The NC General Assembly returned to business on Monday after a week break, and a frantic back in action pace it was!

May 8th is the crossover deadline, the date by which a bill (other than those regarding revenue and appropriations) must pass in one or either of the two chambers to remain eligible for consideration for the remainder of the 2025 – 2026 Session. 

The resulting crush of legislation that flowed this week packed the agendas of the various committees as bill sponsors pushed to get their proposals approved and placed on the calendar for a vote before the full House or Senate.

Because there’s a wide array of bills IIANC tracks based on potential impact on the insurance marketplace (such as HB 584 that seeks to address the long wait times at DMV by eliminating the 60 hours of supervised driving requirement and temporarily reduces from nine months to 6 months the duration for stages within the graduated driver’s license (GDL) requirements, and HB 980 that propose changes to address the problems stemming from the more than 1,000,000 North Carolinians whose driver’s license is current suspended as a result of a failure to appear in court or to pay fines associated with a traffic offense) it makes for a super busy time.

The good news is that the specific items on IIANC’s legislative agenda, such as support for HB 737 the NAIFA-led effort to keep the insurance producer pre-licensing exam but eliminate the mandatory classroom requirement (which passed the House this week), and support for funding for wildlife crossings on highways in North Carolina (which received funding in the Senate budget) are all on track.

IIANC lobbyist Joe Stewart will host a free webinar (CE credit has been applied for) for IIANC members at 12 noon on Tuesday, May 20th, to provide a 60-minute update on all the insurance-related legislation currently being discussed and debated by the NC General Assembly.

Click HERE to register for the 12 noon webinar on May 20th to get all the insights on the 2025 Session of the NC General Assembly.

Speaking of DMV… 

 A new Commissioner to replace Wayne Goodwin was announced this week, and it’s an IIANC member!

Former state House member Paul Tine, owner of Midgett Insurance Agency with offices in Kitty Hawk and Manteo, will assume the role of DMV Commissioner on May 6th.

DMV has been under intense scrutiny by the state legislature in recent years, as individual House and Senate members receive an ongoing barrage of constituent complaints about difficulty finding available dates and times for appointments and experiencing long wait times at DMV offices. NCDOT recently announced securing a consultant to work with DMV to address these issues.

And speaking of difficult situations, while the state continues to focus on Hurricane Helene recovery and mitigation efforts in western NC (Governor Stein is battling FEMA’s announced reduction in coverage of state recovery expenditures, from 100% to 90%), and the state faces ongoing threats from wildfires (it’s a time of an anticipated increase of wildfire events across the country), the official start of the 2025 Hurricane Season is now less than 30 days away.

And finally …  

With Joe Stewart focused on the state legislature in Raleigh, IIANC CEO Aubie Knight led the group of North Carolina independent insurance agents attending the Big “I” National Legislative Conference on Wednesday and Thursday in Washington, DC.

Meetings were held with the members of North Carolina’s Congressional delegation to discuss federal issues of importance to IIANC members. Click HERE to see a listing of those issues.

On Monday, the IIANC Action Fund Thinkers Lunch featured retired political columnist Rob Christensen who spoke on his recent book, Southern News, Southern Politics, which chronicles the story of the four generations of the Daniels family and their ownership of the Raleigh News & Observer newspaper.