Agenda 04-02-2019 8-a - Minutes - Laserfiche WebLink

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4 1 Chair Rich asked if cost is being discussed. 2 Senator Foushee said there has been no discussion about cost or lowering the cost. 3 Representative Meyer said costs will stay high because, as a state, North Carolina has 4 one of the lowest usage and highest revenue rates. He said there is no desire to change that. 5 Representative Meyer said price revenue versus volume revenue may be a suggested 6 change, but he is not sure this will pass this year. 7 Commissioner Dorosin said last year they talked about changing the way BOCC 8 members are elected, and concluded that if they did anything it may get the attention of the 9 General Assembly, who may just do it themselves. He said the GOP does not have a super 10 majority, and asked if it would be a safer time to consider these changes. 11 Senator Foushee said the GOP still has the majority, and from her from her vantage 12 point, there could still be retribution. 13 Chair Rich asked if there is any interest in increasing minimum wage. 14 Senator Foushee said no. 15 Commissioner Marcoplos asked if there is a general sense of the GA on climate change. 16 Representative Insko said the GOPs in the House are aware of climate change, but 17 there is not much talk about it. She said they are still concerned about communities still 18 needing clean up from last storms. 19 Representative Meyer said the Clean Energy bill has strong Republican allies in the 20 House. 21 Commissioner Marcoplos said it is a winning campaign stance. 22 Representative Insko said most are focused on the 2020 election, and those issues that 23 are most important. 24 Commissioner Marcoplos said he is involved in the light rail process, and noted what a 25 strange beast the railroad is for several reasons. He said he would like to see this change for 26 many reasons. 27 Representative Insko said that would be a good study bill for them to look at. She said a 28 lot of people do not know a lot about this issue. 29 Commissioner Marcoplos said it was created by the state, but it is a private company 30 with a lot of control. 31 Representative Meyer said former Durham mayor, Bill Bell, is on this NC Railroad board, 32 and the governor has some appointments coming up to this board. 33 Representative Insko said the State does create private agencies. 34 Commissioner Marcoplos said this particular case has so many implications, and the 35 more he learns, the more astounded he is about the power held by this entity. 36 Representative Meyer said most legislators do not pay attention to this, and most do not 37 have a background on transportation, which creates a large deficit in leadership. 38 Chair Rich referred to criminal justice reform, and asked if there is any update. 39 Representative Meyer said there is a new interim Executive Director of the 40 Administrative Office of the Courts, and the implementation of raising the age had been on hold 41 until this person was in place. He said some attention will be paid to this over the upcoming 42 session, but he is unsure how much. 43 Representative Meyer said there is the intention to fulfill the commitment to raise the 44 age. 45 Commissioner Price said bail reform is another part of the criminal justice issues. 46 Senator Foushee said there are still some differences in how this is handled in districts 47 across the state, and that is where the changes will come. 48 Chair Rich referred to voter ID, and Orange County may need to hold an election early, 49 and it is unclear how the ID issue would play out if this early election is needed. 50 Representative Meyer said Representative Lewis drafted a bill to delay voter ID 51 implementation until the primary elections of 2020.