The North Carolina Legislature adjourned its short session on Friday, July 1, 2016. The session lasted almost 10 weeks with the biggest accomplishment being the passage of the state budget.

The next regular session is not scheduled until January 2017.

Photo of the North Carolina State Legislative Building by Jayron32 on Wikimedia Commons.

Lawmakers will return to Raleigh today to begin the 2016 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly. The session is expected to primarily address adjustments needed to the biennial budget.

The session is expected to adjourn in early July.

Photo of the North Carolina Legislative Building by Jayron32 on Wikimedia Commons.

The North Carolina Legislature adjourned a special session on Wednesday, March 23, 2016.

Before adjourning, the Legislature ratified a bill to block local governments from enacting nondiscrimination ordinances regarding the use of public bathrooms.

North Carolina legislative leaders have announced a special legislative session convening Wednesday, March 23 to address a Charlotte nondiscrimination ordinance that would otherwise take effect April 1.

The regular session of the General Assembly is not scheduled to meet until April 25.

The number of municipalities and regional governments our research associates track continues to grow. We now cover almost 300 municipalities and local governments. This is part of a continuous effort to better serve the needs of our clients.

In that effort, we have added abridged jurisdictions to our website. These entries, condensed due to the limited number of relevant local laws, provide the core information our clients need for their government relations work.

The new jurisdiction is: Asheville, North Carolina

On February 18, Gov. Pat McCrory called a special session of the General Assembly, for the purpose of drawing new congressional district maps. The new maps are needed because two congressional districts have been declared unconstitutional by the United States District Court for the Middle District of North Carolina just ahead of the upcoming primary election.

The regular session of the General Assembly is not scheduled to meet until April 25.

Photo of the North Carolina State Legislative Building by Jayron32 on Wikimedia Commons.

On September 30, North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed legislation moving next year’s presidential primary and general primary for state elected offices to a single date in March. House Bill 373 sets the single primary date to March 15, 2016. The bill contains other provisions include adjusting the filing dates for campaign finance reporting and permitting the leader of each political party caucus of the House of Representatives and the Senate to establish a separate affiliated party committee to support the election of candidates of that leader’s political party. According to the governor’s press release, he signed the bill after getting an agreement from the legislature to make revisions to the bill regarding campaign finance law, including prohibiting contributions from lobbyists or political action committees while the legislature is in session.

“There were specific concerns I had with the original version of the bill, and the General Assembly agreed to make revisions to address those concerns,” said McCrory in his press release.

Photo of Gov. Pat McCrory by Hal Goodtree on Wikimedia Commons.

On September 30, the North Carolina General Assembly adjourned its legislative session. Both chambers finished their legislative work shortly after 4 a.m. The Legislature is scheduled to next convene on April 25, 2016.

Photo of the North Carolina State Capitol by Jayron32 on Wikimedia Commons.

On September 24, the North Carolina Legislature passed a bill changing next year’s presidential and state primary election dates. House Bill 373, submitted to Gov. Pat McCrory today, moves the primary dates up from May 3 to March 15, 2016. The legislation also makes other changes to election law, including adjusting the filing dates for campaign finance reporting, allowing, if required, a second primary date to be held on May 24, 2016 for the presidential primary and May 3 for the state primary, and permitting the leader of each political party caucus of the House of Representatives and the Senate to establish a separate affiliated party committee to support the election of candidates of that leader’s political party.

Photo of the North Carolina Legislature by Yassie on Wikimedia Commons.

On August 28, state Rep. Rick Glazier resigned from his seat in the General Assembly to take a job with the North Carolina Justice Center.

He had planned to wait until the end of the session, but had to step down earlier because the session has lasted longer than expected.

Democrats in the 44^th District will meet to choose his replacement.

State Reps. Grier Martin and Rick Glazier introduced a bill in the North Carolina House of Representatives requiring public officials to recuse themselves from taking any official action if they are in a current dating or sexual relationship with a registered lobbyist who would financially benefit from the official action.

This legislation comes one month after the State Ethics Commission issued a ruling that sex between lobbyists and government officials does not constitute a gift in violation of state ethics law.

House Bill 252 was introduced March 17, 2015, and is currently in committee.

Photo of the North Carolina State Legislative Building by Jayron32 on Wikipedia.

Gov. Pat McCrory signed Senate Bill 403 into law. The bill requires treasurers of political committees with contributions, expenditures, or loans totaling more than $10,000 in an election cycle to electronically file campaign finance reports.

North Carolina law already requires electronic filing for political committees making contributions in excess of $5,000 to candidates for statewide office or making independent expenditures in excess of $5,000 affecting contests for statewide office. This provision of the bill takes effect January 1, 2017.

Senate Bill 403 further permits counties, municipalities, and special districts to schedule special elections only when a general or primary election is already scheduled or when there is a general election requiring all county precincts to be open. This provision of the bill takes effect January 1, 2015, and applies to all special elections held on or after that date.

After 163 legislative days, the North Carolina General Assembly has adjourned sine die.

The adjournment is several weeks overdue as legislators hotly debated such contentious issues as pay increases for educators and the dumping of coal ash.

Photo of the North Carolina Legislative Building by Jayron32 on Wikimedia Commons.

A special election will be held for three state judicial seats recently vacated by sitting judges. The state Board of Elections set the special election to coincide with the general election on November 4, 2014.

The seats up for election are for the Court of Appeals, the Superior Court in Mecklenburg County, and the Superior Court in Alamance County.

Judicial races in North Carolina are nonpartisan, statewide races, where all judicial candidates appear on the statewide ballot with no party affiliation. Each race is determined by a plurality of votes.

Candidates must file with the Board of Elections by noon on August 8, 2014, in order to appear on the special election ballot.