Update: No Annexation Moratorium This Year

Senate Uses Technicality To Stall Bill To Death

The bill that proposed a nine-month moratorium on involuntary annexation in North Carolina has died before making it to the Senate floor for a vote. Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand, chairman of the Senate Committee of Rules and Operations, elected not to put the House Bill 2367 on the Senate calendar for a decision despite having nearly three weeks to debate it within the committee. The N.C. General Assembly adjourned Friday until Jan. 28, 2009, effectively killing the legislation before any action could be taken.

Senator Tony Rand, who chairs that committee, said the bill will die because of a technicality. To be heard in the short session, a bill must be the result of a joint study by the House and the Senate, and this bill isn't. When asked why the House would have bothered putting the bill together, debating it, and passing if it didn't meet the criteria, Rand suggested it may have been an attempt to bring attention to the issue.

Senator Rand said now they will launch a joint study on the annexation issue, but it will be next year at the earliest before any action is taken.

Lee County's Representative Jimmy Love played a key role when the bill was in the Judiciary Committee. Some moratorium advocates claim the amendment "gutted the bill" because it shortened the moratorium. Others agree with Representative Love that without the amendment the bill would not have cleared the committee. To see a short video of the Judiciary Committee pass the amendment by Representative Love click here. (47 seconds)

Editors Note: This is a follow-up to other posts on annexation. The legislature adjourned last week so this is not news, but it may be to the readers. It may be especially of interest to those who do not wish to get gobbled up by Sanford and pay all those taxes to support a golf club. And for those who have video, I thought the little video excerpt of Jimmy Love at work might be interesting.