Representative Harry Warren
♦The deadline for filing “public” bills with the House Principal Clerk was 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday of this week. As you might expect, a flurry of bills were finalized by the Drafting and Research Divisions. At the same time, the volume of bills in the various standing committees is increasing. The deadline, or “cross-over,” date by which bills that originate in the House must pass and move to the Senate (and vice-versa) is May 16th. Bills that fail to cross over must wait until the “short” session – next May – before any further movement can happen. However, the short session typically does not address a wide range of legislative subject matter beyond the budget adjustments and some special issue bills or time sensitive ones.
Here is a list of the bills that were passed by the House this week and sent to the Senate:
HB 296 – Hunter Education/Apprentice Permit. This is an act to amend and clarify the hunter education requirements and to establish a Hunting Heritage Apprentice Permit.
HB 317 – Improve Education for Children Who are Deaf. This is an act to improve education outcomes for North Carolina children who are deaf or hard of hearing. This bill requires the State Board of Education to do at least the following to improve educational outcomes for children who are deaf or hard of hearing: (1) develop assessment procedures and protocols to measure, at least annually or more frequently if required in a child’s Individualized Education Program (IEP), the acquisition of language skills necessary for literacy, with the results used to determine whether further support and services are needed; (2) require an IEP team to use the specified worksheet to document consideration of the language and communication needs of the child as the IEP is developed, the placement decisions made for the child, and the team’s review of the child’s placement and needs; (3) ensure that personnel highly qualified in the education of children who are deaf or hard of hearing are available to meet the needs of each child; and (4) develop and implement strategies to ensure that parents of a child who is deaf and hard of hearing know they can request that the child’s IEP team consider placement in a residential setting, and that if requested, a representative from one of the state’s residential/day program schools for the deaf will be a member of the IEP team. Requires the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies and organizations, at the request of the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), to make available databases containing information on children under age 22 who are deaf or hard of hearing. Requires that DPI use the information for a statewide data tracking system to coordinate with other agencies and organizations and ensure literacy achievement for all children who are deaf or hard of hearing.
HB 350 – Court Improvement Project Juvenile Law Changes. This is an act to make various changes to the Juvenile Code pursuant to revisions proposed by the Court Improvement Project.
HB 396 – Enact Private Well Water Education Act. This is an act to enact the Private Well Water Education Act at the request of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
HB 322 – Commercial Driver’s License Requirements/Military Experience. This act would 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. This is a companion bill to SB 280, which was filed on March 13. This bill amends GS 20-37.13(c1), providing that the DMV may waive the skills test for any qualified military applicant if the applicant is currently licensed at the time of application and meets several qualifications, including but not limited to, passing all required written knowledge exams and having not had more than one driver’s license, except one from the military, in the last two years. The applicant must also certify and provide evidence that the applicant is a retired, discharged, or current member of an active or reserve component of the Armed Forces of the United States and is regularly employed or was regularly employed in a military position within the 90-day period immediately preceding the date of application. Additionally the applicant must either have operated, for the two-year period immediately preceding application, a vehicle similar to the class and type of commercial motor vehicle he or she seeks to be licensed for and has taken and passed a skills test given by the military or, for an applicant who is a retired or discharged member, satisfy requirements of GS 20-37.13(c1)(3)b., and has not been dishonorably discharged and has been retired or discharged for no more than 90 days prior to the date of application.
HB 392 – Share Arrest Warrant Status/Public Assistance. This is an act requiring a County Department of Social Services (DSS) to conduct a criminal check on applicants for or recipients of Temporary Assistance to Needy Family (TANF) Benefits or Food or Nutrition Services (FNS) Benefits, to require DSS to share information with a local law enforcement agency regarding an applicant for or recipient of TANF or FNS benefits who has an outstanding arrest warrant, and to deny TANF or FNS benefits to an applicant or recipient subject to an outstanding warrant for a felony or for a probation or parole violation.
HB 416 – Increase Small Claims Amount. This is an act to increase the jurisdictional amount for small claims actions to ten thousand dollars.
HB 127 – Arts Education as a Graduation Requirement. This bill, sponsored by Representative Becky Carney and Representative Linda Johnson, mandates that a student must pass an arts course in order to graduate. This is already a requirement in the Rowan–Salisbury Schools as it is in Burke County, Columbus County, Newton Conover and Pitt County Schools.
HB 439 – Economic Development Jobsites Program. This is an act to create an infrastructure property tax deferral program.
SB 117 – Lily’s Law. The bill enacts new GS 14-17(c) to provide that it shall constitute murder where a child is born alive but dies as a result of injuries inflicted prior to the child being born alive. It provides that degree of murder shall be determined pursuant to subsections (a) (defining murder in the first degree) and (b) (defining second degree murder). If passed, the law would become effective December 1, 2013, for offenses committed on or after that date.
Those reflect some of the bigger bills that passed through the House this week. More were passed Thursday, late afternoon and early evening, many of which were local bills.
Closer to home:
This bill was given a “Favorable” report by the House Government Committee and advanced to the House Finance Committee. In Finance, it may be referred to a Subcommittee on Annexation for review before being referred to the full Finance Committee for a vote. From there, it would advance to the House Floor for a vote and if passed, sent to the Senate:
HB 260 - Salisbury/Deannex Rowan City Airport Property. This bill removes described property that is owned by Rowan County and located in the vicinity of the Rowan County Airport from Salisbury’s corporate limits. It provides that the act has no effect on the validity of any of the city’s liens for ad valorem taxes or special assessments that are outstanding before the act becomes effective. It allows the liens to be collected or foreclosed upon after the act becomes effective as though the property was still within the city’s corporate limits.
HB 589 – VIVA. The Voter Information Verification Act was presented to the Elections Committee for discussion only, on Wednesday. The Committee heard from two guest speakers: NAACP State President William Barber and an Under–Secretary of State from Indiana in regards to the requirement of a photo ID. VIVA bill sponsors then presented the bill to the committee members, who then had the opportunity to ask questions and make suggestions. The bill is scheduled to go before the committee next week for a vote and, if favorable, will advance to the Appropriations Committee before going to the House Floor.
There was a last minute scramble for legislators to get their bills completed and filed before the 3:00 p.m. deadline on Wednesday. According to the House Principal Clerk’s Office, 347 bills were quickly filed. As a result, the weekly committee workloads will grow dramatically. Upcoming newsletters should have a lot more bills to relate to you. In the meantime, if you have a question about one or two of them, just contact my office.
The weather forecast seems as though a great weekend awaits - here’s wishing one for you!
Sincerely, Harry
N.C. House of Representatives
District 77, Rowan County
611 Legislative Office Building
Raleigh, North Carolina 27603
(919) 733-5784
Harry.Warren@ncleg.net
