State Representative Tom Murry was among the politicos who gathered recently for a new building dedication at SAS’ global headquarters in Cary, and he took the opportunity to talk up crowdfunding when an inquiring reporter asked about prospects of a bill being passed.

Murry believed he saw a path to navigate a bill through the dangerous minefield of General Assembly politics where even one-party control (Republicans) isn’t easy.

The big mine to avoid is corporate incentives. But …

In a conversation with Gov. Pat McCrory at the same event The Skinny spoke with Murry, McCrory pointed out that he would not hesitate to call the General Assembly into special session if the state had a chance to land a major jobs project. He also noted that funding for the best-known state incentives program (Job Development Investment Grant, or JDIG) was exhausted.

Recent WRAL TechWire coverage of crowdfunding:

  • Growing number of states pass crowdfunding legislation
  • Crowdfunding bill fails as incentive package defeated
  • Prediction: Failure to pass crowdfunding, incentives will hurt N.C.
  • Raleigh startup GroundFloor pushes ahead with crowdfunding in Georgia.

So look for the incentives debate to break out again as soon as the General Assembly reconvenes – either to consider a big jobs opportunity that requires substantial incentives or as part of regular business during the next scheduled session.

And crowdfunding could be part of any renewed debate.

Crowdfunding both at a state and national level is seen by advocates as an essential tool to create more capital for startup companies. A growing number of states have passed crowdfunding legislation, including Georgia where Raleigh-born GroundFloor moved its headquarters to take advantage of opportunities in real estate for microlending and crowdfunding.

Murry was optimistic, noting that the so-called NC JOBS act was so popular it was used as a bartering chip in General Assembly negotiations about a larger bill that included incentives for job recruitment. The big bill failed.

But the representative, a Republican from Morrisville, was confident he and other supporters could get the bill passed next time around.

Then came last Tuesday’s election.

A Costly Defeat?

Republicans may have won on a vast scale nationally in elections last week but Murry’s defeat has cost backers of the NC JOBS Act a key backer.

So what happens now?

No one is giving up, says investor, entrepreneur and JOBS Act advocate Mark Easley.

“Representative Murry is a big advocate for the small business and startup communities, and he will be missed,” Easley acknowledged. However, he wasn’t the only one, Easley pointed out.

“We had 19 co-sponsors for the NC JOBS Act in the NC House, so we will need to work with them to get the bill re-introduced,” Easley explained.

“It will once again come to the commerce committee, so we are also waiting to see who will be the new Speaker and who will be the new chairman of commerce.”

Speaker Thom Tillis is headed for the U.S. Senate, having defeated Kay Hagan. But Republicans retained control of the N.C. House and Senate. The JOBS Act passed earlier this year by a virtually unanimous, bi-partisan vote in the House but became caught up in wrangling between McCrory’s administration and the Senate in an acrimonious debate over corporate job incentives.

While crowdfunding may still have plenty of support, backers are going to have to find some way to keep a new NC JOBS Act separate from the larger incentives battle which shows no signs of abating.

Bottom line: NC JOBS Act backers are going to have to be smarter in order to navigate the incentive minefield.