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.