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Friday Fax – Legislative Update
It was crossover week (every bill must be voted out of its house of origin unless the bill spends or raises money) in the North Carolina General Assembly meaning legislators, legislative staff and lobbyists operated at a frantic and dizzying pace all week. Lobbyists were constantly on both offense and defense trying to get their bills on the calendar to be heard or trying to keep bad bills from being heard.
Since the General Assembly did not convene Monday evening due to the Memorial Day Holiday, the crossover week was compacted into three days rather than the normal four-day period. Tuesday was full of recesses and impromptu committee hearings where blank bills suddenly became twenty pages and other bills were stripped of their original language and replaced with new legislation.
Of great importance to NCRMA this week, was killing a bill that would increase the minimum wage in the House. After an epic battle that lasted through two committee hearings and a contentious floor vote, the minimum wage increase failed just after midnight on Thursday morning. Technically, this occurred at 8:57 p.m. since the House is prohibited from meeting past 9:00 p.m. meaning the clocks were stopped for over four hours Wednesday night.
Legislators limped into the rainy night on Thursday morning after a nine hour session but were rewarded later Thursday with a short calendar and the ability to get on the road by noon for a long weekend. (The House will return Monday night, the Senate not until Tuesday).
June 2, 2005
1) Minimum Wage Dies, Lives and Dies Again
2) Split Case Fees on Wine to be Addressed Next Week
3) Keg Registration Update
4) Pharmacy Quality Assurance Bill Passes House
5) Peanut Allergy Warning Bill Fails to Make Crossover
6) Budget Update
7) Sales Tax Holiday Just Around the Corner
1) Minimum Wage Dies, Lives and Dies Again
As we told you last week we were anticipating a fight on the minimum wage this week. House Bill 330, as introduced by Representative Alma Adams (D-Guilford), would have raised North Carolina 's minimum wage from $5.15 to $6.15 on September 1, 2005, to $7.15 on Labor Day 2006 and $8.50 on Labor Day 2007.
On Wednesday, in the House Commerce Committee, Representative Adams presented a proposed committee substitute that only raised the minimum wage to $6.15 on September 1, 2005. The effective date was then extended to January 1, 2006. The motion for a favorable report failed by a vote of 18-17. This action happened at approximately 2:00 p.m.
As the day drew on we began to get word that some of the liberal faction of the Democrat party were putting lots of pressure on Speaker Black to get the minimum wage bill to the House Floor. The pressure was turned up a notch when proponents of a Death Penalty Moratorium could not round up the necessary 61 votes to pass this measure.
When the House took a quick pizza break at 6:00 p.m. NCRMA and a few other business groups made the rounds on the House floor and began lobbying conservatives Democrats and House Republicans alike to vote against the minimum wage bill.
At 10:30 p.m. the House recessed for the House Commerce Committee to meet again. Because the Chairman had neglected to give an "unfavorable to the original bill" earlier in the day, the revised bill was eligible to be re-visited. At approximately 11:00 p.m. with the help of House Democrat floating voters, the bill passed out of committee by a favorable vote of 19-17.
NCRMA and other business groups again feverously worked the House floor until midnight and were able to garner the support of ten Democrats to go along with 56 Republicans to defeat the bill on the floor by a vote of 66-52 just after midnight. One Republican - Rep. Edgar Starnes (R-Caldwell) voted for the wage increase, 51 Democrats voted yes and two Democrats were absent from the vote.
The ten Democrats voting against the minimum wage increase were:
Nelson Cole (D-Rockingham)
Jim Crawford (D-Granville)
Pryor Gibson (D-Anson)
Jim Harrell (D-Surry)
Dewey Hill (D-Columbus)
Hugh Holloman (D-Davidson)
Edd Nye (D-Bladen)
Ronnie Sutton (D-Robeson)
Joe Tolson (D-Edgecombe)
Winkie Wilkins (D-Person)
Please take the time to say thank you to these ten Democrats and the 56 Republicans that voted against the increase in the minimum wage. Republican Whip Mitch Gillespie (R-McDowell), Bill Daughtridge (R-Nash) and Stephen Laroque (R-Greene) are to be especially thanked for their hard work.
Comments contained in Friday's News and Observer spelled out Representative Adams' motives on getting the minimum wage bill to the House Floor:
"Wage vote goes on record" -- Rep. Alma Adams was smiling Thursday morning, less than 12 hours after a bill to raise the minimum wage that she had sponsored went down to defeat by 14 votes in the House.
"I really wanted to get people on record," said the Greensboro Democrat, who has worked for years to get a vote increasing the state minimum wage.
"It'll be up to citizens around the state to take these folks to task who are not supportive of workers," she said.
Some opponents of a higher minimum wage said they were watching out for workers by fighting the increase, arguing that jobs would be lost if the minimum wage were raised. Ten Democrats voted against raising the minimum, and one Republican voted for it.
House Majority Leader Joe Hackney, an Orange County Democrat, said the push to get a vote on a higher minimum wage came not from the desire to create a campaign issue but from the strong feeling among many Democrats that low-paid workers need help.
"I'm sure there's some idle talk about campaigns," he said, "but there always is."
But don't be surprised to see the minimum wage take on a new life in next year's campaigns.
"I'm certainly going to make sure the vote is available to people as they go back and look at this next election," Adams said.
2) Split Case Fees on Wine to be Addressed Next Week
As we told you last week, the Senate amended Senate Bill 828 in an effort to overrule the ABC Commission's ruling that wine wholesalers are required to charge retailers a fee for splitting a case of wine.
Due to the crossover deadline this week, the House only scheduled House Bills. We understand that the House ABC Committee is slated to take up Senate Bill 828 as soon as Tuesday.
3) Keg Registration Update
As you know, NCRMA has been actively opposed to the keg registration bill moving its way through the General Assembly. NCRMA is the last line of opposition as the wholesalers, manufacturers, Convenience Store Association and Petroleum Marketers Association have all removed any opposition they may have had to this legislation.
We thought you might be interested in the editorial that ran in the Raleigh News and Observer on Thursday.
4) Pharmacy Quality Assurance Bill Passes House
The North Carolina House of Representatives passed House Bill 1493, Pharmacy Quality Assurance Protection Act, by a vote of 120-0 late last evening. Representative Nelson Cole (D-Rockingham) provided a short explanation of the bill just have the House reconvened from a pizza break and the bill sailed on through without question. The House's actions mean that the bill met the crossover deadline and remains alive for further consideration.
We anticipate that there will need to be some changes made to the bill when we move to the Senate. Senator Bill Purcell (D-Scotland) has agreed to carry the bill in the Senate.
Here is the link to the bill for your review:
http://www.ncga.state.nc.us/Sessions/2005/Bills/House/HTML/H1493v2.html
5) Peanut Allergy Warning Bill Fails to Make Crossover
Two bills requiring restaurants, including grocery delis, to alert customers to the fact that nut products were used in the preparation of food failed to make crossover this week. This issue will be eligible to be reintroduced in January, 2007. Senate Bill 1020 as introduced by Senator Malcolm Graham (D-Mecklenberg) and House Bill 920 introduced by Representative Martha Alexander (D-Mecklenberg) were introduced as the result of a teenager who was allergic to peanuts and ingested food cook with peanut oil from a mall food court in Charlotte and later died.
6) Budget Update
With the end of the fiscal year (June 30 th ) looming around the corner and the half-cent sales tax and personal income increase from 2001 about to sunset, some around Jones Street are getting anxious about the House passing their version of the Budget so that the Senate and House can begin negotiations.
A number of rumors were circulating among the press around the General Assembly, including, but not limited to:
1) With crossover behind them, the House is scheduled to release the version of the Budget early next week;
2) Look for the Budget to be taken up the following week with many legislators wanting to get the voted out with so they can head to Pinehurst for the US Open;
3) No Budget anywhere in sight setting the House and Senate up for a series of continuing resolutions on maintaining the current budget and taxes while the House and Senate negotiate very late into the summer or early fall.
7) Sales Tax Holiday Just Around the Corner
North Carolina will again hold its Sales Tax Holiday from August 5-7, 2005. NCRMA has worked closely with the North Carolina Department of Revenue to prepare handy materials, including a poster containing a list of taxed and non-taxed items to place at your registers to help employees and customers identify tax-free items. Please call NCRMA at 1.800.662.7211 to obtain copies of these free-to-members posters to help ensure the weekend runs smoothly for your store, your employees and your customers.
‘TIL NEXT WEEK
Fran Preston
Andy Ellen
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