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Friday Fax – Legislative Update
February 04, 2005
There was not much happening on the main stage of Jones Street this week – however there were lots of things going on behind the stage both at the General Assembly and by your NCRMA Lobbyists.
If you have not already RSVP’d, we hope you will join NCRMA Staff and freshman legislators for a Freshman Legislative Breakfast on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 in the Legislative Cafeteria at 7:30 a.m.
1) Hurricane Relief Package Stalls
2) Cobb Concedes – Troxler New Agriculture Commissioner
3) Senate Names Committees
4) Identity Theft Package Received from Attorney General
5) Methamphetamines on the Minds of Legislators
6) Sales of Violent Video Games Update
7) NCRMA Files Comments on Country of Origin Labeling
8) Alcohol Permitting Bill Filed
9) NCRMA Tries to Fix “Flashing Law”
10) NCRMA Hosts Alcohol Issues Meeting
11) NCRMA Hosts Streamlined Sales Tax Meeting
12) Gold Standard Representative Talks Medicaid Cost-Savings
13) Dr. Jack Walker to Stay?
14) Freshman Legislative Breakfast
15) North Carolina Association of Medical Equipment Services (NCAMES) Legislative Breakfast
16) Pharmacy Day
1) Hurricane Relief Package Stalls
A lot of talk this week revolved around Hurricane Relief for Western North Carolina. House Democrats floated a temporary sales tax of an additional half-cent to last from April to December. December was chosen as the end date because legislators would not be in session (we hope) to extend the tax. House Republicans initially seemed to be on board with this and then backtracked and began pushing for the State to reach into the Rainy Day Fund and grab $225 million of the $265 million for Hurricane Relief. There are lots of meetings going on with the Governor on this issue and some feel he is trying to “one-up” them. Senator Martin Nesbitt (D-Buncombe) reflected his frustration with Governor Easley on relief efforts by saying "We're dragging him behind us like a sea anchor." A public hearing was held on Wednesday where the most telling comment may have come from the Mayor of Canton whose final comments were that he hoped that the General Assembly would not “make him out to be a liar” to his people back home who he had repeatedly promised that the General Assembly would help Western North Carolina recover from a hurricane in the same way that Eastern North Carolina had been helped previously.
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2) Cobb Concedes – Steve Troxler New Commissioner of Agriculture
The election that would never end has ended. Incumbent Commissioner of Agriculture Democrat Britt Cobb conceded the election of state Agriculture Commissioner Friday morning just as the State Board of Elections was starting a meeting to try to resolve the lingering election. Cobb conceding makes Republican Steve Troxler the new Agriculture Commissioner. Troxler, a farmer from Guilford County, had led the race by approximately 2,300 votes but Cobb contested the election due to over 4,400 votes being lost in the Republican dominated Carteret County. NCRMA will be arranging a meeting to introduce our organization and the Carolinas Food Industry Council to Commissioner Troxler very soon.
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3) Senate Names Committees
There were not many surprises when Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight announced his committees on Tuesday. Most of the Chairman named will provide repeat performances. Walter Dalton (D-Rutherford), Kay Hagan (D-Guilford) and Kay Hagan (D-Forsyth) will continue as Co-Chairs of the powerful Appropriations Committee. John Kerr (D-Wayne) and David Hoyle (D-Gaston) will again serve as Co-Chairs of the equally powerful Finance Committee and are both very supportive of the Streamlined Sales Tax Project. Bill Purcell (D-Scotland) and Vernon Malone (D-Wake) were named Co-Chairs of the Senate Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee. Dan Clodfelter (D-Mecklenburg) and Fletcher Hartsell (R-Cabarrus) also return as Chairmen of the Judiciary I and Judiciary II Committees respectively.
As far as rumors go, it appears that Sabra Faires, Chief-of-Staff for former Co-Speaker of the House and current Speaker Pro Tem Richard Morgan (R-Moore) will land in a special role as a Senate Finance Staff Aid to Senators Hoyle and Kerr. Faires has long been a proponent of Streamlined Sales Tax but has also not been in great favor with some factions of the business community.
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4) Identity Theft Package Received from Attorney General
On Thursday, NCRMA met with Attorney General Roy Cooper and his staff to discuss the Attorney General’s identity theft legislative package. NCRMA has previously opposed some of this package because it would essentially close-off instant credit. If you would like a copy please email franp@ncrma.org.
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5) Methamphetamines on the Minds of Legislators
As we met with legislators this week – especially freshmen legislators – it became very apparent that methamphetamines are on everyone’s minds. As in many states, controlling methamphetamines served as a major campaign issue. NCRMA’s stance has been to explain how hard we have worked with the Attorney General’s Office on this issue and ask that we have the opportunity to review any legislation before it is introduced to prevent knee-jerk reactions. Additionally, Attorney General Roy Cooper is receiving a lot of pressure to take a stronger stance on this issue.
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6) Sales of Violent Video Games Update
We continued our work this week to halt this legislation which would make it a misdemeanor for a retailer to sell a violent video game to a minor. We have met with the two bill sponsors – Senators Julie Boseman (D-New Hanover) and Tony Rand (D-Cumberland) about this issue - as well as lobbyists for Microsoft, the Motion Picture Association of America and the ACLU. Three separate federal court decisions have been issued in the past three years ruling similar legislation unconstitutional. Similar bills were filed in Georgia earlier this week and it seems to be a “family values” theme being utilized by Democrats throughout the country. NCRMA is also working closely with the Entertainment Software Association on halting this legislation.
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7) NCRMA Files Comments on Country of Origin Labeling
On Monday, NCRMA filed written comments with the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources opposing recently proposed regulations regarding shellfish such as shrimp and oysters. As proposed, these rules would eliminate the use of ice to refrigerate shellfish and would require Country of Origin Labeling on shellfish that is more extensive than required by the Federal Government.
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8) Alcohol Permitting Bill Filed
Representative Paul Miller (D-Durham) is at it again. On Thursday, Representative Miller filed legislation (House Bill 86) which would allow local governments to have more authority in the granting of alcohol permits in economic development zones. NCRMA has been successful in defeating the same legislation the past two legislative sessions. NCRMA has long believed that all alcohol permitting decisions should be made by the North Carolina Alcoholic Beverage Commission rather than local governments so that the permitting process is consistent from Murphy to Manteo. On another note, Representative Deborah Ross (D-Wake) has asked that we revisit how circumstances under which a business can lose its alcohol permit. Representative Ross is sincere in ridding some of her district from “shot-houses” without hurting legitimate operators. We have agreed to revisit this issue but as always the “devil is in the details.”
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9) NCRMA Tries to Fix “Flashing Law”
NCRMA met with former prosecutor and District Court Judge Senator John Snow (D-Macon) on Thursday to work on changing North Carolina’s law on “flashing”. Currently, it is not illegal in North Carolina to flash someone of the same sex. Several stores in the Charlotte area have experienced numerous situations where young boys were being “flashed” in the toy sections of their stores only to see the charges dropped because of the requirement that the victim be of the opposite sex of the “flasher”. Senator Snow and Senate Leadership are very interested correcting this provision to make stores safer and protect North Carolina’s children. Hopefully, we will have a bill for you to review on this subject next week.
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10) NCRMA Hosts Alcohol Issue Meeting
On Monday, NCRMA met with representatives from NCRMA member companies Total Wine and Harris Teeter and the North Carolina Beer and Wine Wholesaler Association to discuss three issues: the ability to use coupons and loyalty cards to sell alcohol, wine-tasting and transferring alcohol between stores within the same wholesaler territories. We presented several proposals to the Wholesalers Association on these issues and expect a response on our proposals by Monday, February 7, 2005.
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11) NCRMA Hosts Streamlined Sales Tax Meeting
Also on Monday, NCRMA hosted a meeting with representatives of the County Commissioners Association, the League of Municipalities and TaxWare to continue developing legislative strategy and a final legislative package on Streamlined Sales Tax for 2005.
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12) Gold Standard Representative Talks Medicaid Cost-Savings
On Wednesday, NCRMA had a representative from Gold Standard in town to meet with Representatives Edd Nye (D-Bladen), Jeff Barnhart (R-Cabarrus), Bobby England (D-Rutherford) and Senator Bill Purcell (D-Scotland). Gold Standard has developed technology to reduce prescription drug costs for state Medicaid programs through the use of a PDA. This meeting was followed by a meeting with the Department of Health and Human Services Deputy Secretary Lanier Cansler.
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13) Dr. Jack Walker to Stay?
Although Dr. Jack Walker, Executive Director of the State Employees Health Plan, had announced his intention to retire effective April 1, 2005, it appears no one wants his job and the rumor is that there is a chance that Walker is negotiating for an additional two years for significantly more money. This is not necessarily a good thing.
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14) North Carolina Association of Medical Equipment Services (NCAMES) Legislative Breakfast
On Thursday, NCRMA assisted NCAMES in conducting its Legislative Breakfast at the General Assembly Cafeteria. There was a great turnout of both Legislators and NCAMES members. NCAMES members deal in medical equipment such as oxygen tanks and wheelchairs and have had a long-lasting relationship with NCRMA that has been beneficial to both organizations.
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15) Speaking of Breakfast – NCRMA’s Freshman Legislative Breakfast Is Next Week
If you have not already RSVP’d, we hope you will join NCRMA Staff and freshman legislators for a Freshman Legislative Breakfast on Wednesday, February 9, 2005 in the Legislative Cafeteria at 7:30 a.m. It is imperative that we have a good turnout for next week’s event.
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16) Pharmacy Day
NCRMA will be co-sponsoring Pharmacy Day at the Legislature on Wednesday, February 23, 2005. Please make plans for your pharmacists to attend. To get more information please email Andy Ellen at andye@ncrma.org.
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Talk with you next week!
Fran Preston
Andy Ellen
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