De-annexation bills pushing moratorium debate
By Ty Johnson
Published in News on March 28, 2011 1:46 PM
The controversies surrounding the Phase XI de-annexation House bill may have contributed momentum to another bill still in committee at the N.C. House of Representatives.
House Bill 9, a bill that would place a statewide moratorium on involuntary annexations, was filed Jan. 26 and is currently being discussed by the House's Judiciary Committee. Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir, who said he does not believe in involuntary annexations, is a primary sponsor of the bill.
During the Government Committee's consideration of House Bill 196, which would de-annex the Buck Swamp and Old Salem Church Road areas of Goldsboro, Rep. Diane Parfitt, D-Cumberland, spoke out on the need for a large-scale discussion of annexation itself.
"We really need to go to the root of the problem and have a very long discussion, a debate, on annexation," she said. "We are piecemeal doing this. We're going to continue to do this until we get the major issue resolved and I just am not comfortable with continuing to let pieces, parts, be dealt with."
Rep. Alma Adams, D-Guilford, concurred, adding how concerning the frequency of de-annexation bills was.
"It seems like were doing one or two of these a week," she said. "Where is the moratorium bill? When are we going to get it? It's critical that we do because otherwise we'll be doing this throughout the entire session."
Rep. Larry Brown, R-Davidson, then reminded the committee of his drafted bill, adding that he hoped he could count on the support of his fellow representatives who were growing weary from re-occurring discussions about controversial annexation and de-annexation bills.