WHAT HAPPENED: Another mostly quiet week, at least as compared to those of recent months. We're now past all the hard bill deadlines at the General Assembly. CityVision (the League's big, annual conference covered in
last week's Bulletin) is behind us, too. What's left? Oh, yes -- the state's master spending plan.
ON TAP: The Senate's budget is expected next week, 哪一个将是达成妥协文件的第二个里程碑，两院可以同意将妥协文件送交州长签署. But there's a wrinkle. Both the House and Senate remain in Republican control, 但这一次，没有了过去与民主党控制的州长办公室的分歧所带来的不会被否决的多数票. If Gov. Roy Cooper has enough of an issue with the budget this year that he vetoes it, there may be more work to do.
THE SKINNY: Various clues, 包括立法者对通常在立法会议后半段出现的项目(如监管改革)的关注, tell us we're on the homestretch -- though it's anyone's guess, given the factors on the ground, as to when the 2019 long session will actually close. North Carolina's legislature isn't held to a session deadline like in other states. What the governor does with the budget, and what priorities remain for lawmakers, will determine how long the homestretch really is this year. In the meantime, we still have bills to follow. Read on for highlights.
SB 536 would do many things to try to address water and wastewater utility viability, including creating a new grant program, administered by the State Water Infrastructure Authority, called the “Viable Utility Reserve Fund.” In committee talks, however, Senators said they were still trying to determine the best financial mechanism to fund these grants, 注意到账单中现有的方法——由公共供水或污水处理公用事业公司的每个废水和水客户每月支付1美元的附加费——可能不是最好的方法.
Other sources reported this week that the surcharge approach would be removed from the bill.
In creating the grant program, it directs the type of water and wastewater system projects it can fund, including assistance for physical interconnection of systems; rehabilitation of existing infrastructure; decentralization; and the study rates, asset inventory, merger and regionalization options. In their discussions about system challenges, senators noted the changing demographics of North Carolina; the lessening of federal funding to utilities; and the inability in some areas to charge ratepayers what is needed to keep the system in good condition. They also talked about the fact that merger, consolidation, 区域化通常是不切实际的，因为财务状况良好的公用事业公司不会因为与陷入困境的公用事业公司合并而加重现有纳税人的负担. 委员会会谈认识到，应该有一个适当的结构，向公用事业公司提供生存补助金，使它们回到合并的基线, regionalization, or a sale of the system could even be possible without mandating such measures.
