NC Legislative Update

by Cady Thomas

Bills and Legislation

SR732 – Confirming Elizabeth Biser, DEQ Secretary

The legislation required to start the process of confirming Governor Cooper’s second nominee for DEQ Secretary was introduced this week. The Senate is moving quickly to a hearing in the Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment Committee on Tuesday. If approved by that committee, the nomination will then go to the Select Committee on Nominations before a floor vote is held. Cabinet approvals do not require a vote by the House.

SB105 – State Budget

The House passed their budget this week with a bipartisan vote of 72-41. The budget included appropriations, tax changes, and many policy items. Of note for CRMCA are the following sections and provisions:

  • Funds the Be Pro Be Proud Program to be run through the Department of Labor and is funded at $5 million in FY 21-22.

  • Creates the Complete the Trails Fund and appropriates $29,250,000 for FY 21-22.

  • DOT Funding Starts on J 1 of the Money Report and includes a total budget of $2.36 billion in FY 21-22.

    • Highway Trust fund will receive $1.5+ billion in FY 21-22 and $1.7+ billion in FY 22-23.

    • Highway Maintenance is funded at $1.57 billion

    • Resurfacing = $550 million

There are also several special provisions relating to NCDOT which were included based on State Auditor Beth Wood’s suggestions. They are:

  • Creates a budget office within DOT (p597 of S105); and

  • Increases the cash balance to $2 billion for DOT to issue bonds. (p597 of S 105).

The Senate is expected to not concur with the House changes to the bill and the conference process will begin as early as Tuesday. Once the two bodies agree on a final budget they will have to pass the conference report in each chamber and then send it to the governor. Governor Cooper’s proposed budget was $27.3 billion and included Medicaid expansion.

COVID 

Numbers as of August 12:

  • 1,100,786 total cases

  • 13,806 deaths

  • 2,409 currently hospitalized

  • 11.3% percentage of positive tests each day

  • 58% of adult population fully vaccinated

Mask Mandates 

With the rise of the Delta Variant of COVID-19, more local governments are reinstituting mask mandates.

Other Important Items

US Census Data

The US Census released the full set of data this week. In anticipation of the release, the Redistriciting Committees at the NCGA began meeting to discuss the redirecting process and debate potential rules for the process. A vote on those rules is expected next week. Please see the following resources for more information: