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Raleigh, North Carolina
May 30, 2008
The General Assembly has once again made modern-day history. The Legislature's Bill Drafting Division said House and Senate members combined have filed 4,962 bills during the two-year session that began last year. That's the most bills filed since the 1913 session and just one more than the number of bills filed during the 2005-06 session. Lawmakers introduced several hundred bills this week before filing deadlines set by legislative leaders. In what has already proven to be a fast-track session, NCRMA has already seen movement on some of those bills affecting retail which you can read more about below…
Budget Update
Yesterday, House budget writers rolled out pieces of what looks to be a $21 billion budget proposal. Thus far, retail pharmacy has steered clear of any cut as we have continued to talk with legislators about our success in cutting costs by increasing generic utilization.
The preview of the budget plan offers public school teachers 3 percent average raises -- much lower than the nearly 7 percent sought by Gov. Mike Easley. Rank-and-file state employees would receive the higher of a 2.75 percent increase or $1,100 bonus in the House budget. Easley's budget proposal offered a 1.5 percent increase for state workers, with a one-time bonus.
House budget writers declined to go along with Easley's proposed tax increases on cigarettes and alcoholic beverages. Meanwhile, the House plan will include about $50 million in tax relief by expanding tax credits to lower income working families and small businesses who offer health insurance. The House is also proposing deeper cuts than Easley for the community support program for the mentally ill. Easley recommended nearly $31 million in cuts; the House upped that to $86 million, largely by proposing to tighten eligibility requirements. A state review found that hundreds of millions of dollars had been wasted on the program, which seeks to teach life skills to substance abusers and the mentally ill.
House leaders expect to bring a full budget bill to the floor next week, opening the door for the Senate to then approve its own version of the budget. The two chambers are charging ahead quickly as they attempt to get a final budget bill to Governor Easley's desk for his signature before the new fiscal year starts July 1.
THIS WEEKS' LEGISLATIVE LOOKOUT:
1)
53-foot truck restrictions
2) DOT express permitting
3)
Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday
4)
Electronics Recycling
5) Pervious Pavement
6)
Pharmacy Update
7)
Sheriff Access to Drug Database
1. 53-foot Truck Restrictions -- SB 1695/HB 2408: Senator Clark Jenkins (D-Edgecombe), HB 2408, Representative Nelson Cole (D-Rockingham)
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/Senate/HTML/S1695v1.html
SB 1695 that would expand the number of routes on which 53' trailers could be operated passed the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday but not without some concern being raised by some mountain legislators about big trucks being on curvy roads most especially Highway 74 heading towards Lake Lure. DOT representative Kevin Lacey expressed grave concern about the vast expansion of the use of 53' trailers in North Carolina . We knew this would likely occur and we will likely need to give DOT the ability to pull some roads in the mountains off the map just as we had anticipated. Look for the Senate to move the bill rather quickly early next week on over to the House. Thanks to all of you who made calls!
2. DOT Express Permitting -- SB 1698/HB 2313: Senator Clark Jenkins (D-Edgecombe), Representative Nelson Cole (D-Rockingham)
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/HTML/H2313v1.html
Senator Jenkins and Representative Cole introduced legislation to implement an express permitting program at DOT which was heard and passed in the House Transportation Committee this week. The bill now moves to the House Finance Committee. NCRMA met with Jim Trogdon on legislative Transportation staff this week to discuss some minor tweaks that may need to be made to the bill to ensure that the program will have the intended affect. The bill is on the right track and moving forward.
3. Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday -- SB 1769, Senator John Snow (D-Cherokee)
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/Senate/HTML/S1769v1.html
SB 1944: Senator Fletcher Hartsell (R-Cabarrus)
HB 2605: Paul Luebke (D-Durham), Pricey Harrison (D-Guilford), Jennifer Weiss (D-Wake), Lucy Allen (D-Franklin)
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/HTML/H2605v1.html
NCRMA has been working on legislation to provide for an Energy Star Sales Tax Holiday in North Carolina . Last week, we told you about Senator John Snow introducing legislation that would be scheduled around Earth Day in April and run for an entire week; would set a $6,000 and will include televisions under $800 for the first year following the Digital TV conversion. This week, a House bill was introduced and was quickly scheduled for a hearing in the House Finance committee on Thursday. The House bill is not quite as defined as the Senate bill, is set for the first weekend in November, and was modeled after the Governor's inclusion of this proposal in his energy policy. We talked to interested legislators on both the House and Senate side and encouraged them working together on one proposal that can encompass everyone's interests.
4. Electronics Recycling -- HB 2500: Representatives Lucy Allen (D-Franklin), Pryor Gibson (D-Anson), Ruth Samuelson (R-Mecklenburg) SB 1926: Senator Janet Cowell (D-Wake)
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/HTML/H2500v0.html
NCRMA is continuing to work with the various stakeholders involved in the electronics recycling bill in our efforts to add televisions to the manufacturer responsibility legislation that passed for computers last year. The Environmental Review Commission (ERC) approved a placeholder bill for making adjustments to last year's law and has scheduled a working group meeting for those involved for next Friday, June 6 where we hope to finalize a draft proposal on this legislation.
5. Pervious Pavement -- HB 2504: Representatives Lucy Allen (D-Franklin), Pryor Gibson (D-Anson)
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/HTML/H2504v0.html
HB 2504 is a placeholder bill until a workable solution can be reached to address the provision in last year's budget requiring 20% pervious pavement on parking surfaces. NCRMA has continued to take the lead on this issue and we are scheduled to meet with Senator Marc Basnight (D-Dare) on Tuesday to discuss our concerns with this provision that was included in the budget last year. We will be relaying our concerns with the fast approaching effective date of October 1 and the complexity regarding the implementation of the new pervious pavement standards for parking areas throughout North Carolina . We plan to ask for a delay until July 1, 2009 to provide more time to better develop a pervious pavement standard that can be effectively implemented in North Carolina with full understanding of the requirements of the new standard.
6. Pharmacy Update -- Yesterday, the House Health and Human Service Appropriations Subcommittee approved the subcommittee report without touching traditional Community Pharmacy Reimbursement. The comments we got concerning community pharmacy was that people were genuinely pleased with the work you had done by increasing generic dispensing in Medicaid in Medicaid by over 4%. While there are currently no proposed reductions to AWP-10% or in dispensing fees included in the House budget proposal, we will continue to watch this issue as the bill moves through the full Appropriations Committee and to the full House. We will then have to turn our focus back to the Senate as they prepare their own budget.
The implementation of a State MAC List for specialty drugs totaling $4.5 million remained in the budget. The issue of reining in the cost of specialty drugs has been bantered about for a number of years and was a recommendation from the Governor's Office. While we have a list of class of drugs subject to this new MAC List we have been unable to obtain a list of actual drugs that would be contained on this new MAC List. Representative Bog England (D-Rutherford), a Subcommittee Co-Chair, is making a request for a list of specific drugs. The Subcommittee report also included a non-recurring appropriation for $275,000 for recruitment of minority pharmacist students.
The Subcommittee report will be before the full Appropriations Committee on Tuesday and will likely hit the House Floor on Wednesday with a final vote on Thursday before heading to the Senate. The Senate is expected to make quick work of the Budget so that the House and Senate can begin conference committee meetings.
7. Sheriff Access to Drug Database -- SB 1605/HB 2163 ( Pitt County ), Senator Clark Jenkins (D-Edgecombe), Representative Marion McLawhorn (D-Pitt) HB 2292 ( Moore County ) Representative Joe Boylan (R-Moore)
http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/HTML/H2163v1.html
HB 2163 is scheduled to be heard in the House Judiciary III committee on Tuesday. NCRMA has spoken with the NC Sheriffs' Association to determine if there is a way to agree on a statewide initiative rather than a piecemeal approach. It is the understanding of NCRMA that sheriffs were initially intended to have access to this database when this initiative began a couple of years ago and they were inadvertently excluded. NCRMA is also working to ensure that this bill does not open up the issue of Sheriff's having any ability to come into retail locations and request records on the spot.
Thank you for allowing us to continue to represent the retail perspective before the North Carolina General Assembly since 1902. Your NCRMA lobbying team is working hard to ensure that your interests are represented in the halls of the legislative building. Please let us know if you have any questions as we always welcome your feedback.
Until next week...
Fran Preston (franp@ncrma.org)
Andy Ellen (andye@ncrma.org)
Elizabeth Dalton (elizabethd@ncrma.org)
Lindsey Kueffner (lindseyk@ncrma.org)
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