House Sets
Schedule for Adopting Budget
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House Speaker Jim Black has
revised the timetable for adopting a budget in
which the chamber possibly will pass a spending
bill by next Thursday. The revised timetable
replaces one that would have required the budget
subcommittees to continue meeting in Raleigh over
the weekend.
Appropriations Committee Co-chair David Redwine
(D-Brunswick) said his panel will meet at 2 p.m.
Monday. The full Appropriations Committee will
meet at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday. That would set up a
vote on a budget bill by the full House on
Wednesday. Redwine and Appropriations Co-chair
Ruth Easterling (D-Mecklenburg) met Wednesday and
Thursday with their Senate counterparts to try to
reach early agreement on major spending items as
well as any special provisions.
It's now clear that the House and Senate leaders
agree on a proposal to use a bookkeeping change
in the way 12-month school employees are paid to
free up $240 million that would go to refund
intangibles taxes and to use a reserve created
last year for bonuses under the ABCs program to
provide another $125 million. That money, along
with money from other budget cuts, would be used
to replenish the Rainy Day fund ($100 million),
to make contributions to the Repair and
Renovation Fund ($50 million) and the Clean Water
Management Fund ($30 million).
Open Beer Cans in Cars: The
House on Thursday passed and sent to the Senate a
measure outlawing open containers of alcohol in
cars, even if the driver has had nothing to
drink. H. 1499 Interlock/Open Container
Changes, the
bill by Rep. Jim Crawford (D-Granville), brings
North Carolina into compliance with a federal
mandate. The state must adopt the law or risk
losing up to $14 million a year in federal
highway money. Under current state law,
passengers in a car may possess an open beer can
as long as the driver doesn't drink. Crawford's
bill exempts limousines, taxis and the living
quarters of recreational vehicles.
Collecting Taxes on Internet Sales:
The House on Thursday gave final approval to a
bill that would help collect state sales taxes on
catalog and Internet sales to North Carolina
residents by out-of-state companies. Under the
bill, H. 1624 Streamlined Sales Tax
System by Rep.
George Miller (D-Durham), N.C., Wisconsin,
Michigan and Kansas would contract with a
collector that would receive taxes from catalog
and Internet retailers and distribute them to the
states and local governments. N.C. is losing an
estimated $120 million to $130 million a year in
taxes from such purchases, despite efforts to
collect them on state income tax forms. That loss
is projected to grow as Internet sales increase.
The measure now goes to the Senate. However, the
process is entirely dependent on development of
new software that e-commerce companies would use
to detect where an order comes from, determine
what state and local taxes might apply in that
area, and apportion that tax to the state and
local government.
Session Limits: The House Rules
Committee on Wednesday opened debate on a
Senate-passed constitutional amendment to limit
the length of legislative sessions, S. 9 Session Length Limits, and heard the sponsor of the
measure, Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston), say he was
willing to remove a provision calling for
four-year terms for members of the state Senate.
Hoyle told the House panel he's willing to give
up four-year terms or put the issue in a separate
bill. "It's more important to get some
certainty" on the length of sessions, Hoyle
said. The panel did not vote on the measure.
Bill Lee Act
Changes: The House on Thursday gave
tentative approval to legislation making minor
modifications to the Bill Lee Act, the state's
centerpiece economic development policy. The
bill, H. 1560 Modify Bill Lee Act by Rep. Gordon Allen (D-Person)
adds airline maintenance facilities and other
aircraft operations to the list of companies
eligible for tax credits. It also says that any
unusedportion of a tax credit may be carried
forward for the succeeding 10 years if the
company applying for the credit intends to invest
at least $50 million on real property, machinery
and equipment, or central office or aircraft
facility property, as long as the company invests
the $50 million within two years.
Committee Reports
* The House Finance Committee on
Thursday favorably reported H. 1326 Dry-Cleaning Solvent
Cleanup Amendments (Gibson).
* The House Environment and Natural Resources
Committee on Thursday favorably reported H. 1618 Petroleum Discharge/De
Minimus Report
(Warwick) and S. 1328 Million Acre Open Space
Goal (Odom).
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