Kilpatrick Townsend’s Government Relations Team represents a variety of clients across many industries and in all levels of government, with a focus on the North Carolina General Assembly. Below is an update on the activity at the NC General Assembly this week.
House Budget
On Thursday, the House Appropriations Subcommittees released their individual portions of the budget. The packages were voted out of each respective subcommittee. The comprehensive budget proposal is expected to be released on Monday. The full House Appropriations Committee will meet on Tuesday to review the proposal and work through amendments. We expect floor votes to be held next Wednesday and Thursday. Below are links to the individual subcommittee budgets.
• General Government
• Education
• Transportation
• Agriculture and Natural and Economic Resources
• Justice and Public Safety
• Health and Human Services
Sports Betting
This week, ushered by Kilpatrick Townsend, the Senate considered a bill that would authorize and regulate sports wagering in North Carolina. S688 was heard in the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday and would allow the North Carolina Lottery Commission to authorize 10 to 12 sports wagering operators to be licensed in North Carolina. An amendment was adopted that would add an additional licensure for a sports wagering supplier and allow the owner of a sports facility to open a physical space for sports betting within a half mile of the sports facility. Since the bill was in the Finance Committee, most of the comments were limited to the finance provisions. It received a favorable report from the committee and has been referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.
Redistricting Process
The House and Senate Redistricting Committees met jointly on Thursday to discuss the upcoming redistricting process. The legislature is required to draw new electoral districts for Congress and the state House and Senate following each census. Due to COVID-19, there has been a delay in receiving census data. The State is expected to obtain data by August 16. Once the data is received, it will take central staff approximately three weeks for the data to be loaded into the system.
In the meantime, the Redistricting Chairs plan to lay the groundwork for proposed criteria and public hearings for the redistricting process. Three meetings will be held next week to discuss criteria with a final vote planned for next Thursday. The committee will then work on creating a public hearing schedule by the end of August. Committee Chairs are hopeful that starting the redistricting process now will ensure maps are completed by November. The State Board of Elections needs at least three weeks to draft the ballots prior to the December 6 filing deadline.
