NC’s Legal Climate is Vital to Overall ‘Jobs Climate’

One of your state Chamber’s top priorities is preserving & improving NC’s ‘pro-jobs’ legal climate.  It is a vital part of our overall business climate that makes our state attractive to companies already here and those seeking to relocate.  That is why we worked so hard during the 2009 legislative session to prevent legislation from passing that would have opened the door to more lawsuits, raised the cost-of-doing-business, and wrecked the balance in current state laws that apply to civil lawsuits.

House Bill 813, (Uniform Apportionment of Tort Responsibility Act, or UATRA), is a top priority for plaintiffs’ lawyers, who would like to eliminate ‘contributory negligence’ to make it easier to win lawsuits.  The bill is eligible for consideration during this year’s legislative session.  The NC Chamber and its 56-member Coalition to Protect NC’s Legal Climate are opposed to the bill in its current form. 

In its current form House Bill 813 would essentially overhaul the state law that applies to civil lawsuits.  The problem with the bill is that it would destroy the balance and fairness provided by the law we have now.  

In the simplest of terms, the bill would allow someone who brings a lawsuit to collect a check even if he or she is found partly at fault for whatever happened.  (This is not the case in North Carolina now where ‘contributory negligence’ is a factor.)  Further, the bill would continue to hold the party or parties being sued (the defendants) potentially liable for more of the damages than they are responsible for, which is unfair.

If North Carolina is going to make a major policy change to eliminate contributory negligence and create a comparative fault system then the legislation must do at least the following in order to maintain this all important balance:

1. Plaintiffs may pursue recovery of damages only if they are less than half at fault themselves.
2. Defendants should not be responsible for the damages caused by others (no deep pockets).
3. Juries should know all the facts including when damages have been recovered from another source to ensure an informed and accurate verdict is made (no double dipping).

Fixing Regulations Would Help Environment & Economy

NC employers need certainty in order to create jobs and grow the economy.  Knowing this, state leaders and policymakers should capitalize on opportunities to eliminate situations where unnecessary uncertainty is hindering economic recovery and job creation.  The North Carolina Chamber believes at least two such opportunities exist where common-sense changes to environmental regulations would help both the environment and the economy.

• “Site-specific risk-based remediation for industrial sites,” which our state does not currently have, would help create jobs, grow the economy and improve the environment in North Carolina.  We believe that it is important to establish sensible clean-up standards of industrial sites by implementing site-specific risk-based clean-up principals.  This would allow contaminated sites to be recycled, re-developed and placed into productive use.  It would protect the public’s health and the environment, while allowing businesses to create jobs and grow the economy.  If a company is willing to invest in the clean-up of a site that needs it, then it should be allowed to develop the site.  It just makes good sense.   Click here to learn more. 
  
  
•       “Tiered enforcement” would prevent administrative errors (instead of real environmental infractions) from leading to a notice of violation and threatening Bill Lee Act incentives provided to employers for job creation. (The majority of Bill Lee Act incentives go to companies already operating in North Carolina.)  We believe it is important to provide certainty around incentives that companies are awarded if we are going to attract and keep jobs.  By establishing a “tiered enforcement” process, these incentives would not be jeopardized by administrative infractions.  Click here to learn more.

The North Carolina Chamber understands that building a strong economy and protecting the environment are not mutually exclusive.  During the upcoming legislative session, your state Chamber will push to improve environmental regulations to strengthen North Carolina’s climate for jobs and improve our environment.

Keeping Unions out of Government Holds Down Costs

Labor unions in our state continue to invest significant efforts and resources to increase their presence here.  Public employee unions, such as SEANC-SEIU Local 2008, continue to target state and local governments in their member recruitment efforts.  They have made it clear in recent years that their top priority is to repeal North Carolina’s current ban on collective bargaining for public employees. 

A bill that would grant state and local government employees collective bargaining (or contract) rights is eligible for consideration this session.  Your state Chamber opposes the bill and any similar legislation because we recognize that unionization would make government cost more and less efficient – at a time when government should be maximizing efficiency and looking for every possible way to reduce costs and spending.  .

Tax Policy Changes Should Center on Competitiveness, Certainty

The issue of tax reform was a hot topic during the 2009 legislative session. In the aftermath of last summer’s session, the state House and Senate Finance Committees met in several joint meetings to discuss comprehensive tax reform. 

Your state Chamber was engaged with the Committees to stay on top of developments and emphasize that any tax policy changes should incorporate the following key principles:

• NC’s competitive position is paramount.
• In crafting tax policy it is important to avoid taxing investment and production. Doing so discourages both. Tax rates are important but what you tax is equally important.
• Businesses need certainty, in both what the tax policy is and in how it is administered and enforced. Uncertainty discourages capital investment.
• If the sales tax base is going to be expanded, we should avoid taxing business to business services. Businesses pay a lot of sales tax already – about 40 percent of the sales tax collected in North Carolina is paid by business.

Indications are that legislators will not be dealing with a major tax reform package in the 2010 session, but there are likely to be a number of tax changes introduced as lawmakers scramble to find revenue to balance the state budget.