NCRLA’s Government Affairs team has worked to prepare a very robust legislative agenda for the 2023–2024 biennium. To find our full report with the status of every bill we are tracking on behalf of the industry, please log in to your member account.
2023 Legislative Long Session By the Numbers
Of the 1,659 bills that were introduced this session, 107 directly impacted NC restaurants, hotels, and bars. Bills filed but not passed during the 2023 session are still eligible for passage in the 2024 session.
This year’s Regulatory Reform Act of 2023 included two major provisions for the restaurant industry pushed by NCRLA. The first reduced the number of days that local health inspectors must reinspect a restaurant from 15 to 10 days. The second reduced the number of graded inspections for a Category IV restaurant to 3 instead of 4. Four inspections will still be done, but one inspection will be for educational purposes and not for a grade. This will allow for more open dialogue between restaurants and their health department and for real questions to be asked during the inspection process. The NC Department of Health and Human Services (NCDHHS) must now go through the rulemaking process for implementation of the changes.
One of the first bills passed this session was NCRLA’s SB 53: Hotel Safety Issues. This bill clearly delineates that a hotel guest does not have tenancy rights under the landlord tenant act until after 90 days of occupancy. Previous legislation did not address this issue. Widely differing opinions by advocates and local law enforcement left many hotels across the state unable to remove guests for nonpayment or misbehavior. Governor Cooper vetoed the legislation in the last legislative session but allowed the bill to become law without his signature this year.
This year, 11 bills reforming the state’s alcohol beverage control system were introduced and every one of NCRLA’s legislative priorities was included in at least one of these bills. Towards the end of the legislative session, SB 527: ABC Omnibus 2023 was introduced combining many of those provisions and others into one ABC Omnibus bill for 2023.
NCRLA pushed items in the bill included: cocktails to go, allowing mixed beverage permittees to purchase alcohol at any ABC store in their county, transparency on the purchasers of allocated spirits, changes to the advertising laws, allowing ABC to charge a fine instead of revoking a permit for failure to pay the renewal, and streamlining other permitting processes.
The bill passed the House ABC and Finance Committees. It awaits a hearing in the House Rules Committee and then would only need a final vote in the Senate.. NCRLA will continue to lobby and educate members during the interim to push for passage during the 2024 session.
The state budget this year included up to $400,000 in funding for NCRLA’s Foundation to provide ProStart for hospitality career and technical education in North Carolina’s high schools.
Senator Tim Moffitt (R-Henderson) introduced SB 667: Regulation of Short-Term Rentals. The bill severely limits how a local municipality can regulate a short-term rental. Senator Moffitt did not move the bill this session. He began stakeholder meetings that he intends to continue in the interim to address the issue in the short session.
No new meals taxes were introduced this session. Charlotte advocated for an extension of their expiring 1% meals tax to help fund hospitality investments, including the renovation to the Panthers stadium. The meals tax extension pushed out the expiration date from 2031 until 2060. This was included and became law as part of the SB 154 Omnibus Occupancy Tax Bill.
This session, 16 bills were introduced changing or implementing new occupancy taxes This year, the House and Senate agreed to bundle these bills into one SB 154 Omnibus Occupancy Tax Bill as long as every provision complied with the House guidelines, NCRLA pushed two non-compliant bills and a push by Alamance County into compliance for inclusion.
As part of Charlotte’s hospitality tax requests, there was a push to extend the expiration date of the extra 2% occupancy tax that is used for the NASCAR Hall of Fame out until 2060. NCRLA, alongside industry partners, pushed back on the extension of this out of compliance (and highest in the state) tax for Charlotte, and the provision was pulled from consideration for this year.
This year we once again saw a plethora of bills filed addressing the school calendar issue. These bills were filed as both local and statewide bills. One bill made it all the way through the House and headed to the Senate where it never made it to the floor for a vote. Senate leadership continues to be fully committed to protecting the current school calendar law.
However, recent polling of legislators done by the Charlotte Observer found that 110 out of 170 legislators support returning authority to local school boards to set their own calendar.
Other Items of Importance
- Once again, NCRLA was able to push back efforts by the NC Department of Revenue (NCDOR) to require franchisors to report the sales of their franchisees directly to NCDOR.
- The Department of Natural and Cultural Resources (NCDNCR) wanted changes to the Umstead Act which could have allowed certain hotels at state parks. NCRLA worked with NCDNCR to negotiate language that would address their concerns without opening harmful competition. The final bill can be found here.
- Preemption on local gas bans– HB 130 Energy Choice/Solar Decommissioning Requirements prevents local municipalities from banning new or existing gas lines to be used for commercial and residential purposes.
- Sports wagering– HB 347- Sports Wagering/Horse Racing Wagering passed with bipartisan support legalizing mobile and online sports betting as well as betting on horse racing in North Carolina. This allows our professional sports teams to remain competitive.
- Medicaid expansion– HB 76 Access to Healthcare Options passed the legislature but was contingent upon the state budget becoming law and became law upon passage of the budget.
Requiring Cash Bill-HB 20 Cash Commitment Act would require businesses to accept cash. NCRLA was able to negotiate a provision for hotels to be able to require a credit card for quests to check in, but restaurants and bars would still be required to accept cash under the bill. The bill passed the House but did not move in the Senate.
Third-party delivery bill- HB 599 Unfair Advertising/Food Delivery Platforms would require third-party food delivery platforms to receive written authorization from food service establishments before they are able to post the restaurant on their platform. The restaurant could also revoke the authorization at any time. It also gives the restaurant a private right of action against the delivery service for violations. This bill went through the House and NCRLA will continue to push for this to pass through the Senate in the upcoming short session.
Bar definition – SB 542 DOL Omnibus/Other Changes made changes to the definition of a bar and changes to when a bar would be inspected given the nature of food and beverages served.
Credit Card Fees- HB 209 Consumer Credit Card Protection Act would prohibit businesses from imposing an extra charge for payment with credit or debit cards. A business could still have a lower price if a consumer chose to pay in cash. This bill did not move this session.
- Reiterated specifically in state statute that local municipalities are not able to address labor laws including wages.
- Clearly preempted local municipalities ability to prohibit the use or charge a fee for plastic bags and single use plastics and Styrofoam.
