North Carolina SB 750: Turnpike GAP Funding and Debt.

Bill Text

GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF NORTH CAROLINA
SESSION 2025
S 1
SENATE BILL 750

Short Title: Restore the American Dream. (Public)
Sponsors: Senators Smith and Murdock (Primary Sponsors).
Referred to: Rules and Operations of the Senate
March 26, 2025
*S750-v-1*
A BILL TO BE ENTITLED 1
AN ACT TO EXPAND WORKFORCE HOUSING BY PROVIDING CURRENT AND 2
ONGOING FUNDING FOR THE HOUSING TRUST FUND. 3
Whereas, the North Carolina Housing Trust Fund was created by the General 4
Assembly in 1987 and is administered by the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency; and 5
Whereas, the North Carolina Housing Trust Fund is North Carolina's most flexible 6
resource for the State's growing and complex affordable housing needs. The Fund leverages 7
private funding to create a variety of housing solutions, including home ownership, rentals, 8
supportive housing, new construction, rehabilitation, and emergency repairs; and 9
Whereas, housing is not only an integral part of a family's budget but is also integral 10
to the economy of the State. Ensuring that all North Carolinians have access to safe, decent, and 11
affordable housing is a sound financial investment in North Carolina's future; and 12
Whereas, in 2005, bipartisan leadership filed Senate Bill 330 to fund the Housing 13
Trust Fund at $50 million. Senate Bill 330 addressed the "shortage of decent, safe, and sanitary... 14
housing available at affordable prices" and the importance of affordable housing to economic 15
development "because businesses will not locate in communities where workers cannot live"; 16
and 17
Whereas, in Governor Pat McCrory's budget for the 2015-2017 fiscal biennium, 18
former Budget Director Lee Harris Roberts wrote that "the NC Housing Finance Agency 19
represents one of the greatest returns on investment of any State money spent"; and 20
Whereas, North Carolina's investment in the Housing Trust Fund has decreased nearly 21
68% over the last 10 years – from $21 million in the 2007 fiscal year to a low-water mark of $6.8 22
million in the 2015 fiscal year; and 23
Whereas, over 815,000 North Carolinians do not have access to affordable housing, 24
with over 319,000 North Carolinians in disaster areas from Hurricane Matthew and Hurricane 25
Florence. In addition, 930,000 citizens are cost-burdened with their housing – those households 26
spending more than 30% of their income on housing costs and utilities being cost-burdened, and 27
those spending more than half of their income on housing costs being severely cost-burdened; 28
and 29
Whereas, there is only one unit of housing for every eight North Carolinians in need 30
of affordable housing; and 31
Whereas, the Housing Trust Fund balance currently has a zero dollar balance and the 32
Housing Finance Agency is currently able to utilize every dollar the General Assembly 33
appropriates to the Housing Trust Fund on an annual basis. For every $1 million that the Housing 34
Trust Fund spends: 108 households are assisted; $5,169,000 in affordable housing real estate 35

General Assembly Of North Carolina Session 2025
Page 2 Senate Bill 750-First Edition
value is generated; 110 jobs are supported; and $455,000 in State and local revenue is generated; 1
and 2
Whereas, this act would enact a one-time allocation to recapitalize the Housing Trust 3
Fund and would provide recurring revenue sources to ensure a sustainable Fund that can be used 4
to address the critical shortage of affordable housing in North Carolina; Now, therefore, 5
The General Assembly of North Carolina enacts: 6
SECTION 1. There is appropriated from the General Fund to the North Carolina 7
Housing Trust Fund, established under G.S. 122E-3, the sum of thirty million dollars 8
($30,000,000) in nonrecurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to be used in accordance with 9
the purposes provided in Chapter 122E of the General Statutes. 10
SECTION 2. G.S. 161-11.5 reads as rewritten: 11
"§ 161-11.5. Fees to be remitted to State Treasurer. 12
Six dollars and twenty cents ($6.20) of each fee collected by the register of deeds under 13
G.S. 161-10(a)(1) and (a)(1a) shall be remitted by the register of deeds to the county finance 14
officer, who shall remit the funds to the State Treasurer on a monthly basis to be credited as 15
follows: 16
(1) Fifty-five percent (55%) to the Floodplain Mapping Fund established under 17
G.S. 143-215.56A. 18
(2) Twenty Eighteen and one-half percent (20%) (18.5%) to the General Fund as 19
nontax revenue. 20
(3) Twenty-five percent (25%) to the Department of Natural and Cultural 21
Resources to be used as provided in G.S. 121-5(e). 22
(4) One and one-half percent (1.5%) to the North Carolina Housing Trust Fund, 23
established under G.S. 122E-3." 24
SECTION 3. G.S. 105-228.30 reads as rewritten: 25
"§ 105-228.30. Imposition of excise tax; distribution of proceeds. 26
(a) An excise tax is levied on each instrument by which any interest in real property is 27
conveyed to another person. The tax rate is one dollar ($1.00) on each fiv