Entrepreneurs and businesses are still waiting for final action on what many see as key pieces of legislation in the General Assembly: Crowdfunding for new businesses and legislation to cut down on patent trolls.
Mark Binker of WRAL.com provides an update on key bills concerning businesses in N.C.:
- Business bills
Two bills of interest to businesses are also caught up in last-minute negotiations. A measure that would allow small investors to support North Carolina businesses through crowd funding – assembling lots of small investments – has passed the House in two different forms. One of those bills is awaiting action in a Senate committee, while the other is in an omnibus bill that is being hashed out by a House-Senate conference committee.
Businesses are also watching to see if a measure aimed at cutting down lawsuits by shell companies seeking to extort payments for purported patent violations from North Carolina companies will pass this year. Although a stand-alone version of this bill has passed the House, it is also part of a broader tort reform measure that could include protections for certain companies against asbestos lawsuits and protections for pharmaceutical companies. That broader bill is in negotiations between the House and Senate.
- Commerce Department
Gov. Pat McCrory has signed a bill that would turn many of Commerce Department’s marking and job recruitment functions over to a nonprofit. The new nonprofit would not be able to grant incentives but would be able to court businesses on behalf of North Carolina. Although the Commerce Department began putting the new nonprofit together in 2013, lawmakers did not give it specific direction or rules by which to abide until this year.
Read more at: http://www.wral.com/lawmakers-working-through-their-priorities/13791119/#BOJbl0R1XcZxT8t8.99
