The bill to ease Duke Energy's carbon commitments is getting a closer look in the House after skimming through the Senate. S261, Energy Security and Affordability Act, is still sitting in the House Rules Committee, a week after it was rushed to passage in the Senate. We understand there are some folks in leadership who want time to glean more information about the bill's claims and fully understand all of its potential impacts.
Both chambers settled their differences over amendments to H47, Disaster Recovery Act of 2025 - Part 1, sending it to Governor Stein, who promptly signed it. The agreement included the $20 million for debris removal that had been a point of contention.
Speaking of Stein, the governor released his budget proposal on Wednesday. In the environmental quality section, he proposes increasing employee compensation, upgrading IT functions in permitting and transparency, and funding drinking water grants and loans. He also shifts some positions to state funding, given the instability of federal funds. The proposal will be presented to the joint Appropriations Committee, but historically legislators won't use it as a template for developing their own recommendations.
Latest action on bills we're following:
- H8, NC Managing Environmental Waste Act of 2025, the perennial effort to reduce single-use food and beverage containers, earned favorable reports from two committees and is now awaiting placement on the full House calendar.
- H402, NC REINS Act, has passed one House committee and is now with Judiciary 1, but agency concerns are slowing its pace toward a hearing.
New bills of interest:
- H423, Skip the Stuff, seeks to reduce single-use food packaging waste by requiring restaurants to provide single use containers, condiments and utensils only upon customers' request, and to not bundle them.
- S317, Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act, is designed to help keep family farms together when they are passed to multiple heirs.
- S324, Safe Drinking Water Act, would assign the setting of maximum levels of certain toxins in drinking water by the NC Public Health Board.