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, which would be the second milestone toward a compromise document the chambers can agree to send the governor for signing. But there's a wrinkle. Both the House and Senate remain in Republican control, but this time without the veto-proof majority that in the past has overridden differences with the Democratic-controlled governor's office. 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, including lawmakers' attention to items (like regulatory reform) that typically come up in the latter part of the legislative session, 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, noting that the existing method in the bill -- a $1 monthly surcharge to be paid by every wastewater and water customer of a public water or wastewater utility – may not be the best method.
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, and regionalization is often impracticable because a utility in good financial standing will not burden its existing ratepayers by merging with a struggling utility. Committee talks recognized that there should be a structure in place to give viability grants to utilities to get them back to a baseline where merger, regionalization, or a sale of the system could even be possible without mandating such measures.
