General Assembly Adjourns
After a whirlwind short session, we adjourned sine die Saturday morning, July 10th at 5:33 a.m. The last day of session started at 10:00 a.m. Friday morning and ran until 5:33 a.m. Saturday with a break for lunch and dinner.
The Governor has until midnight, Monday, August 9th, to act on bills passed by the General Assembly. So far, the Governor has signed into law 95 bills with 101 public bills pending on her desk. The link to check the pending bills is: Public bills on the Governor’s desk.
Legislation that has gone into effect July 1, 2010 may be found at this link:
2009-10 Legislation Effective July 1, 2010
It pleases me that House Bill 1973, Various Economic Incentives, passed out of the House with a vote of 72 to 31 and is now waiting for the Governor’s signature. This economic development bill is extremely important for Cleveland County with keeping existing jobs and competing for new companies and jobs. We are competing with other states for jobs, and the other states have incentives. Our state has to offer incentives for us to stay competitive in today’s economy.
Another bill to pass the House was the DNA bill, (House Bill 1403, Collect DNA Sample on Arrest). The final vote was 83 to 21 after a much heated debate. As I stated before, this bill will provide law enforcement with a useful tool in solving crimes and protecting the public. The Governor signed this bill into law last week.
House Bill 1824, Coyote Controls, passed and will become law after the Governor signs the bill. Once signed into law, it will provide an additional method of trapping coyotes. Further explanation can be found by linking on the bill link.
Also, the ethics reform bill (House Bill 961, Gov’t Ethics and Campaign Reform Act of 2010) passed. With much controversy still surrounding the former Governor and others, more ethics reform was greatly needed. A couple of the things in the bill include political appointees to disclose fundraising activities, and the penalty is increased for exceeding campaign contribution limits. The bill overwhelmingly passed with 105 yes votes.
Several of you have asked me about what Senate Bill 897 contained regarding small businesses. The bill provides the following tax relief to small businesses:
- It extends the 5-year carryback for net operating losses sustained in 2009. (Section 31.1)
- It provides a refundable income tax credit to small business taxpayers whose gross receipts for the taxable year are less than $1,000,000. The credit amount is equal to 25% of the amount of the unemployment insurance contributions the taxpayer paid during the calendar year on wages paid to an individual. (Section 31.1A)
- It increases the sales tax threshold that determines when a retailer must prepay a portion of the next month’s anticipated sales tax collections from $10,000 to $15,000 effective October 1, 2010, and to $20,000 effective October 1, 2011. (Section 31.3)
Additionally, the bill provides administrative relief to small businesses by stipulating that the first annual report of an LLC is due April 15 following its year of organization. (Section 31.4)
The next session of the General Assembly will convene January 26, 2011.
Thank you for the honor and privilege to serve as your Representative. My legislative office remains open during the interim. Please feel free to contact us with any concerns or comments you may have. We look forward to hearing from you. You can reach us at our Raleigh number at 919-733-4838 or you can e-mail us a timm@ncleg.net or Moorela@ncleg.net.
Best Wishes,
Representative Tim Moore
Serving Cleveland County