Dan Crawford, Director of Governmental Relations
Aug 16, 2023
The last two months have shattered records for some of the highest heat across the globe. Major storms, deadly heat waves, and natural disasters are hitting communities across the world. The climate crisis is becoming ever more prevalent in everyday life, even/especially for North Carolinian communities. But while our nation is taking major steps towards a clean and sustainable future with the affordable clean energy plan, the NC House and Senate Republicans have set an extremist agenda of rolling back laws; laws originally designed to protect our communities and families.
House Bill 488 slashes the energy efficiency regulations for homebuilding and rolls back laws that protect homeowners and renters. We echo the words of Governor Cooper, “This bill stops important work to make home construction safer from disaster and more energy efficient, and ultimately will cost homeowners and renters more money. The bill also imperils North Carolina’s ability to qualify for FEMA funds by freezing residential building code standards. Not only does the bill wipe out years of work to make homes safer and more affordable, it also violates the Constitution by rigging the way rules are made.”
“This bill is another example where these legislators are not representing the hardworking families of North Carolina, but are more obsessed with giving government handouts to corporations that will help them stay in power,” said Dan Crawford, Director of Governmental Relations at NCLCV. “We need legislators from both parties to stand up against the lobbying of big-money corporations.. By overriding this veto, legislators are choosing high utility bills for homeowners and renters for years to come – rewarding the utility monopolies, greedy developers and home builders who fund their campaigns. We are in the middle of hurricane season and the legislature is putting federal recovery funds at risk. We need leaders who will stand up for the people of North Carolina, not special interests.”
Climate change is happening right before our eyes, and it’s time our legislature acted like it.
