HotList 02/28/2013

February 28, 2013

Dear Members,

Where has the week gone? Here we are wrapping up things on Thursday, ready to get back home to the districts for the weekend.

I want to bring to your attention SB 10 that is scheduled to be in House Rules today. First off, we want to applaud House Leadership and all Members of the House who worked to make this god-awful bill that passed in the Senate substantially better. The version in House Commerce yesterday was far better than what came over from the Senate.

You know you must have done good work when the Senate sponsor storms out of committee. And while we do not want to let perfect be the enemy of the good, we still have some serious concerns about the bill:

Mandating that industry experts sit on the Utility Commission is short-sighted. Rep. Starnes stated it best in the committee when he said the Utilities Commission serves to protect the public interest. We thank Rep. Starnes and Rep. Samuelson for speaking against the amendment that added the Utilities Commission back into SB 10; a show of hands may have provided a different outcome on this amendment had it been taken.
Rep. Caitlin pointed out that 60% of the major committees affected by this bill (Coastal Resources Commission, Environmental Management Commission, Utilities Commission, etc.) will be up for appointment soon. There is no need to wipe years of institutional knowledge off of boards that serve to make our state a better place. Especially when the legislative body ultimately has the opportunity to override any decisions these boards and commission make. When a new police chief is hired, he doesn’t fire everyone on staff and put his friends into place. He makes a few changes at the top, and keeps people in place for continuity and experience.
These committees make tough, difficult decisions on highly technical issues. Replacing so many, even if some were reappointed, will drastically slow down the work of these committees, which will ultimately hurt business and industry.

Thank you for your time. I hope you all have a pleasant weekend and safe travel home.

Best,

Dan Crawford | dan@nclcv.org