NC Republicans are stealing local control
A state budget, in theory, is a spending plan, but in practice it has also become a vehicle for carrying through laws that couldn’t pass on their own merits.
Stuffing such legislation into a must-pass budget bill is a traditional practice followed by Democrats and Republicans alike, but that bipartisan abuse doesn’t make it right. A budget bill should be about the budget.
The negative effects of loading budget bills with unrelated measures and policies is on clear display in the proposed House budget, and some of the provisions are doubly offensive. Not only would the measures become law through the budget’s back door, but they would modify or nullify local government ordinances and policies that are supported by local residents.
This week the North Carolina League of Municipalities offered a list of the provisions that would undermine local control in an “action alert” to its members. It urged them to reach out to their state legislators and ask them to cut the provisions as the House and Senate reconcile their budget proposals and Gov. Roy Cooper weighs in on what he wants in and wants out of a bill he will sign.
The League cites six House budget provisions that have no place in a budget bill:
• A measure that would reduce local authority over the relocation of billboards that are displaced by road construction.
• A measure, likely intended to aid charter schools, that would limit local government’s power to require that new schools be constructed in appropriate areas with regard to available infrastructure and traffic patterns.
• A ban on local stormwater runoff regulations that exceed state and federal standards, a change that could serve developers and degrade water quality. Federal and state standards are guidelines, but local governments know better where stormwater problems are. They should have the power to protect their watersheds.
• A change that would keep towns and cities from passing tree protection ordinances on their own. In a state where trees are a major asset for the environment and the character of towns and cities, the budget provision states: “No local government regulations regulating the removal of trees from private property are enforceable unless expressly authorized by local act of the General Assembly.”
• A curb on local governments’ ability to regulate short-term rentals. The change is apparently aimed at overturning Wilmington’s regulations, which are being challenged in a court case now before the state Court of Appeals.
• A limit on fees municipal governments can charge telecommunications companies to attach equipment to utility poles owned by the municipality.
Scott Mooneyham, a League of Municipalities spokesman, said it’s frustrating that proposed changes with serious local consequences are buried in a 664-page budget bill that is largely negotiated behind closed doors.
“We just don’t think that’s appropriate for these types of bills that can have a major affect on people’s lives,” he said. “If these are good ideas, let them rise and fall based on full and open debate.”
We agree. As Republican Senate and House leaders confer on the final budget proposal, they should cut these random provisions inserted at the behest of lobbyists and individual lawmakers. If these changes are worth making, they should get a public hearing and a specific vote in the House and Senate.
Once Republicans talked about local control, but now Republicans in the state legislature don’t hesitate to overrule the authority of local governments. The notorious House Bill 2 was an override of a Charlotte non-discrimination ordinance. Now there’s a bill that would dictate how local schools should teach about race and racism.
Pruning such dictates from the House budget is an opportunity for Republicans to pull back from top-down control.
In a well-drawn budget, there should be no room for this kind of excess.
— Charlotte Observer, Aug. 18