State Government Relations
The NCBA communicates with members and staff of the NC General Assembly, state agency officials, and third party stakeholders on issues of concern to our members.
If you have any questions regarding the NCBA’s state government relations, please contact Nathan Batts (984-344-9985 or nathan@ncbankers.org). For detailed information on the bills that the NCBA is tracking, you can refer to our Bill Tracker publication
Important Note: The Bill Tracker section of our website is password-protected for NCBA member banks and affiliates, as well as their employees. Please call the NCBA office, or email Nathan Batts, to receive the password.
Role of the NC General Assembly
Much of our focus is on the NC General Assembly, which adopts state laws and consists of two chambers: the Senate, which has 50 members, and the House of Representatives, which consists of 120 members. Many of the laws applicable to banks are state-specific. Consider, for example, laws related to secured transactions, permissible interest rates and fees, deposit operations, business formation and operations, as well as wills, trusts, and estates.
The General Assembly meets in regular session beginning in January of each odd-numbered year, and adjourns to reconvene the following even-numbered year for a shorter session. Over the course of a 2-year legislative cycle, over 2,000 bills will be introduced and hundreds of these bills will become law. Even when not specific to banks, many of the bills that become law will affect banks as employers, so it is critically important for our industry to be proactive in its state government relations approach.
When in session, the Senate and the House of Representatives meet on Monday evenings and during the day on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday. During the week, committee meetings are also held. The House of Representatives is presided over by a Speaker, elected from its membership. The presiding officer of the Senate (called the President of the Senate) is the Lieutenant Governor, who has no vote in the Senate except to break a tie. The Senate and House also elect other officers from their respective memberships including a President Pro Tempore in the Senate.