This week was not that much different than last week with regards to where things stand between the state House and Senate over their budget differences.  

Speaker of the NC House Destin Hall told reporters this week the ‘saga continues,’ adding it’s the plan in the House to try and get passed all the remaining substantive legislative by the end of June, and then adjourn to come back at some point after that to finish up the budget.

Hall concluded with, ‘What that ends up looking like, not sure yet."

IIANC In Action 

The week started with IIANC Governmental Affairs Committee member Lisa Sharrard providing insights on flood insurance issues to a virtual meeting of the Governor’s Advisory Committee on Hurricane Recovery in WNC (IIANC member Senator Kevin Corbin is a chair of the Advisory Committee).  

Sharrard told the group that property owners are often unclear if their property is in a flood plain or what flood insurance actually covers. She suggested the state consider an effort to improve consumer awareness about flood insurance, as well as implement a program to offer incentives for purchasing flood coverage and provide mitigation loans for the cost of elevating properties in high risk flood areas.

Related, it was announced this week that as part of Trump Administration’s budget cost-cutting efforts the federal government was cancelling grants made under the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities (BRIC) program, impacting North Carolina communities impacted by Hurricanes Matthew and Florence. State emergency management officials say this could leave undone nearly $190M worth of disaster recovery projects across the state. 

Then on Tuesday, the day started with a breakfast meeting of state legislative leaders at the Legislative Cafeteria moderated by IIANC lobbyist Joe Stewart on the topic of wildlife crossings.

Both IIANC and the NC Alliance for Safe Transportation (www.besafenc.org) are members of the coalition of organizations supporting funding for this effort aimed at reducing the number of collisions between vehicles and animals on NC roads and highways.

Legislators were encouraged to support continued funding for wildlife crossings in the state, to reduce crashes and injuries that are estimated to cost nearly $500M annually in medical costs, vehicle and roadway repairs, and lost productivity due to injuries. 

Later Tuesday morning, Stewart was part of a press conference put on by the NC chapter of Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) to promote Senate consideration of legislation (HB 789) that has already passed the House. The bill would allow for individuals charged with certain intoxicated driving offenses to have ignition interlock devices installed in their vehicle prior to their trial date.  

Stewart observed that use of these devices in this way, which the driver must blow into to demonstrate they have no alcohol in their system before the vehicle will start, make the roads safer by reducing the risk of crashes and injuries by reducing the chances of a repeat DWI prior to trial, and also provides those charged with DWI a way to demonstrate to the judge when they do go to trial that they are serious about avoiding a repeat of this bad driving behavior. 

Also this week 

As previously reported, there are a number of items on the 2025 IIANC Legislative Agenda contained in an insurance-issues omnibus bill, HB 737. The legislation continued to move forward this week as it was approved by the Senate Commerce and Insurance Committee, and now heads for final approval by the Senate Rules Committee and then a vote in the full Senate next week.

Now included in the bill is language clarifying that renters' insurance required in a lease can be obtained by a tenant from an insurance agent of their choice, and that as long as the tenant provides adequate proof of the coverage to the landlord they cannot be compelled to secure the coverage through a particular carrier.

This addition to the legislation was pursued based on a situation former IIANC Board member Karen Fentress brought to the attention of IIANC lobbyist Joe Stewart, when a client of her agency was told by a landlord they had to get the coverage required under the lease through an insurance program offered by the property management company.

And finally, in what may set up the first veto by Governor Josh Stein, the legislature passed this week bills that the governor has already stated publicly he opposes.

Two of the bills deal with immigration issues are SB 153 that requires local law enforcement cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and HB 318, that requires individuals arrested for certain criminal offenses who are listed on the ICE detainer list be held for an additional 48 hours.

Another bill passed this week, likely to be vetoed by Stein, will allow permitless concealed carry of a firearm, making NC the 30th state in the US to do so.

This sets up the first test of whether House Republicans can get a single Democrat to join them in overriding a Governor Stein veto. Republicans currently hold 71 of 120 seats in the House, just one shy of the three-fifths needed to override a veto; in the Senate, the GOP currently holds 30 of 50 seats, so just enough to override a veto on a party-line vote.