Rumors swirled throughout the Legislative Building this week about the status of negotiations between the House and Senate on what are apparently a small handful of remaining items to be worked out between ‘the corner offices.’  

Insider tip of the day: the offices for the Speaker of the House and the President Pro Tem of the Senate are located on opposite corners on the 2^nd Floor of the front side of the Legislative Building in Raleigh, so referring to something as being worked out by ‘the corner offices’ means what’s left to decide is up to the leaders of the two chambers. 

Indications are that a budget package in not likely to be rolled out next week but the ‘official word’ is a budget is still likely to be done and voted on by the end of June.

There was a crush of legislation moving through House and Senate committees this week, with word coming from Senate Rules Chairman Senator Bill Rabon that Senate committees would cease meeting soon in anticipation of all attention being directed on the budget.

Items of interest

HB 356 (which contains IIANC Legislative Agenda items as previously reported) was approved by the Senate Finance and Judiciary Committees this week and has a stop next in Senate Rules before going before the full Senate for a vote next week.

A surprise amendment was added in the Judiciary Committee by Senator Danny Britt (R – Robeson) regarding UM/UIM claims, for situations where the insured party and their carrier do not agree on entitlement to or the amount of compensatory damages from the uninsured or underinsured vehicle owner, the insured party may request arbitration.

We conferred with lobbyists for the carriers, and indications are this provision creates problems relative to the changes in UM/UIM coverage that were effective last year, so working together, we’ll look to have the language removed from the final version of the bill.

 HB 34, approved by the Senate Health Care Committee, places new reporting and disclosure requirements on Medicaid providers, and gives the NC Department of Health and Human Services authority to deny or terminate Medicaid health service providers who have their licensing suspended or terminated, or who are convicted of certain criminal offenses. For a full summary of the legislation, click HERE. 

HB 1094, approved by Senate Transportation Committee and headed to Senate Finance, includes some provisions of interest: moving from 10 to 30 days for a registered vehicle owner to respond to a notice of lapsed liability coverage from DMV [Section 5(a)]; removing high school diploma/proof of high school enrollment to obtain a permit or limited driving privilege license for those under 18 years old [Section 9(a)]; and, creates definitions of e-bikes [Section 19(a)].

HB 198, which deals with a wide array of issues regarding the sale of alcohol in the state, including language to designate whipped cream with at least 0.5% alcohol by volume as an ‘alcohol consumable’ under state law.

Perhaps not an issue of interest to IIANC members per se, but so rarely is whipped cream the subject of legislative action that we felt it deserved mention in the Raleigh Report.

And finally …

Congratulations to the 13 winners of the NC Alliance for Safe Transportation Teen Ambassadors scholarships.

IIANC Chief Advocacy Officer Joe Stewart was joined by NCAST Board chair Tiffany Wright of AAA Carolinas to recognize five of these winners at the NC High School Athletic Association (NCAST’s partner in this program) annual awards ceremony held last week in Greensboro.

More than 150 young people across the state signed up last fall to be Teen Ambassadors and promote safe driving habits among their peers during the 2025-2026 school year.