Karl Gillespie Legislative report

Email from Rep. Karl Gillespie, District 120

THE LEGISLATIVE REVIEW

In this week's edition of The Legislative Review, disaster relief legislation is enacted and the House engages in debate on several significant bills.

NC House Approves Disaster Relief, Key Bills Advance

For the week beginning Monday, March 17th, 2025, I met with my fellow House and Senate conferees to discuss HB47, Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 - Part I. At 4:00PM, the Rules Committee convened, where we considered several bills, including my own primary-sponsored bill, HB184, Promote North Carolina Sawmills. The bill passed without dissent and was referred to the House floor.

On Tuesday morning, after several meetings with various liaisons, I attended the House Health Committee, where we considered the following:

HB123, Criminal Falsification of Medical Records, and HB297, Breast Cancer Prevention Imaging Parity. Both bills received a favorable committee report.

Later in the afternoon, House Republicans caucused prior to the convening of session. At 4:00PM, the House gavelled into session and we considered the following legislation:

HB47, Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 - Part I, provides $851 million in relief for the following:

• $524 million dollars for Helene affected areas

• $110 million dollars to assist farmers with non-Helene losses

• $217 million to finish home rebuilding operations in Eastern NC

After the Senate concurred, Governor Stein signed HB47 into law on Wednesday.

HB21, Drivers License Designation/Autism, would require the Department of Motor Vehicles in consultation with other entities, to develop a drivers license designation that may be granted to a person with autism spectrum disorder upon request and would be entered into the electronic record associated with the requesting person's drivers license. HB21 passed by unanimous consent.

HB35, Establish Military Appreciation Month, would designate the month of November as Military Appreciation Month in North Carolina. HB35 passed the House with unanimous consent.

On Wednesday, I chaired the House Agriculture and Environment Committee where we received a presentation from Dr. Blake Brown on the state of agricultural economics in North Carolina. The committee also voted on HB134, Prohibit Misbranding of Certain Food Products, which passed and was re-referred to the Rules Committee.

After a noon caucus with my colleagues, session reconvened at 1:00PM where we considered the following legislation:

HB184, Promote North Carolina Sawmills, is an act to promote local sawmills by allowing the use of ungraded lumber in certain circumstances. HB184 passed the House by a vote of 114-1.

HB186, The Stars and Stripes Commitment Act, would do the following:

• Require public schools to schedule the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance as codified in federal law daily at the beginning of the instructional day.

• Require recitation of the Pledge as codified in federal law at meetings of the State Board of Education and the governing bodies of public school units.

I voted in favor of the bill and it passed the House, 113-2.

HB198, Amend Law on Notice of ABC Violation, would eliminate a requirement for alcohol law enforcement agents and local alcoholic beverage control officers to notify a permit holder of violations occurring on the permit holder's premises within five business days. The bill would instead require the ABC Commission to notify the permit holder within five business days of receiving a report from any law enforcement agency documenting violations occurring on the premises. The bill passed the House by unanimous consent.

Thursday morning, the Joint Appropriations Committee met and The North Carolina Office of State Budget & Management Director presented the Governor’s 2025 – 2027 recommended budget. Upon committee adjournment, the House largely concluded its legislative business for the week.

Discussing HB184, Promote North Carolina Sawmills on the House floor

For the week beginning, Monday, March 24th, 2025, the Rules Committee convened to consider various legislation, including:

HB87, Cell Phone Free Education, HB134, Prohibit Misbranding of Certain Food Products, and HB315, Gift Card Theft and Unlawful Business Entry. These bills received a favorable committee report and were placed on the House calendar for consideration.

On Tuesday morning, I attended the House Health Committee, where several bills were considered, including: HB349, Update Reqs./Advance Health Care Directives, and HB397, Use of Epinephrine Nasal Spray in Schools. Both bills received favorable committee reports.

At noon, the Wildlife Resources Committee met where we considered HB382, Elk Permit Auction/Raffle. The bill received a favorable committee report.

Later in the afternoon, session convened for the day and we considered several bills, including:

HB87, Cell Phone-Free Education, would require governing bodies of public school units to adopt a policy governing the use of cell phones by students during instructional time. I voted in favor and the bill passed, 114-3.

HB236, Remember 9/11 with Freedom Flag, would designate The Freedom Flag as a State symbol and would authorize that The Freedom Flag may be flown with the flags of the United States and the State of North Carolina. I voted in support of the bill and it passed, 102-14.

HB330, Controlled Substances Act-Updates, would update the Controlled Substances Act to reflect developments in forensic chemistry. HB330 passed by unanimous consent.

On Wednesday morning I attended the Emergency Management and Disaster Recovery Committee where we received a presentation from NC Emergency Management regarding the disaster response process. The committee also voted on the following three bills, which received favorable committee reports:

HB211, The Kelsey Smith Act, HB251, Disaster Response Funding/Nondiscrimination, and HB355, LRC Study Future of Rural Firefighting.

At 10:00AM, the Transportation Committee convened and I presented my bill, HB295, Req. DOT to Install Prop. Corner Markers. This bill would require the North Carolina Department of Transportation to include property boundary intersection corner markers on plans prepared for acquiring certain property and to install those property corner markers after project completion. The bill passed committee and was re-referred to the Rules Committee.

The House Agriculture and Environment Committee convened shortly thereafter and committee members received a presentation from the Director of the Division of Air Quality with the Department of Environmental Quality. The committee also considered HB126, Revise Voluntary Ag. District Laws, which received a favorable committee report, and HB348, Farmers' Assistance Grant Program, which was displaced and did not receive a committee vote.

After a brief afternoon caucus, the House reconvened for a voting session, where we voted on several bills, including:

HB247, 8-1-1 Amendments, would update the underground utility safety and damage prevention act. HB247 passed the House with unanimous consent.

HB275, Failure to Yield Penalties, would amend failure to yield the right-of-way to a blind or partially blind pedestrian and increase the penalty for failure to yield causing serious bodily injury. With a vote of 111-0, HB275 successfully passed the House.

HB187, Credit Union Update, would update the Credit Union statutes. I voted in favor of the bill and it passed, 101-11.

The House held a non-voting session on Thursday and largely concluded its legislative business for the week.