Agenda - 05-04-2021; 8-a - Minutes

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6 1 She said the numbers of people who are incarcerated because of possession of marijuana are 2 overwhelmingly Black, Indigenous, and people of color. She said it goes back to 100 years ago 3 when marijuana was decided to be an illegal substance because too many Black and white 4 people were coming together to smoke. She said it is a very unjust system, so Commissioners 5 are putting this forward. She also said there are some farmers that would like to be able to 6 make some money from the crop. 7 Senator Foushee said Senate Bill 646 does all of those things. 8 Representative Meyer said there was a House companion to that bill. He said Chair 9 Price was right about famers, and he hears more about this in Caswell County than Orange 10 County. 11 Representative Insko said she agrees, and would like to see something like the ABC 12 system for marijuana. She said North Carolina has one of the lowest teen alcoholism rates in 13 the nation and gives credit to ABC system for that, and she wants to be careful about teens and 14 marijuana. She said the State needs the tax money, and she would like to see that money 15 come in. 16 Commissioner Fowler said as a pediatrician she does not support marijuana use, but 17 supports the bill of decriminalizing and legalizing it because of the reasons stated. She said 18 regulation is important because the way some people use marijuana through vaping is 19 incredibly dangerous. 20 Commissioner Fowler read the priority on Flexible Billing for Water and Sewer: 21 "Support legislation allowing local governments and other water and sewer providers to 22 implement flexible billing practices to establish pricing policies, potential waivers and 23 debt forgiveness opportunities to assist impacted customers." 24 She said this issue has become really important with the pandemic. 25 Chair Price said Representative Insko has been working on this issue. 26 Representative Insko said the bill has been filed, and was so popular that everyone 27 wants to be part of it. She said the new bill extends it to all public water agencies, so cities and 28 counties would also have the authority to do this. She said it is a good idea to get grants, but 29 the more popular it gets, the more competition there will be in getting those grants. She said she 30 thinks the bill will pass, and it is ready to be heard in Committee now. 31 32 Commissioner Fowler left the meeting at 9:13 a.m. 33 34 Chair Price indicated the Board was done presenting its priorities, and asked if there 35 were any questions on other issues listed. 36 Representative Insko said abolishing the State death penalty was important, and asked 37 Representative Meyer if a bill had been introduced in the House this year. 38 Representative Meyer said he was the sponsor of that bill in the House in previous years 39 but passed it along to Representative Vernetta Alston from Durham because she has been a 40 death penalty litigator. He said he is not sure if she introduced the bill yet or not. 41 Senator Foushee said she liked the issue of legislative leadership term limits. She asked 42 if a Commissioner would like to talk about it. 43 Chair Price said she did not vote for it so someone else would have to speak on it. 44 Commissioner McKee said he does not think it is a bad idea, but the question would be 45 how many terms. 46 Senator Foushee said she is not opposed to it, just thought it was interesting. 47 Chair Price said she knows in other states there are term limits, but she did not want to 48 let the Representatives from Orange County go. 49 Representative Insko clarified that the issue mentioned leadership positions, which 50 would apply to Representative Moore.