Mark Binker

A game of legislative chicken leaves the fate of several high-profile economic development measures and crowdfunding in limbo as lawmakers shakily wind down their summer session. Senators left Raleigh shortly after 1 a.m. Friday once they signed off on the $21.1 billion state budget, but they did not do so on the best of terms with their colleagues in the House. A last-minute fracas over coal ash cleanup legislation rubbed already raw nerves. When members of the state House arrived for work Friday morning, they were greeted by several measures senators left behind. Among those was House Bill 1224,...

North Carolina residents would be able to invest small amounts in new in-state ventures through crowd funding under a bill that cleared the Senate Commerce Committee on Wednesday. The measure, which has already cleared the House, would allow most companies to raise up to $1 million in capital – $2 million if they have undergone a financial audit – through “unregistered securities.” Essentially, companies would be able to sell shares, mainly online, directly to small investors rather than through the stock market. Each individual investor would be limited to purchasing $2,000 in “unregistered securities” unless that person is an...

The state House and Senate on Thursday gave tentative approval to different versions of a bill designed to turn the marketing and job-recruitment functions carried out by the Department of Commerce to a private nonprofit. Although the two measures started out the same when they were first introduced in committee Wednesday, a series of amendments have changed their content significantly. In the Senate, lawmakers rolled in a remake of the state’s film incentives program. Homeland filming in Raleigh Senate wants a new grant program for film incentives In the House, the biggest change came courtesy of an amendment by...

Commerce committees in both the House and Senate approved legislation Wednesday to turn the state’s job-recruitment efforts over to a nonprofit company that would contract with the state but be able to keep more of its activities private. The idea for a public-private partnership has been something Gov. Pat McCrory’s administration has been pushing since before he took office. During the 2013 legislative session, legislation to lay the groundwork for the new business recruitment entity stalled. In the bills given committee approval Wednesday, lawmakers anticipate spending $17.5 million per year on the new nonprofit, about 5 percent less than...

The state House has begun work to cut down on patent trolling, the practice of bringing unfounded patent claims against a company in an effort to win a settlement. “It’s an extremely important issue for innovators in our state,” Rep. Tom Murry, R-Wake, told the House Commerce Committee on Wednesday. Patent troll bills have been enacted in 12 states, according to a report in The Wall Street Journal on Thursday. In all, bills have been introduced or enacted in 26 states.  The measure, first drafted in an interim committee, would allow companies to seek damages against those who sue...

Draft legislation reworking the rules for a new private nonprofit designed to recruit businesses to North Carolina would make the corporation’s employees subject to state ethics, personnel and travel polices – prompting objections from Commerce Department leaders. “The objective here is nimbleness, speed of movement, the ability to take action and to market the state effectively,” said Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker. “I’m looking at all of the legislation with that lens. So, I’ve got concerns about legislation that might be preventive.” When Gov. Pat McCrory took office, plans were already in the works to turn some of the Commerce...

North Carolina lawmakers are drafting legislation to combat patent trolls, shell companies that attempt to win quick settlements from businesses by threatening patent infringement lawsuits. “Patent suits are extremely expensive,” said John Boswell, the chief legal officer for Cary-based software maker SAS. Speaking the Joint Legislation Economic Development and Global Engagement Oversight Committee Thursday, Boswell gave lawmakers an example of one case that SAS had recently defended. It had cost the company $8 million in legal fees and research to defend the case, which it ultimately won. A federal court awarded SAS $200,000 in the case. The kicker: the...

North Carolina will focus its business recruiting efforts on 38 industries as part of a new economic development plan that a group of business, political and education leaders officially turned into Gov. Pat McCrory Friday. “We really got an opportunity to re-look at the way we generate jobs in North Carolina,” said John Lassiter, chairman of the North Carolina Economic Development Board. The board has spent the last six months developing the plan, which amounts to a blueprint for McCrory’s strategy to bolster job creation in North Carolina. Lassiter will also play a part in putting the plan into...