Five 'must dos' on legislature's agenda
North Carolina's $21.74 billion budget isn't the only outstanding piece of business lawmakers have to complete before they leave town. Bills dealing with next year's presidential election, charter schools and economic development are still on the table.
Posted — Updated"A lot of those aren't must dos," Sen. Tom Apodaca, R-Henderson, said Monday, just before chairing a non-voting "skeleton session" in the Senate.
While lawmakers in the Republican-dominated General Assembly have battled over a number of bills, the budget is the only one that they must get done, Apodaca said.
That said, there are other high-profile measure that have received a lot of time and attention this year. In addition to the budget, many of those bills are intertwined with the state spending plan.
Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, the Senate's lead budget writer, said that subcommittees working on spending in the Justice and Public Safety, Natural and Economic Resources and General Government areas had largely reached agreements, although a few decisions remained for high-ranking lawmakers to make. As of Monday, Aug. 31, House and Senate members were still working on the details of the Education and Health and Human Services budgets.
Economic development and taxes are linked for two reasons. First, many job-luring programs are based on tax rebates. Second, Rucho and many other Republicans philosophically see tax cuts as the best job lures.
It is likely that some tax policy will end up in the budget, but there are typically some lingering items at the end of every session that wind up in separate bills.
Although negotiators have been dealing with Medicaid as a separate bill, budget negotiators say they need to see the final measure before they can settle the budget because it will influence how much money is spent and when it is spent in Health and Human Services over the next two years.
"In order to get an HHS budget, we're going to need that Medicaid piece," Apodaca said.
"I had waited to bring it up in order to make sure our caucus understood it," said Rep. David Lewis, R-Harnett, the House Rules Committee chairman and the chamber's leader on election issues.
Lewis said that he has not had time to run through the measure for his fellow GOP members. Once he does, it would likely be subject to a House Rules Committee hearing and then heard on the House floor.
"You may even see it this week," Lewis said on Monday.
- Certificate of Need: The state CON law requires doctors, hospitals and other medical providers to get state permission before buying expensive pieces of equipment, such as MRI machines, or opening or expanding facilities, such as outpatient surgical centers. A House bill would scale back certain CON requirements imposed on mental health hospital beds and outpatient surgical centers. A Senate bill that was included in the chamber's version of the budget would be a broader rollback.
- Regulatory reform: Every year, lawmakers roll out a variety of regulatory reform measures that nip and tuck at state regulations, particularly those aimed at preserving the environment. One such bill that has cleared the Senate would make it harder to challenge lax regulation of environmental laws, allow for the hunting of pigeons and repeal a statewide electronics recycling program. That bill, House Bill 765, is in a House-Senate conference committee.
- Revenge porn: A bill that would make it a felony to upload to the Internet intimate pictures or videos of someone without his or her consent has been assigned to a conference committee to work out differences between the House and the Senate over how to handle teenage offenders.
- TABOR: Senators have passed a bill that would give voters a chance to add restrictions on government spending to the state constitution. House leaders have been less enthusiastic about what is known as the Taxpayers Bill of Rights, or TABOR, bill.
- Farm bill: House leaders are still deciding what to do with a broad package of farm-related measures. The most notable – or at least most debated – piece of Senate Bill 513 would allow for more raising of captive deer. House Speaker Tim Moore said Monday it is one of the remaining measures outside the budget that he is "still hearing a lot about."
- Charter schools: As originally drafted by the House, House Bill 334 would have streamlined charter applications and allowed the publicly funded, privately run schools to charge fees for certain extracurricular activities. The Senate version of the bill would have taken oversight of charter schools away from the Department of Public Instruction. The measure is now in a House-Senate conference committee.
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