Ag bills survive crossover (May 8, 2023)

This week was the crossover deadline, which means any non-revenue or non-appropriations-related bills must have passed either the House or the Senate to remain alive in the long session this year or in the short session next year. A few agricultural bills that we’re tracking moved forward in the N.C. General Assembly this week.

Promote North Carolina Sawmills, HB 295, passed the House after clearing the Regulatory Reform and Rules committees. The bill directs the building code council to amend the N.C. Residential Code for One- and Two-Family Dwellings to allow dimension lumber that has not been grade-stamped to be used in the construction of one- and two-family dwellings when certain conditions are met. The bill also directs Cooperative Extension to create a lumber grading training program to provide for the certification of lumber graders and allow Extension to authorize private lumber grading programs to certify lumber graders. The final House floor vote was 115-2.

In addition to the sawmill bill, Revise Aquaculture General Permit, HB 426, passed the House last week in an 81-36 vote after passing the Regulatory Reform and Rules committees. This bill requires the Department of Environmental Quality’s Environmental Management Commission to reopen the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System General Permit for aquatic animal operations, which took effect in December 2021. The legislation directs the agency to match the general permit issued in previous years that was less burdensome to trout farmers.

And the Senate passed Native Plants Act, SB 318, which would require the use of plants and seeds native to the Southeastern United States, with a strong preference for North Carolina-native seeds and plants, in state parks and on state highway rights-of-way. Changes were made in the Senate Transportation committee to narrow the scope of the bill and lessen impacts to nursery growers. The bill passed the Senate with a vote of 50-0.

Finally, we’ll leave you with a brief rundown of some other bills that might be of interest and have seen action in recent weeks:

-- NC TEN, SB 354, would increase registration fees for electric vehicles and authorize an additional registration fee for plug-in hybrid vehicles, remove the $2,000 cap on highway use tax for commercial and recreational vehicles, enact a new tax applicable to transportation network companies for prearranged transportation services, and modify the cap on certain public private partnerships.
-- Greater Accountability for Boards/Commissions, SB 512, would amend the compositions of and appointments to various boards and commissions in North Carolina including the Environmental Management Commission, the Coastal Resources Commission, and the Wildlife Resources Commission, among others.
-- Address ESG Factors, SB 737: Prohibits the use of ESG in state government when making employee decisions and requires the State Treasurer to use only monetary factors when evaluating the state investments.
-- Solar Decommissioning Requirements, SB 669: States new requirements on utility-scaled solar projects when decommissioning, recycling and restoring.
-- Soil and Water/Partisan Election Option, SB 27: Allows a county board the option to change the method of election from nonpartisan to partisan.
-- Promote Clean Energy, SB 678: Changes references across the statutes from "renewable energy" to "clean energy” and modifies the definition of "renewable energy resource" to include nuclear resources and fusion energy.
-- Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, HB 588: Directs the Legislative Research Commission (LRC) to study whether the General Assembly should enact the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act and any other issues the LRC deems relevant regarding partitions of real property.


For more information about these bills or any others of interest, visit the North Carolina General Assembly website, www.ncleg.gov. Bills are searchable by bill number and subject.

Видео Ag bills survive crossover (May 8, 2023) канала ncfarmbureau