(Note: This story has been updated to revise an item about renewable energy.)

RALEIGH, N.C. - The phone lines and the email queues should be busy and full at the General Assembly this week from advocates on both sides of key economic development issues.

As the General Assembly enters showdown week over several key bills, entrepreneurs, solar power backers, investors and job recruiters have a lot riding on the fate of “HB 1224.” There’s much more at stake than crowdfunding (NC JOBS Act) as GOP leaders search for a way to reach a truce.

House Speaker Thom Tillis “says he is confident he can pass it along with two other related measures,” WRAL’s Mark Binker tells WRAL TechWire.

But not all Republicans are on board for some of the economic incentives. And since House Bill 1224 also includes measures affecting teacher assistants and sales tax authority for counties, the future of the bill remains murky.

After all, it fell short 44-46 in a key House vote on Friday.

Binker and WRAL Capitol Bureau Chief Laura Leslie described the obstacle Tillis faces as a “contentious House Republican caucus.”

Indeed.

Just as Democrats battled for years to create a unified agenda despite top-to-bottom control of state government, so too do Republicans. But Friday evening, House and Senate leaders seemed to be moving toward a compromise solution that would get HB 1224 to the Governor’s desk. 

Also At Stake

As Binker pointed out Friday, HB 1224 bundles numerous economic matters beyond crowdfunding:

  • A job catalyst fund designed to help the governor and the secretary of commerce land big economic development projects such as car manufacturers. The state budget sets aside $20 million in case this fund is created, and there’s the potential for more money to be added in case of a specific project requires it.
  • A boost to the state’s JMAC fund designed to help a paper mill in western North Carolina convert to a more environmentally friendly power source.
  • A fix to the state’s unemployment laws that would allow the state to keep certain records confidential. This provision responds to an order from the U.S. Department of Labor that says that, up until this spring, the state’s Employment Security Division had been improperly releasing the names and addresses of people who lost unemployment claims.
  • An extension of time available for certain companies that use the state’s renewable energy tax credit, which is designed to help certain solar projects. Those companies would have had to invest roughly 5 percent of the total project cost by the end of 2015. Basically, it extends the availability of the credit, but only for companies that have projects under way. (Note: The summary of this point has been revised based on reporting by Binker.)