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Friday Fax – Legislative Update
At long last, the North Carolina General Assembly wrapped up its work for the year. Your NCRMA staff worked into the wee hours to see the legislature into adjournment this morning at nearly 1:30 am . The two chambers parted to return to their respective districts after the 2 1/2-month session came to a close. All 170 House and Senate seats are up for re-election this fall before the newly elected Legislature reconvenes on January 24, 2007 .
The House and Senate cleared the last major hurdle to adjournment yesterday afternoon when they overwhelmingly passed an ethics and lobbying bill that would prohibit gift-giving by lobbyists to legislators and executive branch officials and create a stronger state ethics commission.
The day was bittersweet as lawmakers said goodbye to several colleagues who are retiring or were defeated in the May primary. Once of the most notable departures includes Representative Edd Nye (D-Bladen) who has served in the House since 1975 and is a budget co-chair. NCRMA has enjoyed a long and enjoyable working relationship with Nye. He is known as the tenured in-House expert on Health and Human Service s issues and received cheers from colleagues when he gaveled in the House around midnight , the first time in his 14 House terms he presided.
As the legislature gaveled to order for the last time, several issues affecting retail were sorted out, at last, and NCRMA is pleased to end the session with many successes to report. As we review the 2006 Short Session, NCRMA will soon follow-up with a more detailed summary of the "thumbs-up" and "thumbs-down" of the year. In the mean time, enjoy the highlights from this final week.
July 28, 2006
1. NCRMA Successful on Pharmacy Provisions
2. Pharmacy Studies
3. Keg Reg Compromise Passes in Waning Days of Session
4. Alcohol Coupons Delayed for 2007
5. Gas Issue to look for in 2007?
6. Governor Signs Veteran ID Theft Bill
1. NCRMA Successful on Pharmacy Provisions -- NCRMA continued working with Mike James and Bill Rustin with the community pharmacists this week to gain passage of a pharmacy provision that would help offset the drastic impact that Medicare Part D and the Deficit Reduction Act could have on access to prescription drugs. After a wild roller-coaster ride last week, new language was inserted into SB 198 by means of an eleventh-hour floor amendment. The amendment gives flexibility to the Department so that if the average manufacturer's price ("AMP") of a drug decreases, the Department may supplement that increase by increasing the dispensing fee by an amount that will be revenue neutral.
This provision passed in both the House and the Senate but when the bill went to conference committee, it looked as though it may never see the light of day again. Last night, other controversial portions of the bill became roadblocks to final passage. Fortunately, the House and Senate reached agreement around midnight and the bill, including our provision, was passed and sent to the Governor.
2. Pharmacy Studies -- The Senate introduced the annual studies bill, HB 1723, at a last-minute Rules committee meeting on the Senate floor last night. NCRMA and the community pharmacists worked together on a provision that would direct the NC Department of Health and Human Service s to conduct a study to determine the cost of dispensing a Medicaid prescription in North Carolina.
Also included in the studies bill was language that allows the Commission to study issues regarding the regulation of pharmacy benefit management. The inclusion resulted from the introduction of HB 1374 last year by former Representative Bill Culpepper (D-Chowan) and Representative Verla Insko (D-Orange).
3. Keg Reg Compromise Passes in Waning Days of Session -- Senate and House conferees reached agreement on the Governor's DWI Task Force Bill this week. The bill now awaits the Governor's signature.
While NCRMA has continued to stress the importance of maintaining the more "retail-friendly" Senate language, we were forewarned by legislators that it would be an uphill battle. Many legislators, including some of the conferees, preferred to have you comply with the House language that is much more onerous.
The final bill requires merchants who sell beer by the keg to issue purchase-transportation permits to customers for pony and half-kegs ( not every keg as was in the House version ) and must keep copies for 90 days (rather than 1 year as was in the House version ). While the legislation is not as retail-friendly as the Senate language, it is much better than the original House bill and much better than the House version of purchase transportation permits that were in the original DWI Task Force Bill.
Link to SB 1048: http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2005/Bills/House/HTML/H1048v6.html
4. Despite Best Efforts, Alcohol Coupons Not Brought to Vote -- Despite NCRMA's best efforts, legislation to allow the use of alcohol coupons in North Carolina was not taken up this year. State Alcoholic Beverage Control Commission rules now prohibit cents-off coupons or free beverages as part of alcohol advertising. The coupon provision would have allowed an exception to the rules if the retailer offers a discount coupon to purchase beer and wine or requires a customer to use the buyer's membership card, discount card or loyalty card to receive the discount . Free alcoholic beverages still wouldn't be permitted. The change wouldn't apply to state ABC stores, which sell liquor and where manufacturers sometimes offer instant coupons on their products.
Last week , we reported to you that, due to NCRMA's tenacity, we were able to resurrect the coupon provision in SB 828 after extensive committee debate. While the bill sat on the House calendar, strategy sessions amongst House and Senate leadership continued.
In an effort to consolidate the number of alcohol-related bills brought up for a floor vote, legislative leaders opted to roll almost all alcohol provisions into the conference report for HB 1025. NCRMA found ourselves fighting another uphill battle in an effort to convince legislators to include the coupon provision in the final conference report.
As a part of that effort, your NCRMA lobbying team explained the issue to House and Senate members so effectively that we had the majority of votes in both the House and Senate. Unfortunately, a favorable vote count was still not enough to overcome the concerns of legislative leaders that issue should be handled next year in the long session.
The Christian Action League continued to work in opposition to coupons and (during the last two days of session) the NC Association of Convenience Stores began filling up legislative phone lines in opposition - both playing a crucial role in the eventual demise of the provision. Over the past week, the media also created a buzz on the coupon issue, making the efforts of NCRMA that much more difficult. An article from the Winston-Salem Journal is included at the end of this Friday Fax.
It has no doubt been a very frustrating couple of weeks for NCRMA that culminated with us having the votes but not the political stars in alignment to gain passage. We will continue to work for you on this issue during the interim. Thank you to all of you who made calls over the past few weeks to keep us in the game.
5. Gas Issue Likely for 2007? -- This week, legislators approved SB 2051 which included a study on whether gasoline should be considered a public utility, subject to state regulation. The bill's sponsor, Rep. Drew Saunders, (D-Mecklenburg ), says the state should consider whether treating petroleum products as a public utility would protect citizens and the state's economy from increasing gas and heating oil prices. Representative Bill Daughtridge (R-Nash), president of a gas and oil distribution company, said the market for gasoline and petroleum products is already competitive enough . Stay tuned for 2007.
6. Governor Easley Signs Veteran Security Freeze Law -- This week, Governor Mike Easley signed House Bill 2883 , " An act to protect military service members and veterans from identify theft," sponsored by state Rep. Bruce Goforth (D-Buncombe ).
NCRMA worked with the legislature and the Attorney General's office on the new law that says members of the military service and veterans who may have been victims of a computer security breach will not have to pay the typical $10 fee to have personal financial information withheld from release by credit reporting agencies. The bill was drafted after a laptop computer belonging to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs containing sensitive information on up to 26.5 million people was stolen in May.
The computer has since been recovered and investigators say the personal data has not been compromised, but veterans remain concerned about the integrity of their personal financial information. The law is effective immediately and continues until January 1, 2007, or when the federal government implements its own program to pay for the credit reporting freeze for those veterans and others.
As always, we value the working relationship we have with you, our member companies. It is our pleasure to work on your behalf. Thank you for allowing us to continue to represent the retail perspective before the North Carolina General Assembly since 1902.
'Til January,
Fran Preston
Andy Ellen
Elizabeth Dalton
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