Thanks to your input, which sent thousands of emails and calls to legislators, House Bill 562 is still alive, but hanging by a thread. As you know, a bill must pass at least one chamber by April 30 to remain alive. Because the bill requires two debates on the chamber floor (Second and Third Readings), which must be done on successive days, effectively it needed to hit the floor by April 29.
The bad news is that didn’t make the floor yesterday. Due to the anti-gun actions of Rep. LEO DAUGHTRY (R-Johnston, GRNC evaluation under review), the Judiciary Chairman leading the effort to gut the bill, the GOP caucus couldn’t gather enough support to pass the bill on the floor and send it to the Senate.
The good news is that House Rules Chairman DAVID LEWIS (R-Harnett , GRNC ****) kept the bill alive by convening a meeting of Rules during a recess, adding a fiscal note and re-referring the bill to the Appropriations Committee. Under legislative rules, bills with fiscal considerations are immune from the crossover deadline and may be introduced and passed at any time.
Therefore, although we weren’t able to pass HB 562, it remains alive and will likely be acted on next week. One caveat: Leadership says they still want to “work on” the bill, meaning your continued input will be crucial.
The latest version of HB 562:
More @ GRNC
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