The state Senate approved its version of the state budget late last week. The state House came out with its budget proposal two weeks ago, and Gov. Pat McCrory was the first out of gate with his budget plan.
Over the next couple of weeks negotiators in the North Carolina General Assembly will take all the pieces and come up with a final budget that both chambers in the legislature can adopt.
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It’s always hard to keep up with the moving pieces as each of the budget proposal are debated and amended. Our friend Grady McCallie over at the N.C. Conservation Network likes doing that, though. He has tracked all the environmental pieces in each of the proposals and how they differ.
We present McCallie’s research here in a series of tables. The first set are environmental appropriations in each of the budget proposals. The “special provisions” tables track the environmental policy changes in the House and Senate budgets.
References to the governor’s budget are page numbers; references to House line items are from the House Appropriations Committee money report; references to Senate line items are from the Senate Appropriations Committee money report. References to special provisions are bill sections in H1030, 2016 Appropriations Act, version 4 (House) and version 6 (Senate).
| Agriculture | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line item | Governor | House | Senate |
| Farmland Preservation Trust Fund | $1M recurring expansion for annual total of $3.6M (DACS, 134) | $1M nonrecurring for annual total of $3.6M (H5,7) | $1M nonrecurring, specifically for military buffers, for an annual total of $3.6M (H5) |
| Dupont State Forest | — | $629K recurring expansion, 9 FTE (H5) | No funds. Instead, special provision §13.4 allows Dupont State Forest to use proceeds from timber sales to fund capital improvements. |
| Water resources | — | Total unchanged at $977K; reallocates $827K to cost share and $150K to tech assistance and administration. (H6) | $500K nonrecurring, for an annual total of $1.5M (H5) |
| Cultural and Natural Resources | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line Item | Governor | House | Senate |
| Jennette’s Pier | — | — | ($40K) cuts director position for Jennette’s Pier, with related special provision (H43) |
| Natural Heritage Program | $490K recurring expansion for annual total of $940K (DNCR, 146) | $489K recurring expansion for annual total of $939K (H44) | — |
| Clean Water Management Trust Fund | — | $5M nonrecurring expansion for annual total of $18.8M (H43) | Same as House (H44) |
| N.C. Zoo Fund | — | — | Establishes a recurring transfer of $1.5M to dedicated fund for repair and renovation projects at the NC Zoo. (H45) |
| N.C. Aquariums Fund | — | — | Establishes a recurring transfer of $2.8M to dedicated fund for repair and renovation projects at state aquariums and Jennette’s Pier (H47) |
| Commerce | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line item | Governor | House | Senate |
| Regional wastewater | — | $3M nonrecurring for construction of wastewater pretreatment facility for private pharmaceutical, biotech, and telecommunications industries in Johnston County. (H34) | $6M nonrecurring for same purposes at House provision (H35). |
| Environmental Quality | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line item | Governor | House | Senate |
| Litigation | $5M non-recurring expansion (DEQ, 135) | — | — |
| N.C. State Energy Center | $200K nonrecurring expansion, for an annual total of $600K (H16) | — | |
| Shellfish production positions | — | $149K recurring for 2 positions to promote shellfish industry and shell recycling, for annual total of $13.9M (H16) | $149K recurring for 2 positions as per House budget, for annual total of $14.2M (H17) (difference in totals is a mystery, since expansion is identical). |
| Crab pot cleanup | — | — | $100K nonrecurring for crab pot cleanup by N.C. Sea Grant (H20) |
| Shellfish rehabilitation | — | — | $300K nonrecurring for cultch planting, for annual total of $1.2 million (H21) |
| Marine Patrol | — | $300K nonrecurring for new annual total of $4.3M (H17) | — |
| Oyster Sanctuaries | — | $1.5M nonrecurring for new annual total of $1.8M.(H17) | No funds. Instead, 14.11(g) earmarks $1.5M of CWMTF for this purpose. |
| Water Infrastructure | — | $3.8M nonrecurring for new annual total of $18.8M.(H17) | — |
| Commercial leaking underground storage tanks (LUST) – continuation review | Restores earmark from Highway Fund revenue, $15.4M (recurring) and $5.2M (nonrecurring)(DEQ, 135) | Restores $16.2M recurring from Highway Fund revenue. (H22) | Same as House (H23) |
| Air & Water Quality Management account – continuation review | Restores funding from Highway Fund revenue, $7.3M recurring (DEQ, 135) | Restores $2M recurring from inspection fees and $7.3M recurring from Highway Fund revenue. (H18, H20) | Same as House (H19, H21) |
| Mercury switch program – continuation review | Does not restore. Uses balance of fund for 2016-2017 (DEQ, 135) | Does not restore. Diverts $2.5M of balance to fund DWM; $500K to carry mercury switch program through June 30, 2017. (H18) | Same as House (H19) |
| Transportation | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Line Item | Governor | House | Senate |
| Strategic transportation Initiative projects | $29.8M recurring expansion for annual total of $1.2 B (DOT, 152) | $32M recurring expansion for annual total of $1.2B (K16, 19) | Same as House (K16) |
| Secondary road maintenance (repair) | $17.5M recurring expansion for annual total of $303M (DOT, 151) | $6.4M recurring expansion for annual total of $291M (K11) | Consolidates this into general maintenance (K11) |
| General maintenance | — | $6.4M recurring expansion for annual total of $52M (K10) | Consolidates three reserve accounts – general, primary, and second – into general, at recurring annual total of $485M |
| Small urban construction | $2.5M recurring expansion (DOT, 151 | — | $2.5M recurring (new line item)(K9) |
| Deficient bridge repair | $300K expansion (DOT, 150) | Same as Governor’s request (K11) | Same as House and Governor’s request (K11) |
| Bicycle safety via ‘public outreach’ | $250K recurring expansion (DOT, 151) | — | — |
| DOT – multi-county rural transit | $2M recurring expansion for annual total of $18.8M (DOT, 151) | Same as Governor’s request (K10) | $3M recurring expansion for annual total of $19.8M (K10) |
| Urban transit maintenance | Unclear if (DOT, 151, line 12) is the same item as the House bill or different. | $2M recurring expansion for annual total of $32.5M.(K10) | $1M recurring expansion for annual total of $31.5M (K10) |
| Debris and litter removal | $10M recurring expansion for annual total of $26.9M (DOT, 151) | No line item, but see special provision below. $9M recurring transfers to Dept. of Public Safety for inmate litter collection (K12) | $10M nonrecurring for annual total of $26.9M (K11). |
| Special Provisions — Cultural and Natural Resources | ||
|---|---|---|
| Line Item | House | Senate |
| State parks – hotel/ inn | Relax Umstead Act to allow state parks to ‘construct, operate, maintain, or lease’ a hotel or tourist inn (16.3) | Relax Umstead Act to allow NC Zoo and state parks to ‘enter into public-private partnerships for the construction, operation, or lease of a hotel or tourist inn’ (16.3) |
| PRTF eligibility | State recreational forests eligible to compete for PRTF grant funds. (16.7) | — |
| Grassroots science amendments | Modifies the grassroots science museum program to require that grants be given as 3 year grants, and mandates the equal allocation of funds not distributed through grants. (16.5) | Similar to House, but omits intent that grants last for 3 years, and allows DNCR to spend up to $50K per year to support a position to administer the program and act as liaison to the museums (16.5) |
| Special Provisions — Environmental Quality | ||
|---|---|---|
| Line Item | House | Senate |
| Mercury switch sunset | Eliminates mercury switch recycling program. Makes it legal to crush or dismantle vehicle without first removing any mercury switches (14.1) | Same as House (14.1) |
| Motor vehicle inspections | Eliminates vehicle emissions inspections in 31 counties (14.2) | — |
| Air & Water Quality account | Slightly increases funding for LUSTs and slightly reduces funding percentage for Air & Water Quality account (14.3) | Same as House (14.3) |
| Risk-based pre-approval | Creates new authority for DEQ, in every fiscal year, to pre-approve up to $500K of the commercial LUST fund to close out sites. In essence, this gives the program flexibility to address low-risk sites faster. (14.5) | Same as House (14.5) |
| Expedite pre-1983 landfills | Authorizes DEQ to spend up to $5M of Hazardous Sites Cleanup Fund to ‘expedite closure’ of pre-1983 landfills using risk remediation; currently, the funds must be used for the most urgent sites, leaving many low-risk unaddressed. (14.6) | Same as House (14.6) |
| Oyster brood stock | Requires DEQ to transfers funds for oyster brood stock to UNC-W, not pass them through via a contract. (14.7) | Provision included in Senate budget as 14.11(h) |
| Cultch material purchasing | Allows the Division of Marine Fisheries to carry forward up to $500K in unspent funds for cultch material. (14.10) | — |
| Shellfish leasing reforms | Allows water column leases and franchises to be transferred; raises the annual threshold for commercial production from $1K/ acre to $5K/acre. (14.11) | Tracks House provision exactly for reforms of leases and franchises, but also adds UNC-CH study of how to promote shellfish aquaculture, and earmarks $1.5M in CWMTF funds for a ‘Jean Preston Oyster Sanctuary Network’ (14.11) |
| Aquatic weed control eligibility | Broadens existing aquatic weed control program, currently limited to lakes, to address any water in state. (14.12) | Similar to House provision, but adds language stating that dredging around Roanoke Island can be funded from dedicated Historic Roanoke Island Fund (14.12) |
| Impaired water bodies | Provides that if DEQ terminates SolarBee pilot project, all unspent project funds roll over to the Clean Water Management Trust Fund. (14.13) | Earmarks $2M from CWMTF for study by UNC, $500K from CWMTF for research on mussels, sunsets all existing nutrient rules in December 2020, charges EMC to run stakeholder process and draft new temporary rules based on in-lake study by December 2020. Freezes further implementation of Falls and Jordan rules until then. (14.13) |
| Mattamuskeet Lodge planning | Directs Wildlife Resources Commission to spend up to $200K of its general appropriation to develop long-term plan to restore Mattamuskeet Lodge, possibly with public-private partnership. (14.14) | — |
| Marine Fisheries Commission | — | Reduces MFC from 9 to 7 members, cutting two ‘general’ members from regulated communities; resets supermajority from six to five; requires supermajority for all actions of MFC. (14.16) |
| Fisheries Management Plans | — | Bars inclusion of any new management strategies in an expedited addendum to an existing plan; bars strategies that ‘result in severe curtailment’ of the use or value of equipment (14.17). |
| Wastewater discharge mitigation | — | Earmarks $400K in DEQ water infrastructure funds for a municipality with less than 100 residents in a Tier 3 county, and that has received notices of violations for illegal wastewater discharges (14.20) |
| Catalog of wetland mitigation | — | Directs Div. of Mitigation Services to catalog all wetland and stream mitigation credits in state ownership and report to NCGA by December 31, 2016. (14.21) |
| Beach engineering studies | — | Directs three studies: (1) DEQ of benefits of beach engineering, reported by 11-1-16 to the NCGA; (2) Register of Deeds in 8 counties, list of all properties and whether owners have N.C. mailing addresses, reported by 11-1-16 to DEQ and NCGA; (3) Dept. of Commerce of contribution of coastal economy to the state, by 11-1-16, to DEQ and NCGA. All reports must be appended to the state Beach and Inlet Management Plan (14.22) |
| Special Provisions — Transportation | ||
|---|---|---|
| Line Item | House | Senate |
| Eliminate DMV fee for mercury switch | Repeals the 50 cent fee for mercury switch program, consistent with the ANER special provisions eliminating that program. (35.3) | Same as House (35.3) |
| Use unpaved road funds for litter | Allows DOT to use up to $10M of unpaved road funds for litter removal (35.8) | Unlike House, Senate appropriates additional funds. Senate special provision outlines how money is to be divided among the 14 highway divisions (35.8) |
| DOT may improve culverts | Makes explicit that DOT can replace culverts itself (ie, doesn’t have to hire contractor) under existing bridge maintenance program. (35.10) | — |
| Repeal light rail funding cap | Repeals the cap on light rail expenditures. (35.12). | Repeals the light rail cap, but imposes a new limit: state funding cannot account for more than 10% of estimated total project costs, and the Orange-Durham light rail project is ineligible until NCDOT establishes Prioritization 5.0 process (35.12) |
| Small construction projects | Restores nonrecurring funding for small construction projects (35.19) | Restores recurring funding for small construction projects; bars members of the Board of Transportation from accessing or using these funds (35.19) |
