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League Bulletin

May 3, 2019

​WHAT HAPPENED: Our calm-before-the-storm analogy last week carried itself out with gusts of work at the General Assembly, moving more legislation than anyone could cover in a single newsletter. 城市和城镇的大话题也在其中, 尽管——广告牌, workers' comp, land-use litigation and more -- and we'll highlight them in the articles below.

WHAT IT MEANS: For one, 《365足彩下载》即将在5月9日播出, 按照目前的计划, when most bills need to have passed either the House or Senate to remain eligible. Meanwhile, we've got the House budget proposal, which rolled out amid a thick committee schedule. 

ON TAP: You guessed it -- the fast-pace work continues in deadline spirit. 在写这篇文章的时候, debate toward a second floor vote on the House budget proposal was underway.

THE SKINNY: 发生的事情比任何人都多, 每周时事通讯, but that's why we make it as easy as possible for you to follow legislation of interest to cities and towns. Our 在线账单跟踪器 affords you status updates on bills that you can view by topic, 最后行动的日期或重要程度. Read on for highlights of this week's most pressing issues and a tailored breakdown of the House budget proposal.

Legislation that would mandate that municipalities provide and pay for a new retirement benefit for firefighters called a “separation allowance” will be before the House Pensions and Retirement Committee this coming Tuesday. HB 278第一响应者平价, 正如目前起草的那样, 不包含国家资助来源, meaning municipal taxpayers would be forced to pay the entire cost of this new retirement benefit.

If you have the opportunity to talk with your House members this weekend, please urge them to oppose HB 278 unless a funding source is added to the bill. League members adopted a policy goal in November to oppose this benefit unless funding is provided.

Adding a new retirement benefit for firefighters would cost cities and towns approximately $9 million per year initially, 随着成本的增加. Consideration of this legislation comes as municipalities will be required to make substantial contribution rate increases to the Local Government Employees Retirement system, 消防员属于哪一类, with additional costs anticipated to reach $300 million annually within five years.

考虑到这一点,请让你们的众议院议员知道:

- HB 278 creates an unfunded mandate on local government employers, 而且没有国家的资金来源, 会给市政纳税人带来沉重负担吗.

- The “special separation allowance” created by HB 278 is in addition to firefighters’ pension benefits.

- Cities and towns already have the authority in law to offer this benefit if they choose to. If the state wants to mandate this benefit, it should pay for  it. 

- This proposal is coming at a time when local governments are having to substantially increase their contributions to the local government retirement system to keep it solvent. Municipalities’ funding of the current retirement system has allowed it to remain one of the best-funded in the country, allowing all classes of employees to be secure in their retirement.

NCLM staff will continue to track this legislation and inform members regarding its movement. 365足彩下载已经做了一个方便的 一页纸的法案解释 印刷及再分发.   

Earlier this week, the House Transportation Committee gave its approval to HB 645户外广告法修订, legislation that would undermine local control of billboards. This harmful legislation – as well as a companion bill in the Senate, SB 534 -- would allow billboards to be placed within municipalities where current zoning would not allow them and could increase the costs to local taxpayers when billboards are required to be removed because of road building or other public infrastructure projects. 
 
The League opposes this legislation and urges you to continue to contact your state House members and tell them to vote against HB 645户外广告法修订. Tell them this bill will undermine local control of billboards and, by doing so, undermine the visions of local residents that are so important to community character and local economies.
 
考虑到这一点,请让你的众议院议员知道:
 
- This legislation would allow billboards to be placed where current zoning would prohibit them, and increase costs to taxpayers when billboards are required to be removed due to road building and other construction.

- Local control of billboards is necessary to ensure that all property owners are protected. That local control reflects the individual visions of cities and towns and their residents, which are typically tied to their local economies and how they wish to pursue economic growth and attract jobs.
 
- Local officials take into account the interests of all local business owners when it comes to the location of billboards.

Ask that House members vote against this legislation should it come to the floor and that they urge their colleagues to oppose it. A one-page flyer​, easily printed for redistribution, explains the League’s take on the legislation.

The N.C. 众议院本周推出了预算提案 HB 966 2019年拨款法案, which was expected for a second House floor vote on Friday after 初步批准星期四. The plan in its current form includes numerous provisions for local governments and many that address the advocacy goals of cities and towns -- increased Powell Bill money, 基础设施支持, 努力防止阿片类药物滥用, 网上销售税的明确性等等. 365足彩下载已经集合 有关项目的细目 in the proposal, 按主题划分(“一般政府”),”“交通,”“全州项目," and so on). 365足彩下载还发布了一个 document outlining the House plan in comparison to the budget recommendation that Gov. 罗伊·库珀最近提议. 
 
乍一看,众议院的预算(截至撰写本文时): 
 
-puts nearly $85 million into the Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Fund, 很多资金都流向了地方政府;

-includes a mechanism to increase local sales tax revenues by ensuring the local sales tax applies to all online sales and is collected by the seller;

-extends the historic rehabilitation tax credit by four years to Jan. 1, 2024;

-provides a non-recurring $20 million to the Workforce Housing Loan Program to assist with the development of multi-family affordable housing units across the state; 

-allocates a non-recurring $5 million in each year of the biennium to boost substance-use treatment and recovery options and help to reduce opioid misuse; 

-gives funding to fully implement the Juvenile Justice Reinvestment Act, 也被称为“提高年龄”法; 

-marks more than $48 million in Community Development Block Grant funds, 部分留给社区振兴, 经济发展和基础设施;

-为水和废水需求提供资金;

并额外拨款14美元.75 million to the Powell Bill program in fiscal year 2019-20, and an additional $14.75 million beyond that in 2020-21, for total appropriations of $162.2019- 2020年为2500万美元,2020-21年为1.77亿美元, with  a specification that 80 percent of the increased funds be used for street resurfacing.
 
There are several other provisions and adjustments of note in the House proposal, which would eliminate the appropriation for the Film and Entertainment Grant Fund in fiscal year 2019-20 (but would keep it at $31 million for the following year). The House proposal is only that -- a proposal in a process toward a debated and agreed-upon spending plan that the full General Assembly can send to the governor for consideration.

Two separate bills that would change local government workers’ compensation laws cleared the House this week in unanimous votes. HB 《365体育足彩》 在周四获得了众议院的批准. It would create a presumption under law that firefighters who are diagnosed with nine forms of cancer contracted the illness due to work conditions. 在众议院委员会本周的辩论之前, NCLM Legislative Counsel Sarah Collins testified that the legislation would  increase cost to local  governments and local taxpayers, would  treat one class of local government employees differently than others, 通过这样做, 可能违宪. HB 622为急救人员提供PTSD的WC, 周四也批准了, would allow workers’ compensation benefits for all first responders and e​mergency workers who are deemed to suffer post-traumatic stress disorder, but that change would not presume the condition was caused by job conditions. 这两项法案现在都将提交参议院审议. 

The House and Senate churned through dozens of bills each this week, setting them up to “cross over” from their originating chamber to the other chamber. All bills meeting the crossover deadline are eligible for consideration during the remainder of the session. A few bills of interest to municipal officials are listed below, but please check the League's bill tracker​ 来看看本周其他影响城市的法案进展如何.
 
- SB 313 Perf. Guar. 精简经济负担. Housing: Passed two Senate committees; must pass a floor vote to remain eligible.

- sb378地方经济发展修订: Passed one Senate committee in an updated form; must have one more committee hearing and a floor vote to remain eligible.

- SB 584刑法改革: Passed two Senate committees in an updated form; calendared for a Senate floor vote Monday, 它必须通过什么才能保持资格.

- HB 135政府移民合规: Passed one House committee; must pass three more committees and a floor vote to remain eligible.

- HB 348检举人保护/市政LEOs: Passed one House committee in an updated form; must have two more committee hearings and a floor vote to remain eligible.

- HB 492简化建筑商库存排除: Passed two House committees and a floor vote in an updated form, therefore remaining eligible.

- HB 871公平合同: Passed one House committee in an updated form; must pass one more committee and a floor vote to remain eligible. (SB 569公平合同 was updated to reflect the language in HB 871; it passed two Senate committees and is scheduled for a floor vote Monday, 它必须通过什么才能保持资格.)

- ​HB 873系统开发费用/厘清收费时间: Passed two House committees and a floor vote in an updated form, therefore remaining eligible.
​​​

Multiple senators committed yesterday to continued negotiations involving all stakeholders affected by sb355土地使用规管变更,包括市政官员. The promise for an inclusive stakeholder process came during a hearing on the bill by the 参议院司法委员会, which then voted to advance the bill in order to meet next week’s crossover deadline. 市政官员对sb355法案非常担忧, a complex piece of legislation that makes wide-ranging changes to local land use approvals. 在本次会议的法案听证会上, representatives of large developers expressed concerns about the proposal as well. As written, the bill would incentivize development-related litigation at local taxpayer expense and weaken protections for neighboring property owners of new developments. Further, senators added language to the bill yesterday that would reorganize the state’s planning statutes, 载于 HB 448/SB 422规划/发展变更. The bill is expected to pass the Senate soon in its current form, 但要在众议院考虑之前进行谈判. 365足彩下载感谢法案发起人参议员. Dan Bishop, Paul Newton, and Sam Searcy​ for pushing stakeholders to work together to address the many concerns held with the bill.

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