Rep. Harry Warren
♦HB 260 and SB 269, our Rowan County Airport De-Annexation bills, started out about the same time in their respective Chambers and took slightly different paths to arrive at the same point in time. On April 11, Representative Ford’s bill, HB 260, received a favorable report in the House Government Committee, exactly one month after being assigned there. In the Government Committee, both the City of Salisbury and the Rowan County Commissioners addressed the committee members and presenting their cases. The committee gave a voice vote that sounded as though it were a 2 to 1 margin in favor of the bill. From the Government Committee, the bill was referred to the House Finance Committee, where an ad hoc Subcommittee on Annexations was formed to review all annexation/de-annexation bills. The bills sat there for two weeks or more while the newly formed committee waited for the policy staff to determine criteria by which such bills should be vetted. Meanwhile, Senator Andrew Brock’s bill, SB 269, began to move in the Senate. SB 269 passed favorably in the Senate State & Local Government and Finance Committees and passed on the Senate Floor very quickly. On May 16, SB 269 was read in the House and assigned to the House Government Committee, with a serial referral to the House Finance Committee, where it would then be assigned to the Subcommittee on Annexations before being reported to the full Finance Committee. As Chair of the Government Committee, I was able to have the bill by-pass the Government Committee, since it was identical to HB 260 (which had already been passed favorably by the House Government Committee) and send it directly to the Finance Subcommittee to catch up with HB 260. This allowed both bills to be simultaneously considered by the Subcommittee. Both bills were reported out on Thursday, May 23, and added to the full Finance Committee’s agenda for Tuesday, May 28, where SB 269 was favorably reported out and sent to the House Floor. SB 269 was on the House calendar for Wednesday, May 29, and passed by the body with a vote of 101 to 11 on its second reading. As a roll call bill, it is required to have a third reading, which is scheduled for Monday, June 3. Upon passing its third reading the airport de-annexation issue will be concluded and the airport will be once again under one taxing authority.
Rep. Harry Warren will conduct a Town Hall Meeting tomorrow evening Friday, May 31st at the NC Transportation Museum in Spencer, NC from 6 pm to 7 pm. Bring your questions and enjoy the exchanges! Harry’s Town Hall Meetings are always informative and entertaining.
