Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – May 15, 2017
Last week in the North Carolina House of Representatives we overrode the Governor’s veto on a bill for the fourth time, we handled bills concerning the juvenile justice system and restaurants, and we saw the senate pass their budget and send it to us in the House.
Our committees started meeting again last week and sent bills to the House floor for final votes. But first, a vote was scheduled on Wednesday for a veto override on House Bill 467 – Agriculture and Forestry Nuisance Remedies. This bill dealt with the ability of a homeowner to sue a farm operation by capping the compensatory damages to the loss in property value. This is due to repetitive lawsuits for a temporary nuisance. They still have the ability to sue for permanent nuisance, receive unlimited punitive damages, get injunctive relief, sue for trespass, environmental issues, and what lawyers call strict liability. The veto was overridden by a vote of 74 – 40 in the House. The next day the Senate overrode it by 30 – 18. So the bill becomes law “notwithstanding the objections of the Governor”.
House Bill 280 – Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act came to the House Appropriations Committee Thursday morning. It moves the age of juveniles in the justice system up to include 16 and 17 year olds. This way they will get more counseling services and not be incarcerated with adults. This applies to misdemeanor charges and minor felonies. This issue had come up before, but this time it had wide support from county officials and some Sheriffs and District Attorneys, including Brunswick County. However, many concerns were expressed about the funding to pay for the additional staff and other resources to deal with the change. It is expected that the funding will follow through the budget process. HB 280 received strong support in the Appropriations Committee and should be on the House floor for a vote this week.
A bill of interest to our small business people in the restaurant industry came over from the Senate and was passed on Thursday. Senate Bill 24 – Allow Restaurants to Use Outdoor Grills allows outdoor grills under strict conditions. It passed by a unanimous vote of 113 – 0.
At the end of the week the Senate finished its version of the budget bill, Senate Bill 257 – Appropriations Act of 2017, on two votes Thursday and Friday. It now comes to the House, and we will be meeting early and often to finish the House version and send it back to the Senate. As usual, we expect it to go into a conference committee to work out the differences. The weather in Raleigh is expected to heat up this week and the budget talks will be heating up also.