Lawmakers in Raleigh passed bipartisan legislation at the end of June giving more authority to cities and counties to relax certain prohibitions on the sale of alcohol. Representative McGrady was a chief architect and leading advocate of the legislation in the General Assembly. Senate Bill 155, the culmination of months of work, is catch-all legislation reforming more than a dozen alcoholic beverage control (ABC) laws. […]
Having overridden Governor Cooper’s veto of the budget, the General Assembly concluded its work just past 2:00 am on June 30, and headed home. The legislature had rocked along at a fairly slow pace until the last few weeks, but then completed its work in a series of long days and nights. More legislation was […]
With both the House and Senate passing the budget with bipartisan and veto-proof majorities, they are each moving quickly to finish their work. Numerous bills are being taken up by both bodies, and the usually light Monday night calendar has been replaced by earlier sessions on Monday with lots of bills in the queue for […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
by Scott Mooneyham, Director of Public Affairs for the North Carolina League of Municipalities Rep. Chuck McGrady knows that he is an oddity. In fact, he takes it a step further. “I tell people, I have known what an endangered species was for a long time. I never thought I would be one,” the Hendersonville […]
From the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild: Representative Chuck McGrady Wins First Annual Legislative Leadership Award Craft beer has a powerful ally in the North Carolina legislature, and his name is Chuck McGrady. On December 2 at its annual conference, the NC Craft Brewers Guild awarded Representative McGrady its first annual legislative leadership award. In […]
The State Budget In Roman Catholic doctrine, Purgatory is a place or state of suffering inhabited by the souls of sinners who are expiating their sins before going to heaven. If I didn’t understand that concept before this week, I now understand the concept. I’m caught in Raleigh occupying windowless rooms communicating and negotiating about […]
From Derek Lacey at The Hendersonville Times-News: McGrady balances politics, environmental stance Rep. Chuck McGrady is something of an oddity in the North Carolina legislature, a Republican with a progressive environmental philosophy. “I’ve always been an anomaly; I’m a conservative, I’m a Republican environmental leader,” McGrady, 62, said. “There’s not a lot of those out […]
[youtube_sc url=”https://youtu.be/7TdmksPFztc” width=”590″ modestbranding=”1″ autohide=”1″ fs=”1″ border=”1″ hd=”1″]This above video was produced by Beverly-Hanks & Associates and highlights North Carolina’s fast-growing hard cider industry. In colonial times, hard cider was the most popular alcoholic beverage — far more than either whiskey, wine, beer or mead. North Carolina is one of the top apple producing states in […]
With the Senate working on its budget, the House moved to take action on a range of controversial social issues. In the span of two weeks, the House is expected to consider legislation involving guns, abortion, alcohol, gay marriage, and animal welfare. An immigration-related bill could also be heard. While the issues themselves are difficult, […]
Before starting work on the budget, I thought that it might be valuable to summarize what happened with all of the bills that I introduced this session. Not counting a blank Appropriations bill that all full chairs of the Appropriations Committee file for potential use during the budget process, I introduced fourteen bills and one […]
The House finished its marathon “crossover” on Thursday, April 30 at 2:30am, as members attempted to pass their bills to make them eligible to be considered during the remainder of the session. Other than finance or spending bills, House bills that didn’t “cross over” to the Senate are now largely incapable of passing this year. […]
Representative McGrady was recently interviewed by the Raleigh News & Observer on his efforts to modify how much beer can be sold by a brewery. From the News & Observer’s YouTube page: Ten years ago, North Carolina legislators revamped beer consumerism — by “popping the cap” on the alcohol limit in brews sold here. Raising […]
The House deadline for filing bills passed last week. At the beginning of last week, there were nearly 600 bills filed in the House since the start of the session in January. By the end of last week, over 900 bills were pending in the House. In other words, one-third of the total number of bills […]
Many of my constituents know that the closest thing I have to an office in Henderson County is the Underground Bakery Co. on Seventh Avenue in Hendersonville — and the most likely time to catch me there (when the legislature is in session) is on Friday or Saturday mornings. Typically, the folks I run into will apologize […]
North Carolina Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) announced committee appointments today, and Henderson County Representative Chuck McGrady got a big promotion. McGrady was named as one of the co-chairs of the House Appropriations Committee. As a co-chair, he will be one of a just a few legislators who will negotiate a final state budget. “I appointed […]
There’s nothing quite more thrilling for state government geeks (like us) than the annual publication of the General Assembly’s Summaries of Substantive Ratified Legislation. This weedy tome, of which only a few hundred are printed, is produced at the end of each legislative session by the good folks of the Research Division. The Research Division is a non-partisan central office […]
The recently passed Regulatory Reform Act of 2014 (SB734) will give community college students an opportunity to get a more complete education in the art, science and business of brewing beer — including sell their product on campus. Beer brewing programs have been started at several of North Carolina’s community colleges to “meet a demand […]
Having outlined what the “Short Session” is and how it proceeds and then discussed the upcoming issues, I figured I’d better talk about what I’m working on. My focus is on three things: 1) introducing and passing legislation sought by Henderson County local governments, 2) working on statewide issues that have been assigned to me, […]
[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/IYO3tOqDISE” width=”580″ modestbranding=”1″ autohide=”1″ fs=”1″ border=”1″ hd=”1″] “I, Pencil” is a short video based on an essay written by Dr. Leonard E. Read that was first published in 1958 by The Freeman magazine. This timeless essay still evokes praise for its power and simplicity a half a century after it first appeared; the Nobel Prize winning […]
A pair of “beer bills” made their way through the legislature this year and were signed into law. House Bill 829, sponsored by Representative McGrady, allows the sale of malt beverages in refillable 64 oz. containers (known as “Growlers”) in grocery stores, wine shops, bars, restaurants, and other establishments where alcoholic beverages are already sold. […]
To read my last newsletter, one would have thought that the House was only working on the Budget last week. Well, that wasn’t true. While various Appropriations Committees met throughout the week (see Funding Education), there was floor action on a number of other issues. The biggest of those was Tax Reform. The Tax Simplification […]
The North Carolina State Senate today gave its final approval to three bills sponsored by Representative McGrady: House Bill 315 (Plastics Labeling Requirements), House Bill 774 (Building Code Exclusion/Primitive Structures), and House Bill 829 (Sale of Growlers by Certain ABC Permittees). The bills now await Governor McCrory‘s signature to become law. House Bill 315 requires that degradable plastic products […]
While the Senate continues working on the budget, House members continue to focus on moving their bills through committees with the intention of making the crossover deadline for keeping bills alive for further consideration. In a way it is like playing Backgammon: the object is to push your bills through the legislative process. Sometimes luck […]