Representative Iler

10/06/2011

Iler Committee Assignments Announced

The office of N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis has announced committee chairmanships and assignments.  Representative Frank Iler of Brunswick County has been appointed as Chairman of the House Select Committee on the State’s Role in Immigration Policy.  He will co-chair the committee with Rep. Harry Warren of Salisbury.  Select committees usually meet during the interim between sessions, review information on their assigned topics and make recommendations for legislation.

Previously, Rep. Iler had been selected as Vice Chair of the Joint Legislative Transportation Oversight Committee.  Sen. Bill Rabon is the Senate Chair of this committee and Rep. Grey Mills and Phillip Frye are the House Chairs.

Two other interim committees on which Rep. Iler will be serving are:  Legislative Research Commission House Study on Life Cycle Cost Analysis, and Legislative Research Commission Joint Study on Property Insurance Rate Making.  The first committee concerns transportation project costs, and the second involves N.C. property insurance rate procedures.

Rep. Iler is honored to serve on these committees.  All the Standing Committees on which he serves will continue to be in effect during the 2011-2012 sessions, including his chairmanship of the House Transportation Committee along with Rep. Grey Mills.

July 25, 2011

After more than a month away from regular business in Raleigh, this week it is time to return for scheduled votes in House floor sessions.  The past two weeks have been taken up with “skeleton sessions” and no votes so that bills could be read in and sent to committee.  The biggest issues have dealt with redistricting of the Congressional districts (13), the N.C. Senate districts (50), and the N.C. House districts (120).  The House and Senate redistricting committees met for long hours last week in preparation for floor action this week.  The other big issues involve the Governor’s vetoes and whether we can override them.

A lot of attention has been focused on the Congressional district.  In the first draft map the district was a coastal district, running from Robeson County to Brunswick and up the coast to Carteret County.  Last week, the second draft came out and had taken away Carteret, Onslow, and Robeson Counties and had added Johnston and Lenoir Counties, running up to the southern suburbs of Raleigh and up to Kinston.  Needless to say, there was much conversation and consternation over these changes.  This week will determine if we can change or vote for the district.

The original map of Brunswick County with N.C. House districts 17 and 18 came out with several towns and precincts split that raised some eyebrows and tempers.  The towns of Southport and Leland were split. The Mosquito precinct which includes St. James, Winding River, River Run, and Sunset Harbor was divided in a way that your representative’s house on Oak Island was isolated from much of his district (House District 17) on the western side of the county.

After appearing at the public hearing in Wilmington last Monday and a trip to Raleigh for face-to-face meetings, I was able to get some changes made to remedy these situations.  The map we are considering today (Monday) has all of Southport back in the district, as well as all of the Mosquito precinct and Boiling Spring Lakes.  Leland is in District 18, as it is close to the main part of the district in Wilmington, except for a few neighborhoods on the southern end of Highway 133.  Seven precincts in the north and central county will be in District 18, as it had to be made up of 30,000 Brunswick County residents and 48,000 from New Hanover County.

The Governor’s vetoes that we are taking up this week include the voter I.D. bill, House Bill 351 – Restore Confidence in Government and Senate Bill 33 – Medical Liability Reform, which should lower healthcare costs.  Others include House Bill 854 – Abortion – Woman’s Right to Know, Senate Bill – Regulatory Reform Act of 2011, and Senate Bill 709 – Energy Jobs Act.

June 21, 2011

Just when we thought the legislative calendar couldn’t be fuller, our leadership decided that we would finish the long session last week.  So the calendar filled up with more than 200 bills and we stayed six days instead of the usual four with some sessions lasting until midnight.

The Tuesday session was the first to go to midnight and beyond.  After the Governor vetoed the 2011 – 2013 budget, House Bill 200 – Appropriations Act of 2011, we had to wait until Wednesday to vote to override her veto.  We adjourned just before midnight and convened at 12:05 Wednesday morning.  At 12:18 the override vote was taken and had the required three-fifths margin at 73 – 46.  All Republicans and five Democrats voted to override.  This was the first time in state history that the budget had been vetoed, and the first time that it was overridden.  The budget is now law and becomes effective July 1st.  The one cent temporary sales tax that was implemented in 2009 will expire, saving taxpayers over $1 billion per year.  Classroom teachers are fully funded, and various departments in Raleigh will have to tighten their belts just like families and small businesses have been forced to do over the past several years.

Many bills that are important to our area passed last week in including Senate Bill 110 – Permit Terminal Groins. If the Governor signs this bill, beach communities will be able to protect their inlets and prevent beach erosion caused by dredging at the inlets.  Only four groins are permitted statewide with strict rules and no state funds will be allowed for these projects.

House Bill 351 – Restore Confidence in Government passed 62 – 51 with several members absent.  This is the legislation that requires a photo I.D. to vote.  It is anticipated that the Governor may veto it this bill.

House Bill 650 – Amend Various Gun Laws/Castle Doctrine reduces liability of someone defending their home, and changes some of the laws concerning where a gun can be carried with a concealed carry permit.  This bill passed 80 – 39 with my voting for it.

Several bills dealt with energy development, but the biggest one that passed was Senate Bill 709 – Energy Jobs Act.  This bill will accelerate the exploration for all energy sources in North Carolina, and make sure that the citizens benefit from it through royalties to the state.  The legislation includes safeguards for the environment and requires funds for potential accidents.

Annexation has been on everyone’s mind recently.  Two bills passed last week give areas being annexed more of a voice in these decisions that impact them so profoundly.  House Bill 845 – Annexation Reform Act of 2011 requires a petition be offered to the area being annexed and if 60% of the property owners sign the petition against annexation, it is stopped for at least three years.  The bill includes requirements on services being offered and other protective provisions.  It passed 104-5.  House Bill 56 – Local Annexations Subject to 60% Petition names certain annexations in progress, including Southport, and requires them to comply with the 60% petition provision as in the new reform bill HB845.  HB 56 passed 73-38.  A similar Senate bill, SB 27, also passed.  HB 845 is subject to the Governor’s veto but the local bills are not.

Senate Bill 214 – Transportation Map Corridors/Condemnation requires a shorter time period between the time DOT files a corridor map and the time the agency must acquire the property.  This should leave property owners and developers with less of a burden on their property.  The bill passed 114 – 2.

Even though the long session adjourned on Saturday, the General Assembly plans to return to Raleigh in mid-July to vote on redistricting and consider veto overrides.  The district maps are currently being studied for state House and Senate, as well as U.S. Congress, and are subject to change many times before we vote on them.  So, this newsletter may take a break until then.

June 18 2011

Last week in the General Assembly was “crossover week”.  The bills that were voted out of one chamber by Thursday, June 9th, could cross over to the other chamber for consideration.  Those that didn’t make it are dead for this session.  It was hectic with packed committee meetings and long floor sessions, one lasting 10 hours up to midnight Wednesday.

Several of the bills that made it to the floor and were passed were very controversial and had taken weeks or months of hearings, committee votes, and reworking to get to this point.  Two of those passed Thursday afternoon.

House Bill 351 – Restore Confidence in Government is the “voter ID” bill that requires a photo identification card to be shown when one goes to vote.  It had been through months of hearings and committee meetings, and was still debated for almost two hours on the floor.  It passed 66 – 48 with a party line vote with a few members absent or not voting.  As most of you know, I have supported this concept for years.  27 states already have voter ID.

Senate Bill 8 – No Cap on Number of Charter Schools has been around since the second day of the session back on January 27th.  This legislation has gone through many rewrites and amendments and has been from the Senate to the House, back to the Senate, and to a conference committee.  The first vote in the House back in April was 68 – 51 along party lines.  The bill that came back for a vote Thursday had been simplified from over thirty pages to three.  It completely removes the cap, allows 20% growth in individual school enrollment, and leaves the chartering procedure much like it is now instead of being controlled by a separate commission.  It won wide consensus and passed by a vote of 108 – 5.  I voted for it every time.

Many other important bills on education, voting and other subjects were passed last week:

• ·HB 452 – Judicial Election Changes will identify candidates in the judges’ races by party, as they were prior to 2004.  It also eliminates taxpayer financing of the council of state races.  It passed 67 – 50 on a party line vote with my voting for it.
• ·HB 36 – Employers/Gov’t Contractors Must Use E-verify requires employers to certify by means of the E-verify web-based system the citizenship status of their employees.  It passed 68 – 43 with some bi-partisan support.  I voted for it.
• ·HB 650 – Amend Various Gun Laws/Castle Doctrine provides protections when someone is defending his/her home or workplace, and further defines where a weapon may be carried.  It passed 77 – 39 with my voting for it.
• ·HB 744 – Safe Students Act basically states that a child’s age must be established by an acceptable document before entering public school and that immunization records must be provided.  I voted for it and it passed 77 – 27 with a few members absent.
• ·HB 344 – Tax Credits for Children with Disabilities provides a tax credit up to $3000 per semester for parents who move their disabled/special needs child to a private school.  It was controversial, but passed 73 – 39 with bipartisan support.  I voted for it.

With almost 150 bills moving through our floor sessions this week, it is difficult to list all that I would like.  However, if I have left off a favorite of yours, please go to the General Assembly web site at www.ncleg.net for more information.

On Sunday, the Governor vetoed the budget HB 200 – Appropriations Act of 2011. It was so similar to her budget that one has to wonder if her real objection is that it doesn’t contain the penny sales tax that she promised was temporary and would cost NC taxpayers $1 billion a year.  We hope to override her veto this week.