. This law will modernize the ways children born out of wedlock are referenced in the General Statutes by removing references to “illegitimate” when used in connection with an individual and to “bastardy,” to allow a child born out of wedlock to inherit from a person who died prior to or within one year after the birth of that child if paternity can be established by DNA testing, and to make other technical corrections to the statutes being amended.
HB 240 – Insurance Technical/Clarifying Changes. This is an act to expand the choices for health insurance in North Carolina by exempting health insurance companies from outdated risk exposure requirements; to remove a photo identification requirement for new domestic companies; to help mortgage guaranty companies adjust their capital and surplus requirements; to revise certain risk-based capital requirements in order to main North Carolina’s NAIC accreditation; to clarify consumer choice in homeowner’s coverage for wind and hail; to clarify the certification requirements for an actuary who presents a schedule of premium rates; to shorten certain time periods for an external review by the commissioner of certain insurer determinations; to expand access of coverage to businesses who need blanket accident and health coverage; to make certain conforming changes related to the renaming of the Office of Managed Care Patient Assistance Program as Health Insurance Smart NC; to amend the definition of private passenger motor vehicle; to clarify when an insurer can communicate with the insured after a public adjuster has been retained; and to clarify when an automatic stay of proof of loss requirements, premium and debt deferrals, and loss adjustments are triggered; to provide notice and an opportunity for a hearing when a Superior Court judge is called upon to select an umpire in certain property insurance disputes; and to allow the Department of Insurance to enforce certain provisions of the Public Health Service Act by requiring insurance companies to comply with those provisions within this State.
HB 248 – Taxpayer Debt Information Act. This law will require disclosure on the ballot that authorization of indebtedness includes interest and that taxes may be levied to repay the indebtedness.
HB 322 – CDL Requirements/Military Experience. This is an act to allow the Division of Motor Vehicles to waive the commercial skills test for retired or discharged members of the armed forces who also satisfy other requirements.
HB 331 – HOAs/Uniform Lien Procedure. This will stabilize titles and provide a uniform procedure to enforce claims of lien securing sums due condominium and planned community associations.
HB 891 – Exploitation of Seniors/Freeze Defendant’s Assets. This act will allow the District Attorney to petition the Court to freeze the assets of a defendant charged with financial exploitation of an elder adult or disabled adult and to establish a procedure to petition for the freezing or seizure of the defendant’s assets.
HB 332 - Notary Act/Satisfaction of Security Interests. This law will make corrections and other amendments to the Notary Public Act and make other conforming changes while providing for an alternative procedure for satisfaction of security instruments.
HB 333 – Sex Offender Residency/Regis. Amendments. This bill, of which I was a primary sponsor, will clarify sex offender statutes relating to residency and registration.
HB 433 – Land Use Surrounding Military Installations. This is an act to support the activities of the Armed Forces and to maintain and enhance the military’s presence in North Carolina by regulating the height of buildings and structures located in areas that surround military installations in the State.
HB 459 – Chronic Care Coordination Act. This law will require the Department of Health and Human Services to coordinate chronic disease care.
HB 587 – Alternate ACT/PLAN for Certain Students. This act will require an alternate ACT and PLAN precursor test for certain students.
HB 641 – Amend Conditional Discharge/1st Offense. This provides that a court has the discretion to determine whether to grant a conditional discharge for a first offense of certain drug offenses.
Final Notes:
I will continue to send you a weekly newsletter as long as the session continues, which I suspect won’t be much longer.
It is most likely tax revision will be resolved first, followed by a state budget compromise between the House and Senate.
Remember July 16th – Hurley Room of the Rowan County Library @ 1:00 pm – I will be speaking with the Senior Democrats of the Rowan County Democrat Party.
I wish you a very happy, patriotic and safe 4th of July holiday.
N.C. House of Representatives District 77, Rowan County
611 Legislative Office Building Raleigh,
North Carolina 27603
(919) 733-5784
