NCACC Weekly Update — June 10, 2022 | Eastern North Carolina Now

News Release:

    Legislative Brief

    Notable Activity

    Members of the General Assembly continued working at a fast pace this week, moving bills quickly through committee and floor votes, in an effort to meet their self-imposed July 1 adjournment deadline. One bill, Senate Bill 671 Virtual Educ./Remote Acad./Virtual Charters, garnered significant debate. The legislation seeks to expand virtual learning by repealing statutes on virtual instruction during emergencies, as well as by granting public school units the authority to establish remote academies if they meet certain requirements. Legislators also voted on a number of local bills related to school calendar flexibility, occupancy taxes and the makeup of community college boards. Bills of particular interest to counties that had action this week can be viewed at this link.

    View Other Bills of Note

    Action Items

    Senate Bill 265 Bond Information Transparency - makes various changes and recommendations to local government finance reporting and auditing requirements including:

    Section 2; which requires local units of government to disclose various information about bonds before holding referenda

    Section 5; which requires the local units to report events that may impact the unit's fiscal health or operations to the Local Government Commission

    Section 6; which allows the Local Government Commission to intercept 150% of the cost of an audit report from a local unit's sales tax distribution if the unit has failed to file an audit until the unit has submitted one

    Section 7; which limits the length and amount of contracts that local units of government on the Unit Assistance List may enter into to three or more years and $50,000

    NCACC values transparency and fiscal responsibility and recognizes the need for accountability. However, section 6 does not provide an appropriate remedy to the issue and sets up a precedent for the state to intercept local revenues. Additionally, the limits laid out in section 7 are too low, and create a cumbersome process that could inhibit counties from conducting routine business.

    Senate Bill 265 is scheduled to be heard in the House Local Government committee on Tuesday. NCACC looks forward to working with stakeholders including the Local Government Commission to ensure strong local government finances along with transparency for taxpayers. NCACC urges our members to reach out to committee members to express the concerns mentioned above.


   Contact: NCACC Communications
   Email: communications@ncacc.org