[Durham INC] Protest Petition Bill on the Move Again - Last Chance to Act

[Debra Hawkins]

Thank you Tom for this summary and quick action items. Sent as requested (my
brief note) to all six politicians as suggested -- took a mere few minutes
using the links below!

 

For even greater ease, the three Senate confrerees (and your district
senator) are all First.Last at ncleg.net - so here are the three Senate
confrerees emails to get you there faster: Trudy.Wade at ncleg.net ;
Tom.Apodaca at ncleg.net ; Harry.Brown at ncleg.net . 

 

If your own Senator is Floyd McKissick, here's his:
Floyd.McKissick at ncleg.net. That just leaves using the link to get your rep
in the lower house. (and the governor - you have to cut and paste your
message in to his 'email the governor' page - no address supplied.) 

 

Best, Debra H. 

 

From: INC-list [mailto:inc-list-bounces at rtpnet.org] On Behalf Of Tom Miller
Sent: Wednesday, July 30, 2014 8:45 PM
To: 'Tom Miller'; 'inc listserv'
Cc: asurratt at hickorync.gov; bill.bailey at townofboone.net;
blackstockl at bellsouth.net; board at AshevilleCAN.org; beth.haenni at gmail.com;
acole at cityofec.com; befree007 at gmail.com; ardmore at ardmore.ws;
betseybaun at hotmail.com; anthony.mcleod at gmail.com; bfrazier at hickorync.gov;
bradamj at gmail.com; authdv at aol.com
Subject: [Durham INC] Protest Petition Bill on the Move Again - Last Chance
to Act

 

Dear neighbors:

 

This may be the last in my reports to you concerning the attempt to repeal
the zoning protest petition right.  I appreciate your interest and support.


 

As you know, the repeal of the time-honored right of neighbors to file a
formal protest petition in a municipal rezoning case is contained in Senate
Bill 734, a regulatory reform bill that contains a lot of regulatory
measures on a host of topics.  The bill started in the N. C. Senate as an
agricultural measure, but the house loaded it up with other provisions -
including the repeal of the zoning protest right.  The bill, as amended, was
then passed by the house and sent back to the senate for concurrence.
Concurrence is an up-or-down vote by the chamber of origin for bills which
have been amended in the other chamber.  Bills up for concurrence cannot be
amended.  Senate Bill 734 was referred to the Senate Committee on Ways and
Means and was held there for weeks while the house and senate negotiated
over the2014 budget.  This sort of holding and waiting is customary.  Once
the budget is worked out, the held bills either die in committee or come out
in a flurry of pre-adjournment activity.

 

Today, Senate Bill 734 came out of committee and was sent to the senate
floor for concurrence.  It failed in a vote of 0 to 45.  It was the
re-referred to the senate rules committee to wait while conferees were
appointed.  Once that was accomplished, the bill was withdrawn from
committee.  I cannot say what it is in the bill that has caused the senate
to want to confer with the house on the bill.  I would like to think that
whatever the issues are that divide the chambers, the issue of the repeal of
the zoning protest right is among them.  Whatever the issues may be, they
will be resolved quick - faster than I can digest them and report to you.  

 

This then, is probably our last chance to ask the house and the senate to
save the protest petition right.  Today, right now, please ask your
communities' senators and representatives to save the right to file a zoning
protest petition.  The senate conferees are Senators Trudy Wade,  Tom
Apodaca, and Harry Brown.  I do not know who the house will appoint.  When
you contact your senators and house members, ask them to ask their
conference committee members on this bill to protect your time-honored right
to file a zoning protest petition.  Also send an e-mail directly to the
senate conferees.  Your messages should be short, polite, and unequivocal.
It would not hurt to send Gov. McCrory an e-mail too.  As the former mayor
of Charlotte, he knows how important the right to file a protest petition
can be to ordinary citizens.

 

To find your senators' and representatives' e-mail addresses, visit
www.ncleg.net.  In the upper right-hand corner of the screen you will see a
box labelled "VIEW MEMBER INFO."  The down arrow there will list all the
members of both chambers.  To e-mail the governor, visit
http://www.governor.state.nc.us/.  Follow the instructions there to "Contact
Pat."

 

Once again, I thank all of you for your patience and perseverance.

 

Tom Miller

Durham

 

 

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