Whatever happened to the North Carolina Legislature? They entered the biennium’s long session in January. What are they doing now? What bills did they pass impacting towns and cities? What about the comprehensive state budget?
Surprising things happened in the early months of this year. The predicted final adjournment, scheduled for June or July, did not occur. The legislature is still in session, albeit on a light schedule of meetings for a few days each month. This schedule is expected to continue as it did in the last session until the end of the year.
And that big-budget passage has never happened. Instead, a mini-budget was passed that funded specific items, such as state teacher and employee pay increases, as well as funding for critical programs like disaster relief, public safety, and colleges. The rest of the state operations remain in limbo and continue to be funded at the levels of the earlier state budget.
The good news is that the legislature gave billions of dollars in Helene recovery funding. A lot of the stalemate over the budget might be attributable in part to the remaining issues of how much more the state can afford to allocate to important recovery programs.
For towns and cities, alarm bells sounded early in the year over several proposed bills that would have significantly affected how urban and suburban development is managed and controlled by municipalities. Many standard zoning and land-use practices were in the legislative crosshairs for change or outright elimination.
The North Carolina League of Municipalities sent out a message to its members, urging towns to contact their representatives and express their concerns. Their alarm was centered on HB 765-The Save the American Dream Act. If passed, that bill would have allowed accessory dwelling units in all residential zones in the state. Additionally, the bill would have altered densities in residential zones and overridden local development rules. The bill would have exposed elected officials to personal liability in making routine zoning and land use decisions.
Municipalities across the state, including Highlands, passed resolutions opposing the provisions in HB 765. Consequently, the bill stalled and failed to be passed in both houses. Another bill in the Senate surfaced that had similar provisions. That bill was SB 205-The Swimming Pools/Housing Regulatory Reform. That bill, too, met stiff opposition from municipalities and did not advance.
Now, some folks would say the case is closed and the municipalities prevailed, but that is not the case. The legislature is still in session, and parts of this stalled legislation could be inserted into other bills passed in a flurry of action at the last minute before the close of the session.
Something similar happened in December 2024, just before the close of the session, when SB 382 was passed. The bill prohibits down zoning by municipalities and imposes other zoning restrictions. Local officials were totally caught by surprise and pointed out that SB 382 made municipalities uncertain about key zoning issues, especially in adopting new unified zoning ordinances. At the beginning of this new session, SB 587 was introduced as a means to clarify some of the ambiguities and nonconformity uses in the earlier 382. While SB 587 passed the Senate, it has stalled in the House of Representatives. The long story short is that the legislature may adjourn, and SB 382 would remain in place, having huge implications for towns across North Carolina.
So, as December approaches, there could be several surprise pieces of legislation passed in Raleigh. I know all my colleagues in towns and cities across North Carolina share similar concerns about what may come forth at the last minute of this legislative session.
