Steve Mensing, Editor
♦ It’s looking grim for the House’s Historic Preservation Tax Credit Bill receiving any interest in the N.C. Senate. Not even threats to forgo signing the budget by Pat McCrory did anything to advance the bill. Its only affect appears to have made the Senators to dig their heels against this example of cronyism and taxpayer waste. The Historic Preservation Tax Credits died on December 31st 2014.
Telephone conversations over the weekend with Rep. Carl Ford and Sen. Andrew Brock echoed what I read in various news sources around the state. The House Bill wasn’t going anywhere in the Senate. It wasn’t even being heard.
Carl doubted the Senate would take up Historic Preservation tax credits. “Just no interest Steve–it runs counter to what they are accomplishing. I won’t say never–I’d say it’s extremely unlikely to be ever heard.”
Sen. Andrew Brock didn’t see the House’s Bill gaining much traction in the Senate. Brock and Robert Rucho co-authored SB 472, a bill promoting incentives coming from the municipalities and counties.
Yesterday I read Rep. Harry Warren’s newsletter, a virtual catalog of bills and newspaper links. Harry wrote: “The Historic Restoration Tax Credit program bill is included(almost a guaranteed removal by the Senate, is funded at eight million per year).”
Governor McCrory’s junkets around the state with former Salisbury Mayor Susan Kluttz, hoping to drum up support for the Historic Preservation Tax Credit bill, while music to League of Municipalities choirs, doesn’t appear to be a tune the Senate will carry.
