Senator Bill Cook Legislative Update: V | Eastern North Carolina Now

News Release:

    This week we started the possess of looking at the differences between the State Senate and State House budgets. The leadership in the Senate and House will form a conference committee that will examine all versions of the budgets and will come forth with a recommendation for a concurrence by both chambers.

    Legislation Signed into Law that will Allow Students to Pray in School

    A bill that I co-sponsored, Senate Bill – SB 370, will allow students to engage in religious activity, was signed into law this week. This legislation will authorize students to gather for prayers before, during, or after an extracurricular activity, if the prayers are student-initiated and student led and those students voluntarily participate and do not pressure others to participate. School officials may be present and should demonstrate appropriate respect and may adopt a respectful posture. Also, a student is allowed to pray silently at any time or audibly during non-instructional time if the prayer is voluntary and unofficial. I support this law because it prevents schools or school officials from infringing upon a student's First Amendment right to freedom of religion.

    Bill on Cape Hatteras Electrical Membership Corporation (EMC) Passes in the House

    Last week, the Senate passed SB 790, to phase in the Cape Hatteras (EMC) sales tax. For the year starting July 1, 2014, and ending June 30, 2015, Cape Hatteras (EMC) would collect a sales tax of 3.5% instead of a 7% sales tax. Yesterday morning, the legislation passed unanimously in the House Finance Committee. However, there was an amendment added to the legislation. I worked with Representative Rena W. Turner (R-Iredell) to phase in the sales tax on piped natural gas in eight gas cities. Those eight gas cities are: Bessemer City, Greenville, Kings Mountain, Lexington, Monroe, Rocky Mount, Shelby, and Wilson. The bill was brought to the House floor yesterday afternoon, and it passed with a vote of 111-1. Since, there was an amendment added to the legislation it will come back to the Senate for final concurrence.

    Closing of All Coal Ash Ponds

    The Senate introduced a comprehensive and aggressive plan for coal ash mitigation that would give North Carolina the strictest regulations on coal ash in the COUNTRY and make it the FIRST state to force the closure of all coal ash ponds.

    The proposed committee substitute to Senate Bill - SB 729, sets a firm 15-year timetable for dewatering and closing all unlined coal ash ponds in North Carolina and eliminates the practice of wet ash disposal. The plan requires the Dan River, Asheville, Riverbend and Sutton coal ash ponds to be excavated and closed as quickly as practicable. However, they must be closed no later than 2019.

    The remaining ponds will be classified into three categories of risk. Sites determined to be high-risk must be closed within five years (by no later than 2019), intermediate-risk sites by no later than 2024 and low-risk sites by no later than 2029. High and intermediate-risk ponds may not be capped in place – instead, coal ash from those facilities must be stored in lined landfills or recycled toward a beneficial use such as concrete production or roadway construction.

    In addition, the bill mandates that all future coal ash disposals must be managed in new or existing lined landfills with extensive groundwater monitoring. It also requires pond owners to divert stormwater away from ash ponds and phase out the disposal of wet ash – the sludge that spilled into the Dan River – within five years. Also, it immediately makes it illegal to construct or expand wet coal ash ponds statewide.

    We understand the impact and gravity of the recent coal ash spill. That's why the Senate has developed the most aggressive approach to eliminating coal ash in the entire country to protect consumers and mitigate environmental problems.


Contact: Jordan Hennessy
     jordan.hennessy@ncleg.net, •  (252) 619-3606


     300 N. Salisbury Street
     Room 525 • Raleigh, NC 27603

    Phone: (919) 715-8293  •  Fax: (919) 754-3296  •  bill.cook@ncleg.net