Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Legislative Update by Guest - Jake Cashion

Because Brooke has been showing property and processing some new listings, she has been pretty busy this week, therefore, not able to post as much as she would like. She asked if I would blog for her this time and mentioned that she would like for you all to hear about some of the legislative things going on. So here goes:

Recently, the Community Development/Housing/General Government Committee with the City of Winston-Salem held a public comment session on proposed tree ordinance for the city. Environmental stewardship and economic growth can and should work together.

However, at the last minute, a piece was added to the proposal called, Protection of Trees in Associations with Development, otherwise known as a “pre-clearing condition”. This piece throws out of balance the environmental stewardship and economic growth, is a huge infringement on property rights, and is basically a backdoor application to a moratorium on growth and development. This "pre-clearing" condition says that the burden of proof will be placed on the property owner to prove that a substantial amount of trees were not removed from the property prior to rezoning or building. If the owner cannot prove this, the application for building or rezoning will be denied for a period of three (3) years. If the owner of a property willfully acts and determines he would like to timber his land, then sale the property, the property cannot be developed for a period of five (5) years.

This dangerous proposal would have stopped development and growth at a time when it is most needed. This piece was pulled out and an agreement is now close for a tree ordinance in Winston-Salem

The state Senate gave final approval last week to a proposal that would prevent North Carolina’s gas tax from dropping lower than its current rate of 29.9 cents per gallon through mid-2011. Lawmakers supporting the bill say the move is necessary to provide more road-building funds in the face of a $60-plus billion transportation funding shortfall. The change could reportedly generate an additional $67.5 million in much-needed road revenue for the state.

The state Senate also passed a tax law change requested by the state Department of Commerce to lure a company to North Carolina that is purportedly willing to invest at least $1 billion in the state. The proposal would change the way corporate taxes are calculated and would impact companies that invest heavily in land and equipment, but have relatively fewer sales in the state. According to Commerce officials, the proposed changes conform to how other states calculate corporate taxes. Neither legislators nor the Department have yet named the company, but media reports indicated it is likely Apple Inc.

Finally, House Bill 177 and Senate Bill 534 introduced in the North Carolina General Assembly has good intentions but is bad public policy and will cause financial harm to many employers, employees and the economy. The bill is a costly mandate, will erode the employer’s ability to manage the workplace, and will drive up cost of doing business in NC. It mandates that all employers provide up to seven (7) paid sick days to all employees -- including small employers who can ill afford yet another costly government mandate that also contains mandatory sick day accruals, payouts and stiff employer liabilities if the statute is violated.. NC would be the only state in the southeast with this type of law, therefore reducing our competitiveness.

These are just a sample of the things that are happening with local and state government.

I hope everyone is doing ok - what are your thoughts on the above issues?

Jake

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