Weekly Legislative Update

North Carolina

 
By Betsy Bailey & Victor Barbour
March 12, 2025

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Construction Industry

President Donald Trump’s promise of mass deportations is stirring fear in the construction industry. Around 30% of construction workers in the U.S. are immigrants. In North Carolina, it’s about a quarter.

“It’s been a little rough to find those guys because nobody’s willing to get in the cars and drive — nobody feels safe,” said SunSouth Carolinas President Carlos Calzadilla. Calzadilla’s company builds outdoor living spaces in the Charlotte area. He says he and his employees have had to work overtime and on weekends because there are not enough workers.

“As a construction company, we try to plan everything six months, one year, or even two years,” Calzadilla said. “It gets super hard for us to plan projects if we’re not going to have employees to do so.”

SunSouth Carolinas is not the only company facing staffing shortages. CT Wilson Construction Company, located 150 miles from Charlotte in Durham, has the same problem. “We have a tough time finding employees,” CT Wilson Construction Company’s President Charlie Wilson said. “We are seeing a lot of general fear amongst all of our employees.”

Wilson says Trump’s immigration policies will have more drastic effects, not just on construction, but also on the economy. “Sixty to 70% of the people on one of our job sites at any given day are Hispanic immigrants,” Wilson said. “Our economy is not going to grow unless we have the workforce to do the work.”

About 20% of construction workers nationwide are undocumented, but Trump’s proposed deportations extend beyond undocumented immigrants, potentially affecting those with TPS or temporary statuses, such as DACA recipients.

“If the deportations actually happen, not only are you going to get higher no-show rates, but you’re going to have more and more firms that don’t have enough people to bid on construction projects,” said Brian Turmail of Associated General Contractors of America.

Associated General Contractors of America is pushing for immigration reform that secures the border but provides legal pathways for undocumented immigrants who work in construction.

Bridge Funding

As the cost of replacing Wilmington’s most iconic bridge goes up, funds are frozen while major design decisions could face delays. The Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement project was slated to have a big year in 2025. Last year, the project made headway when three design alternatives were proposed following a preservation project to extend the life of the current bridge. The project was awarded a $242 million grant from the U.S. Department of Transportation under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, but a federal grant pause including the funds has been issued.

A Feb. 26 executive order to implement a Department of Government Efficiency initiative to cut costs included all USDOT discretionary grants, the N.C. Department of Transportation said in a statement.

“We are working our federal partners to determine when the grant for the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge could move forward,” NCDOT said in the statement. Under the executive order, agencies such as the USDOT will be required to provide a “brief written justification for each payment submitted by the agency employee who approved the payment” to a DOGE team leader.

While funds hang in the balance, the cost of replacing the bridge has jumped significantly. The projected cost for the 135-foot-tall fixed span option is now $1.1 billion, according to a statement from NCDOT. The alternate was initially projected to cost $452.9 million when the department presented alternatives last fall.

In a statement, NCDOT attributed the rise in cost to a refined design and inflation impacts on materials. The fixed span alternate was the cheaper option, with a movable span bridge originally expected to cost $765.9 million.

NCDOT Plan

Hundreds of North Carolina Department of Transportation projects across the state may be facing delays, includes a plan to turn a portion of Capital Boulevard into a freeway. NCDOT released its proposed 10-year plan, which is updated about every two years. Known as the State Transportation Improvement Plan, it outlines ongoing and planned projects statewide.

In the plan, phase one of the Capital Boulevard project is delayed possibly for five years.

“It is an outstanding project,” said Joe Milazzo, the executive Director of the Regional Transportation Alliance, which says it’s the voice of the regional business community on transportation. “We’ve wanted to see that move forward for a long time. It is going remove every one of the traffic lights between 540 and the Franklin County line and so that will save people enormous amounts of time, headache and stress.

The project is broken into four phases. The current STIP plan has construction for the first phase, which runs from Interstate 540 to Durant Road starting in 2026. The newly proposed STIP plan doesn’t have construction start until 2031.

Construction for the second phase would also start in 2031, according to the newly drafted STIP. The other two phases, which run all the way to Purnell Road in Wake Forest, would start in 2033. The newly-estimated cost of the project is now more than $1.3 billion, an approximately 60% increase from the current estimate of more than $827 million.

“The primary reason would be because of inflationary pressures and the requirement we have to balance the STIP,” NCDOT Deputy Chief Engineer Drew Cox said. According to Cox, about 200 projects in various stages may be facing delays and there could be factors other than costs contributing.

Zero Base Budgeting

One may be the loneliest number, but zero found a few friends Tuesday as the House Judiciary 3 Committee supported a measure to change the way the state creates its annual spending plan.

Bill sponsor Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, told the committee that budget writers in the governor's office should employ zero-based budgeting each year instead of copying what each agency and department spent the previous year as a starting point.

“Basically, we have some kind of baseline budget in which spending carries over each session based on what was done in the last session,” Blust said. “So there’s almost automatic spending being done.”

Blust, who chairs the committee, is a veteran legislator who has been out of office several cycles. He said he first proposed zero-based budgeting in 2015 with the blessing of then-Budget Director Art Pope, who worked for former Republican Gov. Pat McCrory.

House Bill 142 would take effect in 2027 and phase in over four years, with the governor zeroing out approximately one-quarter of agencies in the first year, starting in the executive branch. As agencies reconstruct budget requests, the bill would require a statement giving a reason for each requested expenditure.

Blust said the bill needs to make stops in two more committees on its way to the floor and he hopes to hear from the governor's budget team at some point.

“That would be one reason that would give me comfort is that this is being done by the permanent professionals in the executive branch, and they’ll hand it to us with the work already done, hopefully.”

Asked whether starting the state's $34 billion budget from scratch would increase the time and expense of creating it, Blust said that’s why he spoke to Pope in 2015. “He seemed to think they could handle it with what they had. But I sure can’t say the present budget director would give you that same answer.”

The committee voted to approve the bill. It now goes to the House appropriations committee.

South Carolina

By Leslie B. Clark
March 12, 2025

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Last week we saw a flurry of activity during this eighth week of the legislative session which ended with our comprehensive tort reform bill on life support. See the highlights of this bill and others below.

S.244, Tort Reform, on Life Support

Despite a midweek press conference with over 500 supporters from the business community, including many CAGC members, it was not enough to convince some in the Senate that the businesses back home are calling for a change in the state’s tort laws. There is a lot to unpack from last week, so settle in for some insight into what really happened inside the State House.

After setting S.244 for special order the week before, giving it priority debate status, the Senate began debating our comprehensive tort reform bill last Tuesday. This included close to five hours of back and forth between the lawyer legislators in the Senate. Just when the conversation was dragging on, there was an exchange between Sen. Michael Johnson (R-York) who chaired the subcommittee and had been explaining the bill and Sen. Tom Fernandez (R-Summerville). Fernandez, as you can see here, alleged he had been offered, by the “trial lawyer lobby,” money in exchange for his vote. This allegation caused quite a reaction from inside and outside of the Senate chamber and the Senate immediately paused the debate. When the senate returned to session several minutes later, the debate continued and not long after Fernandez published a written statement clarifying what he said on the Senate floor. Interestingly, the two are not quite the same. Whether this will call for an ethics investigation is yet to be determined. The Senate adjourned that day taking no votes.

On Wednesday, our members were among over 500 business representatives who supported Gov. Henry McMaster, Senate Majority Leader Shane Massey, and Senate President Thomas Alexander as they called for an end to the confusing and decisive rhetoric around the tort debate and pushed for the passage of fair and balanced reform bill. CAGC Member Richard Jackson stood alongside McMaster and the Senate leaders as the business industry representative and urged passage of the bill. Jackson said, “Right now, one party in civil litigation involving multiple parties, no matter how small a fraction of fault they have been found responsible for, could face footing the bill for 100 percent of the damages in a case. And it could cost a family business, like mine, everything. That is not fair. And it is not the South Carolina way. I believe parties who have suffered deserve the chance to seek justice.” Once back in session Wednesday afternoon, Senators debated the bill into the night, again, adjourning without taking a vote.

And that brings us to last Thursday afternoon. A couple of hours into the debate, the plaintiff lawyer legislators offered an amendment. They shopped it inside the Senate Chamber calling it an amendment that “has something for everyone,” but Massey said it “gutted the bill” and called it “an amendment from trial lawyers for the trial lawyers.” Massey went on to say that the best thing to do is continue the bill (which would kill it) and just go on living with the status quo.  But instead, there was a motion to table the amendment, which is what we wanted. The tabling motion failed 25-19 and below are the votes:

Immediately after the vote, the Senate adjourned with S.244 remaining in interrupted debate status for more discussion this week.

Only a couple of Senators who should have been or previously shared they were with us were willing to explain their “no” vote, some calling it personal and others being convinced it was an amendment that had something for everyone. They might be willing to explain their vote to their constituents. Contact information for all Senators can be found here. In the meantime, please call and thank the 19 who stood with us.

Use arrow keys or swipe left/right to scroll through the photo album.

House Passes Liquor Liability Bill

The day after our press conference, the SC House waived the 24-hour rule for a bill to be on the House calendar and quickly pushed through H.3947, the Liquor Liability Bill. This bill is one of the House Republican Caucus’ agenda items and it passed by a 109-0 vote. As approved it ends joint and several liability (but ONLY for bars and restaurants), expands insurance options and implements safety measures in hopes of lower premium costs, and requires server training. Kudos to the House for addressing this issue for the thousands of businesses that have already closed because of their increased insurance rates. We are hopeful the House is willing to consider similar legislation for the other businesses across the state, including contractors, which are also seeing similar increases and are just one lawsuit away from going out of business.

AG Buildings Bill

Last week the Business & Commerce Subcommittee of the House Labor, Commerce and Industry Committee considered H.3946, also known as the Agricultural Buildings bill. This bill amends the exemptions section of the Contractors’ Licensing law. Currently there is an exemption in the law that allows farm buildings with less than five thousand square feet of floor space and used only for livestock or storage to be built without a contractor’s license. H. 3946, as drafted, would increase the square footage from 5,000 to 50,000 and would also amend it to include poultry among the qualifying use purposes. There were concerns among the subcommittee members about such a large square footage increase along with life, health, and safety concerns for anyone who might work in such a building that was built by an unlicensed contractor. The committee voted to continue the bill which kills it.

SC House Passes Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act

Last week the House passed H.3021, the Small Business Regulatory Freedom Act, a bill that should reduce red tape and improve government accountability. The bill, as drafted, would cut unnecessary and outdated mandates and hold state agencies more accountable by requiring a 25 percent reduction in regulations. It would also stop agencies from creating new rules unless state law specifically allows it. Under the bill, an agency could not impose a new rule unless it first repealed two existing ones. New and renewed rules would go through detailed reviews and expire automatically unless they are amended. The bill passed 111-0 and has been referred to the Senate for consideration.

DEI Heard in E&PW Committee

The House Education and Public Works (E&PW) Committee spent two hours taking testimony on H.3927 last week. Officially titled the Ending Illegal Discrimination and Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity Act, the bill aims to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives within state government, its political subdivisions, and institutions of higher education. No action was taken, and the committee is expected to reconvene in the coming weeks.

State of the SCDOT

Among all the other meetings last week, the Senate Transportation Committee held its annual state of the SCDOT meeting to hear from Secretary of Transportation Justin Powell. Secretary Powell’s message was simple: to modernize the system, we must modernize our policies. The more tools in the toolbox, the better, including revenue sources. Powell addressed continued growth of the system, loss of buying power, electric vehicles, transportation planning, and the need for bridge funding. Included is a link to the full presentation as well as a recording of the conversation between Powell and the Committee.