On the Radar

Though the 2010 NC legislative session ended in July and the 2011 starts up in January, state legislators are still busy with study committees. Among the issues being tracked by the NC Association of Realtors are:

• Consolidation of State Agencies and Departments
• Consolidation or Elimination of State Boards and Commissions
• Developer Responsibility for Street Construction
• Urban Growth and Infrastructure
• Legislative Study Commission on Public-Private Partnerships
• Joint Select Study Committee on Tort Reform
• Sustainable communities

Most of these meetings can be located at the NC General Assembly website. For others it may be necessary to drill down through State Board Notices at the NC Secretary of State's Office where you'll also find in lobbyist reports that NCAR's former executive Tim Kent is now a lobbyist for the NC Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association.

Numbers Going Down

NCAR membership since July 2010:

34,406 November
34,649 October
34,770 September
34,751 August

Numbers Update

NCAR membership for the year to date:

34,658 July
34,661 June
34,693 May
34,582 April
34,372 March
35,161 February
35,731 January

NC RPAC Individual Contributions

2010 Jan-Jun $175,173
2009 Jan-Jun $184,026
2008 Jan-Jun $283,652
2007 Jan-Jun $333,814
2006 Jan-Jun $302,600

Numbers

NCAR member numbers bottomed out in March at 34,372 and are creeping back up but still substantially lower than a year ago.

34,693 May 2010 [36,844 May 2009]
34,582 April
34,372 March
35,161 February

Answer: Lower

35,161 members in February. March is the cut-off when members are dropped for non-payment of dues.

State Board of Elections Hearing

State Board Meeting Agenda

March 4, 2010

NOTICE OF MEETING

The State Board of Elections will meet in its boardroom located at 506 N. Harrington St., Raleigh, N.C. on March 4, 2010, at 1:00 p.m. For further information on this meeting please call (919) 715-5333.

TENTATIVE AGENDA

Call to order

Minutes approval

Appointing replacements for county board of elections vacancies

Certification of political party nominees

Candidate nickname matter

Appeal hearing of George Boggs protest (Cumberland County)

Hearing on complaint in regards to the N.C. Realtors Association

Other matters

How Low Can You Go?

The numbers keep dropping for the North Carolina Association of Realtors (NCAR). The January 2010 NCAR roll came in at 35,731 members which is the lowest in 4 years. That's a loss of 595 members in one month, a loss of 2,884 since January 2009 and a loss of 7,838 members, or 18%, since the all time high of 43,569 in November 2007.

Ringing In the NCAR Year

The next State legislative session doesn't officially start until May but the North Carolina General Assembly calendar is chock-a-block with study committees keeping legislators and lobbyists busy. From NCAR communications, the following is a list of issues being studied in 2010 that NCAR has declared of interest.

• Sanitary Districts
• Mountain Recourses/Steep Slope
• Disclosure of Coastal Hazards
• Public Participation In Setting Insurance Rates
• Mechanic’s Liens on Real Property
• Commercial Real Estate Broker Liens
• Ordinances Banning Clotheslines
• Green Building Code
• Property Tax Relief Programs and Exemptions
• Siting of Wind Energy Facilities
• Transfer Development Rights
• Changes to NC’s Banking Laws and the Consumer Finance Act
• Regional Economic Development
• Insurance Rate Filing Process Reformation
• Homeowners Associations
• Transportation Funding Distribution
• Water Allocation
• Water and Wastewater Infrastructure
• Sustainable Growth
• NC Saves Energy Program Creation
• Impact and Use of Temporary Erosion Control Structures
• NC’s Energy Future
• Consolidation of Environmental Policy and Rule-Making Functions into one Entity

Lobster Realtor

There are some things you can't make up. The propitiously named North Carolina Professional Lobbyists Association has an annual recognition event at its annual meeting called, I kid you not, the "Lobster Awards". In October 2007 the recipients included Tim Kent and Rick Zechini of the North Carolina Association of Realtors for the "Stop the Home Tax" campaign, the inspiration for this particular blog.


Famous moments in lobster history:

NCAR Numbers Keep Going South

NCAR membership numbers continue to drop. Membership for December 2009 stood at 36,326 - a loss of 569 members since November and, down 3,862 or 9.61% since the December 2008 roll of 40,188. Membership in NCAR peaked in November 2007 at 43,569. The current roll of 36,326 is the lowest since March 2006 when membership stood at 36,350.