Thanks to a new state law, this summer you’ll be able to do something you’ve never been able to do before in North Carolina: enjoy a big thick steak grilled over an open flame — at your favorite restaurant. Senate Bill 24, which unanimously passed both chambers of the General Assembly last week, now allows restaurants to […]
Those who know me well know I have conflicting views on the legislative process. There are some things I like and some things I hate. The basis for these conflicting views was pretty evident over the past two weeks. It is easy to describe my positive views. There is nothing like the feeling of successfully […]
North Carolina is one step closer toward raising the age for juvenile offenders. House Bill 280, Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act, on May 17 passed the state House in a sweeping 104-8 vote. The bill would move 16- and-17-year-old nonviolent offenders out of adult court and place them under the juvenile justice system, effective December 2019. […]
Legislation sponsored by Representative McGrady will save local governments money by giving them the option to post legal notices on the internet — rather than in a so-called “newspaper of record.” Cities and counties are required by law to officially notify the public when certain things are about to occur, including public meetings and hearings (e.g. a proposed change in zoning), purchase […]
Just as a year has distinctive seasons, the legislative session has its own seasons. The first season starts with the convening of the legislature. There is some pomp and circumstance and typically things go slowly in the beginning. Legislators get to know each other, begin to draft legislation, and things get organized — with the […]
From the Triangle Business Journal: There will be no sharing of Site Selection magazine’s Prosperity Cup title this year. In its May issue, released Thursday, North Carolina took first place for the 2017 award. Formerly known as the Top Competitive State award, North Carolina had tied with Texas for the top spot in 2016 after having […]
“If bills were clothing, then North Carolina lawmakers just finished setting out the few items they can see themselves wearing and sending the rest to the attic.” —The Associated Press’s Gary D. Robertson’s observation on the NC legislature’s Crossover Deadline Twelve days ago, the General Assembly hit the crossover deadline, with more than 200 bills […]
50 million tourists spent $23 billion in North Carolina last year, an all-time high, according to a new report by the U.S. Travel Association. These tourism dollars supported 45,000 small businesses, 218,340 jobs, and generated $3.6 billion in taxes. And much of that spending was undoubtedly linked to outdoor recreation; figures also released today by the Outdoor Industry Association show that in 2016, outdoor […]
A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the House to directly help victims of human trafficking and to establish a pilot program to educate students and law enforcement officers on ways to recognize the signs of trafficking activity. Human trafficking is the illegal practice of buying and selling people for the purposes of their forced […]
Support to ‘raise the age’ crosses ideological, partisan lines At press conference, Chief Justice Martin says Tar Heel State would save tax dollars and reduce repeat offenses if older teens were handled by juvenile justice system North Carolina is now the nation’s only state charging 16- and 17-year-old delinquents as adults and needs to catch […]
House passes right-to-work constitutional amendment State Rep. Justin Burr, R-Stanly, characterized North Carolinians’ right to work as a freedom so cherished that it was vital to strengthen it from a state law to inclusion in the state constitution. By a 75-44 vote Tuesday night, House Bill 819 passed on a party line vote, with the […]
Bipartisan legislation passed the House on Wednesday strengthening standards for free expression in the state university system and mandating that all public universities “ensure the fullest degree of intellectual freedom and free expression.” Currently, there are no statutes addressing free speech for the University of North Carolina (UNC) institutions. House Bill 527, modeled after the Goldwater Institute‘s policy report Campus […]
Over the past two weeks, legislators’ energies were focused on passing bills to meet the “crossover” deadline — the date on which bills die if they haven’t passed from one chamber to another. While there are some bills that don’t need to meet crossover, such as bills having to do with spending, a significant number […]
Bipartisan legislation passed the House overwhelmingly on Tuesday designating the Golden Silk Spider as North Carolina’s official state spider. House Bill 595 is the result of work by a first grade class that was studying state symbols. Students at Isaac Dickson Elementary School in Asheville were reviewing North Carolina’s General Statutes on state symbols with the goal […]
What if you found yourself in court, suing a big company, and you learned that seven of the 12 of the jurors worked for the same company that your were suing? Would that make you wonder if the verdict might be rigged? How about the crooked politician who is facing charges of violating the State Government Ethics […]
With an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 109 to 8, the North Carolina House yesterday afternoon passed the “BRIGHT Futures Act” (House Bill 68) to accelerate the build-out of digital infrastructure in rural and other underserved areas of our state. Representative McGrady co-sponsored the bill. The goal is to bring greater economic prosperity to more folks by way of a […]
The following article was written by Matt Caulder and is reproduced from yesterday’s NC Capitol Connection: Both the House and the Senate have put forward tax cut plans for the coming biennial budget. The competing plans will be discussed in earnest as legislators work to craft a budget plan to send to the governor for […]
Bipartisan legislation has been introduced in the House to help save the lives of people who use public swimming pools in North Carolina. House Bill 598 mandates that a special circuit breaker device be installed on any line that provides power to a pool’s pump motor. This device is known as a ground fault circuit interrupter. […]
For the last several months, legislators’ primary focus has been on getting bills filed, and some number of those bills have been heard in committee and came to the floor for a vote. Over the next eight days, more bills will likely be heard in committees and come to the floor for a vote than […]
With The Bathroom Bill Gone, Here Are 5 Things Happening In North Carolina For The Media To Cover by Patrick Gleason Between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels beating Gonzaga to win the men’s college basketball national championship on Monday, and the North Carolina General Assembly last Thursday repealing House Bill 2, commonly referred […]
A bill sponsored by Representative McGrady giving North Carolina’s school districts more flexibility in setting their own calendars passed the House earlier this week with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 108 to 6. House Bill 375 allows a school board to schedule its school opening date to coincide with the opening date of an area […]
Last week was so hectic, with legislators in and out of meetings and sessions to secure the votes for House Bill 142 — the repeal of HB2, that legislators seemed exhausted this week even with looming bill-filing and crossover deadlines. Most activity occurred in committees where legislators pushed their bills through committees with the goal […]
After months of speculation about what the legislature might do regarding the controversial HB2, the so-called “Bathroom Bill,” the General Assembly passed House Bill 142 [Reset of S.L. 2016-3.] in one day. Governor Cooper immediately signed the bill. In the one-page bill, the legislature first repealed HB2, then preempted all state agencies, including state universities […]
Down through the centuries, border disputes have involved simmering geopolitical tensions that have often led to armed conflict. Thankfully, closer to home, a long-standing border dispute has been peacefully resolved: by moving the Lake Wylie Mini Mart to the state of North Carolina — or more to the point, the state of North Carolina moving to it. See, beginning on […]
When elected to the North Carolina House of Representatives six years ago, I would never have guessed that among my legislative specialties would be alcoholic beverages — which also includes distilled spirits, beer, wine and hard cider. Having never mentioned alcoholic beverage law as something that interested me in any campaign, it is surprising to […]
Ahead of National Crime Victim Rights Week, the House passed the “Kelsey Smith Act” this afternoon by an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 113-5. House Bill 315 allows law enforcement officials to access a cell phone’s tracking technology to quickly locate a missing person in an emergency situation and the legislation shields cell phone service providers from prosecution for potential privacy violations while […]
A proposal to get tougher on gang-related crimes passed in the House today by an overwhelmingly bipartisan vote of 109 to 4. The bill’s sponsors believe that it’s a fundamental right of every person to be secure and protected from the fear, intimidation, and physical harm caused by the activities of criminal gangs. House Bill 138 will […]
A new state law passed last session helps keep small-scale urban beekeepers from being regulated out of existence by their own towns. A provision in the “Local Government Regulatory Reform of 2015” (House Bill 44) prohibits cities and counties from enforcing any ordinance or resolution that prohibits folks from owning or operating five or fewer beehives. The bill […]
Yesterday, leaders of the House Finance Committee filed House Bill 356, “The Tax Reduction Act of 2017,” calling for another round of tax cuts for North Carolina’s families and businesses. This comprehensive legislation builds on the historic tax reforms that have stimulated the state’s rapid economic growth since 2013. House Bill 356 would once again increase North Carolina’s “standard deduction,” this time […]
My apologies for letting two months go by between communications. While lobbyists complained of a slow start to the legislative session, that isn’t my perspective. I’ve been busy from day one. Initially, some probably weren’t sure what exactly kept me so busy, but with the filing of House Bill 186 [Repeal HB2/State Nondiscrimination Policies], that should have […]