NCAMA 2008 Summer Conference
Wrightsville Beach
August 2, 2008
2008 Legislation
David Lawrence
School of Government
Annexation
HB 2367, which proposed a moratorium on involuntary annexation, passed the House but was not taken up by the Senate.
HB 2431, the studies bill, creates the Joint Legislative Study Commission on Municipal Annexation, which will have 28 members. The bill permits the study commission to study any of the following topics:
- State law governing involuntary annexation, voluntary annexation by petition, and voluntary satellite annexation.
- Municipal compliance with current annexation procedural standards.
- Provision of services to persons in areas subject to annexation.
- The effect of creation of an independent review procedure for municipal annexation decisions.
- Current standards for judicial review and appeal of municipal annexation decisions.
- The impact of the current annexation law on municipalities and the State as a whole.
- Whether the State's current annexation law should be amended.
- Any other issue related to annexation deemed relevant by the Commission.
The study commission is directed to deliver a report to the 2009 General Assembly, at the time it convenes.
Water Supply
Drought Management: HB 2499.
The bill requires each local government with a water system to develop a water shortage response plan, to be reviewed and approved by DNER. Such a plan is to have tiered responses, based on the categories of drought as defined in the U.S. Drought Monitor. If a local government has such a plan but does not implement it, or it does not work, then DNER may require that local government to impose more stringent measures – essentially moving to the next tier of response. (If a local government does not have such a plan, it must implement default measures set out in rules adopted by the EMC.)
The bill permits the Governor to declare a water shortage emergency in particular areas. In such an emergency the state can require transfers of water between systems and adopt mandatory rules for conservation.
The bill also has a number of provisions that seek to increase water system efficiency; the one mandatory provision is a requirement of separate metering for new inground irrigation systems. A variety of other steps are required in order to be eligible for certain state funds.
A final provision asserts that the bill has no effect on the authority of local governments to regulate private wells.
Water warranty: SB 1259.
This bill amends the Drinking Water Act (in G.S. 130A-315) to provide that no supplier of water is deemed to provide a warranty under Article 2 of the U.C.C., including an implied warranty of merchantability or an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose. The bill would seem to reverse the outcome in Jones v. Town of Angier, 181 N.C. App. 121, decided by the court of appeals in 2007, in which the court allowed a suit against the town to go forward under a theory that the town had breached its warranty of merchantability in providing water to the plaintiff dry cleaner.
Public Records
SB 212 enacts a new exception to the public records right of access, to be codified as G.S. 132-1.12. It excludes from the definition of public record any of the following information about a minor participating in a parks or recreation program of a local government:
-name,
-address,
-age,
-date of birth,
-telephone number,
-name or address of parent or legal guardian, or
-any other identifying information.
The county, municipality, and zip code of residence for each minor is a public record. The statute makes clear that this information is not open to the public; it does not prohibit the local government from releasing it.
The statute does not define “minor,” so presumably the provision in G.S. 48A-2 applies, which defines a minor as anyone under 18.
SB 2064 would have changed the attorneys’ fee provisions in the public records law, and would have established an “Open Government” unit within the state Department of Justice. It passed the Senate but was not taken up by the House.
Street Gangs
HB 274 is a comprehensive statute attempting to suppress street gangs and their activities. It defines a variety of activities as criminal. Interestingly, one new section, to be codified as G.S. 14-50.27, provides that local governments retain full authority to adopt ordinances seeking to suppress gang activity, and that such ordinances are not preempted even when they duplicate the provisions of the statute. The act becomes effective December 1, 2008.
Regulation of Streets
News vendors: SB 942.
This bill amends G.S. 20-175(d) to prohibit a local government from adopting an ordinance that “prohibits engaging in the distribution of newspapers on the non-traveled portion of any street or highway except when those distribution activities impede the normal movement of traffic on the street or highway.”
DOT-designated truck routes: SB 1695.
G.S. 20-115.1(g) permits DOT to designate those State highway system roads on which tractor-trailers may operate. This bill removes from the statute the following language: “No portion of the State highway system within municipal corporate limits may be designated by the Department without concurrence by the municipal governing body.” The act becomes effective September 1.
City Property
SB 1681 expressly permits local governments to adopt ordinances prohibiting smoking in “passenger-carrying vehicles owned, leased, or otherwise controlled by” the local government. The bill is effective January 1, 2009.
Presumably, as owner, a local government could have had a policy prohibiting smoking in its vehicles. What this bill adds is authority to impose the ban by ordinance, with the consequent enforcement devices of an ordinance.
City Finance
Special assessment bonds: HB 1770.
This bill allows cities to issue bonds to finance a limited range of projects and secure the bonds by the proceeds of special assessments levied on property that benefits from the project. Before assessments may be levied under this bill, the city must receive a petition from a majority of the owners of the real property to be assessed, who represent at least 66 percent of the assessed value of that property.
The bill permits this form of financing for the following sorts of projects:
-sewer,
-storm sewers,
-water,
-public transportation facilities,
-school facilities,
-streets and sidewalks.
The legislation is an experiment, inasmuch as the authority expires July 1, 2013.
Property tax changes: SB 1878.
This bill makes a number of changes to the Machinery Act. Here are two that might affect cities more than the others:
- In counties of more than 75,000 people, the required revaluation of property will be required to be accelerated if the sales assessment ratio for that county becomes less than .85 or greater than 1.15.
- Low-income housing developments with federal tax credits are required to be appraised through the income approach, taking in to account rent restrictions that apply to the property. The tax credits may not be considered.
Environment
Coastal stormwater regulations.
SB 1967 disapproves EMC rules on coastal county stormwater management that had been adopted earlier this year. It replaces the EMC’s rules with a detailed set of regulations set out in the bill. These new regulations are said to be somewhat less restrictive than the rules adopted by the EMC.
SB 845, which is an omnibus environmental bill, includes provisions that prohibit the EMC from beginning the process of new coastal stormwater regulations until October 2011 and provide that any new rules cannot become effective until October 2013.
Solid waste tipping tax changes: HB 2530.
This bill makes some modifications in the solid waste disposal tipping tax first enacted last year. It does not delay implementation of the tax, but it does change the reporting period for remission to the state and make other small changes.
Computer and television recycling: HB 819.
The 2007 General Assembly enacted recycling legislation for computer equipment. This bill adds television sets to the legislation and changes the effective date from January 2009 to January 2010. This bill will have some impact on cities that collect either computers or TV sets as part of their recycling programs.
Highway Construction
HB 2314 and HB 2318 give to counties the same authority to participate in or contribute to state highway projects as cities have enjoyed. (The first bill also specifies that DOT cannot transfer responsibility to counties without specific statutory authority.)
Miscellaneous
Firefighters: SB 963.
This bill attempts to replicate the federal rules on work hours and overtime compensation for full-time municipal firefighters. It only becomes effective, however, if the FLSA is repealed or held not to apply to local governments.
Building Code exemption: HB 2313.
This bill exempts certain greenhouses from the building code. The bill at one time repealed the authority of local governments to impose development moratoriums, but that provision was stripped from the bill.
PEG channels: SB 1716.
This bill clarifies what requirements a PEG (public, educational, or governmental) channel must meet to qualify for supplemental state funding. The state funding program was an outgrowth of the changes in the regulatory scheme for cable television enacted last year.
Electronic meetings, Hyde county: SL 2008-111 (SB 1631).
This bill is a local act applicable at present to Hyde county only. It specifically permits electronic meetings and sets out the conditions under which public bodies in the county may hold such meetings. It provides that it has no effect on the validity of such meetings elsewhere, but it also ratifies votes in electronic meetings before its effective date, which is October 1, 2008. It’s not clear whether the ratification applies only within Hyde county or statewide.