NC 2008 Year-End Legislative Report - GIC

The North Carolina General Assembly finally adjourned their two year session shortly before 5pm on Friday, July 18, 2008.  Over the past two year period, the NC General Assembly dealt with 4,979 bills, enacting some 766 new laws.

 Key Year-End Legislative Issues for GIC 

• HB2353 – Irrigation Contractors – See Page 2
• HB2499 – Drought/Water Management Recommendation – See Page 4
• Funding for GIC Drought

In approved Budget:  Water Conservation Education - $ 75,000

                                   Water Conservation Promotion - $225,000

                                                                                                          $300,000

Other issues of concern to GIC members during the 2007/2008 legislative session that we were tracking/working:

HB822 – Environmental Technical Corrections 2007 – On 7/2/08, HB822 was changed to “Prevent Agricultural Pesticide Exposure” and passed Senate on 7/9/08 and presented to the Governor on 7/10/08.

HB904 – Duplicate Drivers License Requirements - Died in Senate Rules Committee

SB150 – Outdoor Adv. Vegetation Removal Changes - Passed Senate and Died in House Commerce

SB842 – Extend Nutrient Offset Payment Sunset died in House Environment.

SB1259 – No Liability/Water Meets Water Standards – Passed both chambers and sent to the Governor on July 18, 2008.  SB1259 states “A supplier of water regulated under this Article shall not be deemed to provide any warranty under Article 2 of Chapter 25 of the General Statutes, including an implied warranty of merchantability or an implied warranty of merchantability or an implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose.”  Key GIC 2008 Issues 

         I.     HB2353 – Irrigation Contractors – Ratified Bill – See attached copy (Page one of Bill must have the words “Ratified Bill” under Bill Number or it’s not what was enacted.

The following are the changes to the final copy of the new Irrigation Law – Chapter 89G – Irrigation Contractors.  Attached to this report is a copy of the Ratified Bill.  Here are GIC’s key amendments to the Irrigation Bill.

 89G-1 Definitions

(4) Irrigation system. – All piping, fittings, sprinklers, drip tubing, valves, control wiring of 30 volts or less, and associated components installed for the delivery and application of water for the purpose of irrigation that are downstream of a well, pond or other surface water, potable water or groundwater source, or grey water source and downstream of a backflow prevention assembly. Surface water, potable water or groundwater sources, water taps, utility piping, water service lines, water meters, backflow prevention assemblies, stormwater systems that service only the interior of a structure, and sanitary drainage systems are not part of an irrigation system.

  89G-3 Exemptions

(5) Any irrigation construction or contracting work where the price of all contracts for labor, material, and other items for a given jobsite is less than two thousand five hundred dollars ($2,500).

            (11) A general contractor licensed under Article 1 of Chapter 87 of the General Statutes.

(12) A wastewater contractor certified under Article 5 of Chapter 90A of the General Statutes who performs only the construction of or repairs to a wastewater dispersal system.

(13) A public utility contractor licensed under Article 1 of Chapter 87 of the General Statutes.

(14) A plumbing contractor licensed under Article 2 of Chapter 87 of the General Statutes who performs only the following work: installation, repairs, or maintenance of water mains, water taps, service lines, water meters, or backflow prevention assemblies supplying water for irrigation systems; or repairs to an irrigation system.

(15) Any person performing irrigation construction or contracting work for a golf course.

(16) Any person maintaining or repairing an irrigation system owned by the homeowners association of a planned community and located within the planned community’s common elements as defined in G.S. 47F‑1‑103.

89G-13. Injunction to prevent violation; notification of complaints.                            

SECTION 4.  Any person who can document 10 years in business as an irrigation contractor as of the date this act becomes effective, can document competency in the practice of irrigation contracting, as determined by the Board, and meets all other requirements and qualifications for licensure may be issued an irrigation contractor’s license under Chapter 89G of the General Statutes, as enacted by Section 1 of this act, without the requirement of examination, provided that the person submits an application for licensure to the Board within 180 days of the date this act becomes effective.

SECTION 5.  The Board must annually review the fees set out in G.S. 89G‑10 of this act to determine whether these fees reflect the actual cost of administering this act and seek legislative changes to the fees if necessary.

SECTION 6(a), 6(b) - not our issue – will not be in our statutes when printed in law books.

SECTION 7 – Effective Dates - 89G-4, The NC Irrigation Contractors Licensing Board takes affect on or before October 1, 2008.  The remainder of HB2353 becomes law January 1, 2009.

The August newsletter is now available.
You can download your copy by using the link below.

2nd-quarter-newsletter1.pdf

Subject:  NC Legislative Update #4 – 2008

The only issue that received serious work this week was the House Budget plan.  In fact, the House voted 104-10 in favor of the House Budget of $21.3 Billion.  The House approved the budget, has no new taxes and would increase spending by just 3.3 percent.  The interesting issue this time is that the Senate might just take up the House Budget bill, rather than write their own.  If this does happen, adjournment will come that much sooner.

Action this week on GIC’s key issues:

• HB822 – Environmental Technical Corrections 2007- no action
• HB904 – Duplicate Drivers License Requirements – no action
• HB2353 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure/Fees – no action
• HB2499/SB1879 - Drought/Water Management Recommendations – no action
• SB150 – Outdoor Adv. Vegetation Removal Changes – no action
• SB842 – Extend Nutrient Offset Payment Sunset – no action
• SB1259 – No Liability/Water Meets Water Standards – no action
• SB1796 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure/Fees – no action
• SB1932/HB2345  – Agricultural Drought Response Funds         

HB2345 – Was reduced from $1,000,000 to $600,000.  HB2345 was then added to the budget and was passed when the House passed their budget. HB2345 is now assigned to the Senate Committee on Agriculture, Envirohment and Natural Resources.  Dick and I are working this committee – taking nothing for granted about it passing.

HB2353/SB1932 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure Fees. 

Remember, this bill must pass the Legislative Licensure Committee before it can start the normal committee process.

The House floor action on the budget stopped our hearing this week.  Senator Swindell’s office called to say they wanted to hold our hearing at 8:30am Tuesday morning.  We are not on the Senate calendar at this time, but should be by Monday night.  We should plan for 8:30am Tuesday.

New Issue

Mark has asked that we jump in to help stop the funding cut for NC State’s Extension and Faculty positions that are now scheduled to receive some cuts.

Dick and I will talk with Pryor Gibson and Walter Dalton to begin with, then our other legislative friends.  We will make this a priority until the decision is made on what they plan to do.

All the other GIC issues remain in the same committees as reported last week.

The House Budget work put everything on hold.

Good News

Bill Behan, with John Deere and Co. set up a meeting with the State Chamber of Commerce that moved GIC’s effort to form a Water Wise Council way ahead of where we were a few days ago.  If this happens, and I feel it will, we will be moving our effort to make an impact on the Drought issues way ahead of where we are today.  It was a great move to add someone from John Deere at his level to our effort.  We just need to merge the NC Retail Merchants into this effort.  Lowes and Home Depot are members of the Retail Merchants, as are other allies that we need with this effort.  Bruce Adam did a great job in explaining to the chamber why their involvement was so important.

The work at the General Assembly continues to move ahead and adjournment is not that far away.  We need to keep pushing for our issues.

Subject:  NC Legislative Update #5 – 2008

The end of this session is not far away.  The full appropriations and finance committees are expected to consider their proposals Tuesday, with votes by the full Senate expected for Wednesday and Thursday of this week.  The plan is for the full budget conference committee discussions to begin as soon as this Friday, June 20, 2008.

• HB822 – Environmental Technical Corrections 2007 – Bill referred to Senate Ag. Not scheduled at this time.
• HB904 – Duplicate Drivers License Requirements – Bill withdrawn and referred to Senate Rules.
• HB2353 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure/Fees – Bill Sponsor Pryor Gibson is working to set our hearing for Thursday of this week in House Finance.  It would then go to House Environment.
• HB2499/SB1879 – Drought/Water Management Recommendations – Hearing held last week for primarily staff attorneys of the various state agencies, plus other stake  holders who had an interest in the overall Drought issue.  The next public hearing on HB2499 is set for June 23 in Raleigh.  We have major problems with this bill and our consultant Bruce Adams is addressing those so we can make recommendations to the committee.  Our major concern is the definition of “non essential use of water”.  The current wording would stop any use of water for plants during a drought.  If there was ever a need for a Water Wise Council of commercial water users, it’s now.  As an industry, we must stand up and fight for our right to continue watering during a “drought” as long as it’s done in a reasonable manner to conserve water.  Bruce Adams will come up with reasonable terminology that we can work with.  We currently are looking to add the State Chamber of Commerce and the NC Retail Merchants to our team to make our voices heard and to protect our investment.

The problem we have now is with Governor Easley pushing the General Assembly to act on his Drought proposal before the session ends in a few weeks.

Other issues of concern to GIC members:

• SB150 – Outdoor Adv. Vegetation Removal Changes – no action.
• SB842 -  Extend Nutrient Offset Payment Sunset – no action
• SB1259 – No Liability/Water Meets Water Standards – no action
• SB1796 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure/Fees – no action
• SB1932/HB2345 – Agricultural Drought Response Funds – no action

Subject:  NC Legislative Update #6 – 2008

The NC House and Senate didn’t reach any breakthrough last Friday in their negotiations on the state’s spending plan.  The lawmakers resumed their budget negotiations yesterday morning.  Both sides are trying to get a compromise hammered out and sent to Governor Easley by the end of the month.  The Senate approved a $21.4 billion spending plan last Thursday and the House approved a different plan two weeks ago.  Lawmakers are seeking to get a compromise and have it on the Governor’s desk before the new fiscal year begins July 1^st.

• HB822 – Environmental Technical Corrections 2007 – Referred to Senate Ag on July 18, 2008 – no hearing set at this time.
• HB902 – Duplicate Drivers License Requirements – Billed was referred to Senate Rules on July 16, 2008 – nothing scheduled at this time.
• HB2353/SB1795 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure/Fees – Passed House floor vote 3^rd reading – referred to Senate.
• HB2499/SB1879 – Drought/Water Management Recommendations – On hold until bill is ready for committee action.  Currently, meetings are being held by DNER and other state agencies.     
• HB2499/SB1879 – Drought/Water Management Recommendations – On behalf of GIC, we are working to get some changes made to the Governor’s Drought Proposal bill.  Current staff is holding public meetings on what changes need to be made before legislative hearings start.  Our problem, at this time, is to get staff to listen to our concerns.  My thoughts are that only the staff attorneys from the different groups are making any headway on changes.  Dick and I are working to get the State Chamber and the NC Retail Merchants Association to step in and help because their membership will be greatly affected if our changes are not included in the current bill.

We need to change the definition of “essential water use” and the proposed Drought Management Advisory Council needs to be enlarged to include “water users” not just regulators of the drought.

           Other issues of concern to GIC members

• SB150 – Outdoor Adv. Vegetation Removal Changes – Referred to Commerce – no hearings set at this time.  I don’t think any further action will take place with this issue.

• SB842 – Extend Nutrient Offset Payment Sunset – No action at this time.

• SB1259 – No Liability/Water Meets Water Standards – No action at this time.

• SB1795/HB2353 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure/Fees – Senate Bill 1795 will be on hold because House Bill was first to pass.  So it will be alive in the Senate and the Senate Companion will be on hold.

• SB1932/HB2345 – Agricultural Drought Response Funds – Funding did not make it into the Senate Budget.  The House put their $600,000 in the House Budget Proposal but the Senate didn’t because they had to cut $95,000,000 from the budget passed by the House ($21.4 billion).  Dick and I are working various key Senate and House members who can help us.

There are still some questions on whether HB2499/SB1879 (Governor’s answer to the drought issue) will pass this session.  We take the position that it will pass.

Subject:  NC Legislative Update #7 – 2008

 Democratic leaders, in both chambers, have wrapped up work on a $21.3 billion budget plan for the new fiscal year.  The first of two required votes in each chamber could occur as early as tonight.  It’s estimated that the 2007/2008 season could end by July 18, 2008.

• HB2353/SB1795 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure/Fees -  Scheduled for Senate Finance on 7/8/08 at 9am in Room 544.  Legislature Rules require we stay with HB2353 because it passed the House before SB1795 had any movement.

• HB2499/SB1879 – Drought/Water Management Recommendations – HB2499 will be heard Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at noon in Room 643 of the L.O.B.  GIC has three amendments of specific interest which are outlined below.

1.     moves to amend the bill on page 3, line 35, by rewriting “resources.” To read “resources; and a minimal amount of water necessary to sustain the economy of the State.”;

2.     And on page 21, line 24, by inserting after the word “recommendations” the phrase “in consultation with a technical working group consisting of University of North Carolina scientists and industry experts”.

3.     Moves to amend the bill on page 8, lines 29-33 by deleting the first sentence of that section and inserting the following language:  “The use of private groundwater wells for lawn and landscape irrigation shall be subject to the rules and regulations of the NC Utilities Commission for water systems.”

 Rep. Gibson just called me saying we should be present to explain these three issues. 

Just how the bill will turn out is uncertain at this time.  GIC does need to be present to present its support.

• Additional funding for GIC Drought.  The House d=budget had $600,000 when it passed.  The budget now has Water Conservation Education  $75,000 and Water Conservation Promotion $225,000.  Both chambers will be voting on this compromise.  We feel we will end up with $300,000 when they adjourn in two weeks.

Other issues of concern to GIC members:

• HB822 – Environmental Technical Corrections 2007 – Still no action since 7/18/07
• HB904 – Duplicate Drivers License Requirements – Passed House on 5/15/07.  HB904 referred to Senate Rules on 7/16/07 – no action since then.
• SB150 – Outdoor Adv. Vegetation Removal Changes – Same as last report.
• SB842 – Extend Nutrient Offset Payment Sunset – No action at this time.
• SB1259 – No Liability/Water Meets Water Standards – No action at this time..

E-Verify assists employers to determine whether a newly hired employee is authorized to work in the United States and if the social security number presented by the employee is valid.  The program is both free and easily accessed. More importantly, in the event of a USCIS raid or audit, it provides a useful tool for the employer to demonstrate good faith in its employment eligibility verification procedures and record maintenance.

To get more information on the E-verify system, click the link below:

http://www.ciclt.net/ul/ncgic/E-Verify.pdf\

Subject:  NC Legislative Update #7 – 2008

 Democratic leaders, in both chambers, have wrapped up work on a $21.3 billion budget plan for the new fiscal year.  The first of two required votes in each chamber could occur as early as tonight.  It’s estimated that the 2007/2008 season could end by July 18, 2008.
HB2353/SB1795 – Irrigation Contractors Licensure/Fees -  Scheduled for Senate Finance on 7/8/08 at 9am in Room 544.  Legislature Rules require we stay with HB2353 because it passed the House before SB1795 had any movement.

• HB2499/SB1879 – Drought/Water Management Recommendations – HB2499 will be heard Tuesday, July 8, 2008 at noon in Room 643 of the L.O.B.  GIC has three amendments of specific interest which are outlined below.
• 1.     moves to amend the bill on page 3, line 35, by rewriting “resources.” To read “resources; and a minimal amount of water necessary to sustain the economy of the State.”;
• 2.     And on page 21, line 24, by inserting after the word “recommendations” the phrase “in consultation with a technical working group consisting of University of North Carolina scientists and industry experts”.
• 3.     Moves to amend the bill on page 8, lines 29-33 by deleting the first sentence of that section and inserting the following language:  “The use of private groundwater wells for lawn and landscape irrigation shall be subject to the rules and regulations of the NC Utilities Commission for water systems.”
•  Rep. Gibson just called me saying we should be present to explain these three issues. 
• Just how the bill will turn out is uncertain at this time.  GIC does need to be present to present its support.
• Additional funding for GIC Drought.  The House d=budget had $600,000 when it passed.  The budget now has Water Conservation Education  $75,000 and Water Conservation Promotion $225,000.  Both chambers will be voting on this compromise.  We feel we will end up with $300,000 when they adjourn in two weeks.
• Other issues of concern to GIC members:

• HB822 – Environmental Technical Corrections 2007 – Still no action since 7/18/07
• HB904 – Duplicate Drivers License Requirements – Passed House on 5/15/07.  HB904 referred to Senate Rules on 7/16/07 – no action since then.
• SB150 – Outdoor Adv. Vegetation Removal Changes – Same as last report.
• SB842 – Extend Nutrient Offset Payment Sunset – No action at this time.
• SB1259 – No Liability/Water Meets Water Standards – No action at this time..

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
May 15, 2008
Contact: Sheryl Bynum
Executive Director
(919) 372-1586

NC Green Industry Council to Distribute New ‘Water Wise Works!’ Brochure

WHAT: A new comprehensive brochure designed to help homeowners manage lawns and landscapes while maximizing water efficiency.

WHY: This brochure was produced and distributed as part of the NC Green Industry Council’s efforts to educate consumers about using water efficiently in new and established lawns and landscapes. As hot, dry weather approaches, it is important for everyone to manage water resources carefully.

WHERE: Copies will be available at garden centers, nurseries, county extension offices and through realtors and municipal water suppliers.

WHEN: Brochures should be available to consumers by the end of May.

WHO: Publication and distribution of this brochure was made possible by support from the NC Golden Leaf Foundation, the NC Green Industry Council, the NC Cooperative Extension Service, the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and the NC Nursery and Landscape Association.

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Download a copy of this press release in Microsoft Word here:

Press Release 5/23/08

Last week’s Water Efficiency training was covered by the Raleigh station, News 14:

Landscapers want industry regulation
05/15/2008 03:06 PM
By: Ilin Chen

RALEIGH — Lawn care professionals across the state are trying to make sure their profits don’t dry up during future droughts. That includes learning about new technology that would help their customers conserve water.

Green is the color of success for those in the landscaping and irrigation business, but when the drought hit, most of the green dried up.

“As far as our landscaping business, it had a tremendous affect on new work, so as people were not allowed to water, they didn’t want to invest money in landscaping,” explained Mark Peters, who works for Piedmont Carolina Landscaping.

Many North Carolinians are still under some kind of water restrictions to protect resources. Industry professionals said they want to do the same, which is why they propose a statewide licensing program for irrigation contractors.

 

The proposal would set up a licensing board and professionals would have to pass a test and get continuing education credits to remain active.

“What we want to do is just prove to everybody that we know what we’re talking about and we’re a professional organization that can address the water quality, the scarcity of water, and the professionalism in the industry,” added Jim Garvey, an official with the Carolinas Irrigation Association.

One of the components of being a licensed professional is using a smart controller to irrigate lawns. That’s what experts say will help use water more efficiently, and for Peters, efficiency is key to make sure the green business stays green.

“What we’re trying to do to prepare for the future is to teach ourselves and our customers how to use water more efficiently so that as the water comes back on and we come off of restrictions, we don’t see exorbitant water use for landscapes,” Peters said.

The proposed legislation still needs sponsors before it can be introduced to the General Assembly. Leaders of professional organizations hope it can be heard during the current short session, but lawmakers’ main focus during the short session is passing the budget. It’s unclear whether they will take up this matter before next year.