An avalanche of bills Solid waste services The Senate's impending deadline for the introduction of public bills brought with it an avalanche of new proposals, many of which are cause for concern. This Bulletin discusses the bills introduced through Wednesday of this week. The Senate extended its public bill deadline until next Tuesday, after which we will have a better idea of what we are facing from that chamber this session. We will report further next week. In the meantime, please let us know the impact and potential costs of these bills on your municipality. Sen. Dan Clodfelter has introduced SB 1133 - County/City Solid Waste Collection , which requires cities and counties to provide a "reasonably equitable" level of service to all single-family and multi-family dwellings. If the local government funds the service through the property tax, the bill prohibits charging multi-family dwellings any additional fees for services that are not also charged to single-family dwellings. If the local government operates the service as a public enterprise, the bill mandates that the schedule of fees reflect the level of services provided. The League opposes this bill as introduced. We have already identified some impracticalities with the bill, but please provide us with your feedback. An idea we have seen in many sessions past is back for another round. SB 980 - Law Enforce-ment Officer Discipline , sponsored by Sen. Julia Boseman, seeks to establish a "police officer bill of rights" that would standardize the investigation and discipline of law enforcement officers. The bill specifies that no state or local law enforcement officer can be discharged, suspended, or demoted for disciplinary reasons except for just cause. It requires each employing agency to establish minimum procedures to be used prior to disciplinary actions that must include the right to a hearing before a fair and impartial board or hearing officer, the right to be represented at the officer's expense, the right to examine any witnesses testifying against the officer, the right to call witnesses and present evidence, and the right to have all meetings recorded. Municipal employers must maintain the ability to make basic employment decisions, consistent with the current requirements of state and federal law, and for this reason the League opposes the bill. Firefighters' pay and benefits Anticipated bills involving firefighters have also begun to surface. SB 963 - City Firefighters/ Overtime Pay, sponsored by Sen. Bob Atwater, establishes rules for the calculation of overtime hours for full-time paid firefighters and members of a fire department who provide emergency medical services, excluding supervisory personnel. The bill specifies that a firefighter or EMS provider who works more than the number of hours that bears the same ratio to 212 hours as the number of days in the work period bears to 28 days is considered to have worked overtime. In computing the hours worked in a workweek or during a work cycle, all hours are counted during which the employee is required to remain on call on the employer's premises or so close to the employer's premises that the hours cannot be used effectively for the employee's own purposes. (Hours in which the employee is only required to remain accessible by phone, radio or pager are not counted). The employee is entitled to be paid overtime for the excess hours worked without regard to the number of hours worked in any one week of the work cycle. SB 1142 - Fire and Rescue Workers' Retirement, sponsored by Sens. David Hoyle, A.B. Swindell and Walter Dalton, enhances benefits for full-time paid firefighters and rescue squad workers who are members of the Local Governmental Employees' Retirement System. The bill would extend to those employees certain benefits formerly only provided to police officers. These include the ability to retire on a deferred early retirement allowance at age 50 with 15 years service or at age 55 with five years service. SB 990 - Workers' Comp/Firefighter Occupational Disease, sponsored by Sen. Doug Berger, creates a presumption that death or impairment caused by named infectious diseases, respiratory diseases, hypertension or heart disease, and named cancers is presumed to be an occupational disease suffered in the line of duty, and is covered under the workers' compensation act for firefighters employed by a local unit of government. We have not yet seen fiscal notes on these bills but we expect the costs of implementation to be substantial. As expected, public employee labor unions will be an issue this session. SB 970 - Public Safety Employer/Employee Cooperation Act, sponsored by Sen. Janet Cowell, would give public safety officers (firefighters and EMS personnel) the right to join or form labor organizations that do not include management. The bill allows these labor unions, when they represent more than half of the public safety officers in an agency or department, to advocate for their members concerning the terms and conditions of employment; to have a representative present during any questioning by management during an investigation that could lead to disciplinary action; to have agreements reached with employers reduced to writing; and to enforce such agreements in court. The bill also provides for treble damages and the awarding of attorneys fees in certain circumstances. The League opposes this bill. Property tax relief continues to be an area of great interest this session. SB 895 - Eliminate Property Taxes for Qualifying Vets , sponsored by Sen. Harry Brown, would eliminate property taxes for veterans receiving compensation for a permanent and total service-connected disability. Currently the first $38,000 in assessed value of the residence is excluded from taxation. The bill would make both real and personal property of qualifying individuals a special class of property under the state constitution that cannot be listed, appraised, assessed, or taxed. SB 1051 - Equitable Residential Property Tax Relief, sponsored by Sen. Steve Goss, would increase the income eligibility limit for a qualifying property owner for the property tax homestead exclusion to $25,000, with annual indexing. It would also delete the current provisions for property tax exclusions of certain retirement facilities and replace them with a provision partially excluding a retirement facility that provides housing to qualifying residents. Qualifying residents as those whose permanent residence is a retirement facility and who meet the requirements of the property tax homestead exclusion. Some good news on a potential increase in PEG channel funding: SB 1068 - E-NC Internet Connectivity/PEG Channel, introduced by Sen. Walter Dalton, establishes a Public Access Account to be administered by the e-NC Authority to provide grants for broadband connectivity, PEG channels, and community media centers. A portion of the state's share of the sales tax on telecommunications service and video programming service is to be transferred to the account. The legislation increases the amount that the Secretary of Revenue can distribute to qualifying cities and counties as supplemental PEG support to from $2 million to $7 million annually. It also increases the percentage distribution to cities and counties of a portion of the state's taxes imposed on telecommunications service and ancillary service, video programming, and direct-to-home satellite services. We were pleased to see HB 871 - Nonresidential Building/Structure Code, sponsored by Reps. Jim Crawford and Michael Wray, introduced as a companion bill to SB 556 (Sen. Kerr). These bills would allow cities to adopt and enforce ordinances regarding nonresidential buildings within city limits and the extraterritorial jurisdiction that fail to meet minimum standards of maintenance, sanitation, and safety established by the governing body. The enabling authority is similar to that for minimum housing codes. The League is seeking additional municipal authority to regulate unsafe and dilapidated buildings as part of our advocacy agenda. HB 921 - Involuntary Annexations/Tax Reports, sponsored by Reps. Rick Glazier and Joe Boylan, requires cities to provide each resident in the territory proposed for city-initiated annexation with a comparison of the real and personal property taxes paid by the resident in the three fiscal years preceding annexation and the property taxes the resident would have paid if the territory had been annexed. The comparison is to be served by registered or certified mail not less than 60 days before the date for the public informational meeting. Legislation that appears to have the effect of prohibiting cities from imposing regulatory fees has been introduced. SB 1180 - No Monetary Exaction for Development, sponsored by Sen. Walter Dalton, prohibits a city or county from imposing or exacting a tax, fee, or monetary contribution for development, a development permit, or a development agreement unless specifically authorized by law. SB 1152 - Interest on Illegally Levied Exactions , sponsored by Sen. David Hoyle, would provide that if a local government is found to have exacted a tax, fee, or monetary contribution for development not specifically authorized by law, it must return the payment and pay interest of six percent per annum. The North Carolina courts have authorized the charging of regulatory fees by applying the broad interpretation provisions of G.S. 160A-4, but such fees are not specifically authorized by statute. These bills would have an extremely detrimental effect on municipal planning departments that use fees to offset the costs of their regulatory programs. The League's core principles recognize that municipal grants of authority should be broadly construed to include supplemental powers reasonably necessary to carry out the functions, such as the ability to charge a permit fee for a regulatory program. Following are some of the bills that were introduced or acted upon this week. If you need a copy of these or any other bills, please contact the Legislative Printed Bills Office at 919-733-5648 or the League office. Remember that bills and legislative calendars are now available on the Internet at http://www.ncleg.net. Please contact the League staff if you have any particular interest or concern regarding any piece of legislation. ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGE CONTROL Bill: SB 838 ABC LAW CHANGES.-AB ENVIRONMENT Bill: SB 842 EXTEND NUTRIENT OFFSET PAYMENT SUNSET GENERAL GOVERNMENT Bill: SB 942 SIGNAGE/RIGHT-OF-WAY FOR LOCAL PUBLIC PURPOSE LOCAL BILLS Bill: HB 885 TOWN OF MORRISVILLE MOTOR VEHICLE TAX Bill: HB 923 ADJUST MATTHEWS/MINT HILL MOTOR VEHICLE TAX Bill: HB 925 GRANITE QUARRY-FAITH POLICE AUTHORITY Bill: HB 942 OAK ISLAND BEACH NOURISHMENT PROJECTS PUBLIC SAFETY Bill: HB 933 JESSICA LUNSFORD ACT FOR NC Bill: SB 1003 TAKE DNA SAMPLE ON ARREST FOR CERTAIN CRIMES Bill: SB 1129 OPEN DISCOVERY/ACCESS TO OFFICERS' NOTES RETIREMENT Bill: HB 778 ENHANCE RETIREMENT BENEFITS.-AB Bill: HB 779 INCREASE CONTRIBUTORY DEATH BENEFIT.-AB Bill: HB 883 PURCHASE OF MILITARY SERVICE Bill: SB 659 OFFICIALS FORFEIT PENSIONS FOR FELONIES Bill: SB 720 OPEN ENROLLMENT/CONTRIBUTORY DEATH BENEFIT
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NC General Assembly Information
Main Number (Any Legislator) (919) 733-4111
Printed Bills Office
(919) 733-5648
Bill Status Desk
(919) 733-7779
Legislative Building fax
(919) 733-2599
Legislative Office Building fax (919) 733-3111
www.ncga.state.nc.us
(NC General Assembly Website)
www.nclm.org
(NC League of Municipalities Website)
