The 2021 Long Session of the General Assembly Offers New Opportunities as Lawmakers Grapple with Unprecedented Challenges
by Michael Askin, PLA, ASLA
January not only brought the fresh new year that so many of us were awaiting, but it also ushered in a new biennium of the North Carolina General Assembly on Wednesday, January 13. Lawmakers quickly went into a traditional two-week recess after swearing in new legislators, assigning committees, and distributing gavels to committee chairmen that day. On January 27, the 50 members of the North Carolina Senate and 120 members of the North Carolina House of Representatives returned to Raleigh to begin the work of the 2021-22 Biennium of the North Carolina General Assembly as they endeavored to help guide the state out of unprecedented health and economic crisis.
This session of the General Assembly marks the start of the 6th consecutive biennium of Republican control of both chambers, so we expect to see many of the same priorities that have dominated the state legislative landscape over the last decade. At the same time, new state and global challenges will undoubtedly create additional priorities that command legislators' attention, including allocating federal COVID relief dollars, tackling educational shortfalls created by recent disruptions in-classroom time, and addressing business and economic challenges created by the pandemic. We expect that expanding access to broadband and improving the state's transportation funding models will also take center stage at the General Assembly this year and that lawmakers will also be motivated to fund many of the capital projects that were not addressed in 2019 and 2020 due to the state budget stalemates.
NCASLA worked with allied professional groups in the last biennium to successfully pass legislation shielding landscape architects from certain unwarranted liability in contracts with government entities and we will continue to look for opportunities to partner with our allies to enact meaningful reforms this biennium.
House Speaker Tim Moore was recently re-elected to preside over the chamber and lead House Republicans while Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger will remain the top Senate Republican for a 6th term. House Democrats will now be led by Representative Robert Reives, who previously served as Deputy Minority Leader in the chamber and Senate Democrats will continue to be led by Senator Dan Blue who has served in the General Assembly for 19 terms. House leadership tells us that they hope to complete their policy work by July or August and then shift gears to redistricting, the once per decade process of redrawing state and federal election maps that always follows the Census. Leaders in both chambers have prioritized the COVID crisis as a top concern.
The pandemic has already begun to impact the art of lawmaking as gathering large groups of legislators in crowded, indoor meeting rooms has become impractical in the current environment. Legislators have begun to stream more live videos of their committee meetings and votes and provide audio of much of the remainder of their work. They are more willing than ever to meet with advocates and constituents via phone and Zoom, which creates additional opportunities to connect with them.
Advocacy groups like ours are developing creative approaches for getting their message to lawmakers and this year NCASLA will host its first-ever Advocacy Week the week of April 26 - 30 where members can safely engage in advocacy activities with their legislators. The Executive Committee will release more details on those events as they are finalized and we look forward to your participation!