Make your plans now to join AIA North Carolina and our strategic partners in theNorth Carolina Design & Construction Coalition–Carolinas AGC, ACEC NC, and PENC– for the 2017 NC Legislative Day in Raleigh, April 5.
Join your peers from the design and construction community as we show our strength as an industry to members of the NC General Assembly, as well as spend time face-to-face with influential state legislators.
Schedule for the Day:
10:30 AM Registration
11:00 AM Briefing & Legislator Remarks
12:00 PM Lunch
12:30 PM Begin Legislator Visits
5:00PM End Legislator Visits
5:30PM AGC Reception at Oak & Dagger (ticket event)
Priority Issues for 2017 (Download draft brochure):
Assist Tier 1 Counties with K-12 School Construction
Rural counties have faced increasing difficulties in generating enough revenue to keep pace with their K-12 school facility needs and replace outdated schools. There are a variety of ideas to assist our most needy counties (generally know as Tier 1. The concepts below are all current ideas and/or actual bills under consideration in the General Assembly.
- Ensure open solicitation and competition for K-12 public private partnership projects
- Sales tax flexibilityfor K-12school construction
- HB 333
- SB 166
- Expand Lottery advertising to allow for increased Lottery revenue for K-12 school construction
- SB 234
- Support a statewide bond of $1.8 billion for K-12 school construction
Transportation Funding
As auto efficiency and changing driving habits have contributed to our decline in a stable sources of transportation funding. North Carolina will see a 43 percent increase in population – 13.5 million by 2040 – placing further strain on the transportation network. To have a safe and efficient transportation network that fosters economic prosperity and grows jobs, our current way of doing business doesn’t add up. If we find no new ways to raise transportation revenue, we face a projected $60 billion gap in funding by 2040.
- Long-term funding solutions
- Diversify revenue sources
- Highway use tax
- Redirect rental car taxes
- Redirect car parts tax
- Remove light rail cap
- SB 170
Construction Workforce Development
The construction industry in North Carolina is having the most difficult time of any industry finding qualified workers. A national survey finds that nearly 2/3 of the contractors are facing this challenge. Hiring challenges delay projects, drive up wages, affects project quality and stifles economic growth. Public schools have all but stopped promoting construction jobs in career counseling and its clear the industry has an image problem when trying to attract young workers.
- Support REBUILD Construction, a $200,000 state marketing campaign to young people
- Support Career Coaches, a $1.1 million Community College program
- Support Workforce Training, a $15.3 million Community College program for short term training courses
Economic Development
North Carolina’s economic fortunes are truly a tale of two states. Leading economists say that much of North Carolina’s post-recession growth is bypassing the so-called “routine” middle-income vocations and exacerbating the state’s growing regional gap and income inequality. Diminished tools used by economic developers over the last few years have lead to significant challenges to North Carolina’s economic dominance in the southeast region.
- Support increase in annual Repair & Renovation budget
- Support the continued work of the Economic Development Partnership & Dept of Commerce
- Support renewed incentive programs like JDIG, Film Tax Credits, Renewable Tax Credits, etc.
- Fix the HB 2 mess and restore the NC brand
- HB 186
Events Details
Date: April 5, 2017
Cost: Free
Location: Begins at AIA NC Center for Architecture & Design
14 East Peace Street
Raleigh, NC 27604
Schedule of Events:
10:30 am: Registration@ CfAD
11:00 am: Leg Briefing& Legislator Presentations @ CfAD
12:00 pm: Lunch @CfAD
1:00 pm: Appoints with Legislators
5:30 pm: CAGC Triangle District Networking Event @ Oak & Dagger Public House
Find Your House and Senate Representatives
This year we will be making a concerted effort to match each legislator with a member of AIA who lives in their district in hopes of building long- term relationships. We want our legislators to have access to reliable information about issues associated with the built environment and know our members are among the best resources available. Your participation this year is very important towards that goal. When you register for the day you will be asked to list your House and Senate representatives. The link below will allow you to find them.