On August 2, 2007, the North Carolina House and Senate adjourned for the 2007 legislative session. The session ended without several key pieces of legislation enacted, yet the local business community can be excited about much of the legislative session.

Transportation is one issue that the legislature did not adequately address during this session. During the budget debates, the General Assembly decided to cap the gas tax, which resulted in a loss of more than $120 million in transportation spending. In addition, the $172 million transfer from the Highway Trust Fund to the General Fund was allowed to take place. The Greater Raleigh Chamber of Commerce has long been supportive of stopping the transfer of this money. The rate of inflation on transportation projects is approximately 15 percent, while funding for necessary transportation projects is being transferred to the General Fund to pay for other state projects.

The state also failed to enact “gap funding” for the Triangle Expressway, a toll road that would complete the Southern and Western portion of I-540 decades before the state expects to complete it. In order for the North Carolina Turnpike Authority to begin work, gap funding (funds from the state to pay the difference between the cost of the road to complete and the revenues raised from tolls) needed to be found. Both chambers of the legislature passed bills to fund the gap, but the two versions of S. 1313 were not reconciled before the legislature adjourned. The N.C. Turnpike Authority must now look at other options to keep the project on schedule, which is experiencing $3 million per month inflation. S. 1313 is eligible for the short session, and the Greater Raleigh Chamber and the Regional Transportation Alliance will continue to advocate for the state legislative turnpike gap funding.

All was not lost in transportation, as the budget held our area harmless for the state’s errors in repaving I-40 in Durham County. The $21 million repaving job was going to be paid out of the North Carolina Department of Transportation Administrative budget, as opposed to being charged against our region. After the session ended, many groups began to call for a special session to deal solely with transportation issues. As a result, Governor Easley, House Speaker Hackney and Senate President Pro Tem Basnight created the 21st Century Transportation Committee. The Committee hopes to issue interim findings before the short session, with the final report issued by the end of 2008. The top priority would be to find gap funding to keep the Triangle Expressway project on pace for a 2011-2012 opening.

Outside of transportation, the business community’s legislative agenda items fared much better. Many Chamber priorities were funded in education/workforce development. The Research Triangle Regional Legislative Agenda, endorsed by the Chamber, called for investment in university research in the region’s identified cluster industries. Projects funded by the legislature, included:

In addition, the Chamber supported N.C. State University’s capital requests to assist with future research and development projects. The legislature funded several projects worth noting:

The North Carolina Community College System received $15 million for equipment and facilities funding. This funding is designed to ensure the community colleges are able to train our workforce on updated equipment.

In addition to the legislature making a large investment in the university system, they also provided additional revenue options for local governments. The Chamber has long supported the legislature providing increased options for local governments to fund needs. The Blue Ribbon Committee on the Future of Wake County recommended pursuing legislative authorization to use a local option sales tax or transfer tax. The legislature, in a complex transaction that included Medicaid relief for counties, authorized counties to levy a one-quarter-cent sales tax or a .4 transfer tax. Until now, county commissioners only had property tax increases to pay for local needs. The county commissioners must now decide what option to take to the voters.

Other highlights in the 2007 legislative session included:

Site Sponsors