On Tuesday, September 25, 2019, the U.S. Department of Labor released the final rule raising the minimum salary an employee must make to be exempt from overtime and, as a result, making more salaried employee eligible for overtime compensation. The … Read more

The General Assembly has enacted significant legislation affecting planning and development regulations in North Carolina. A newly released legislative bulletin summarizes the changes already enacted. The most significant land use legislation is the adoption of Chapter 160D, a new chapter … Read more

Chris McLaughlin and I are excited to announce that our publication Regulation and Taxation of Short-Term Rentals is available for purchase through the SOG website. This publication is aimed at helping local governments decide how to address the growing issue … Read more

Counties and cities are vested with broad authority to impose restrictions and prohibitions during a locally declared state of emergency (GS 166A-19.31; for more information on local state of emergency declarations, see this blog post). These restrictions and prohibitions must … Read more

Last year the General Assembly enacted Session Law 2018-69 (An Act to Assist the Criminal Law Recodification Working Group).  The Act directed the State’s counties, municipalities, and metropolitan sewerage districts to submit lists of their criminally enforceable ordinances to two … Read more

Downtown Durham is hot.  Millions of square feet of new and renovated residential and commercial properties hit the market this year, including luxury condos atop the city’s new tallest building. By mid-2020, the number of downtown apartments will have more than … Read more

For those not familiar with Chapter 22B of the North Carolina General Statutes, this Chapter prohibits certain contract provisions by making those provisions void and unenforceable as a matter of public policy. The restrictions in Chapter 22B apply to all … Read more

Pardon the pun, but I couldn’t resist that title for a blog post on the subject of property tax interest.  Usually when we think of interest we think of the additional amount owed by taxpayers who fail to pay their … Read more

Elected officials, law enforcement officers, tax collectors, zoning inspectors and other public officials sometimes face lawsuits over decisions they have made or actions they have taken. To prevent the fear of lawsuits from unduly influencing the judgment of public officials, … Read more

North Carolina law says: The public records and public information compiled by the agencies of North Carolina government or its subdivisions are the property of the people. (GS 132-1(b))This powerful commitment to transparency wouldn’t mean much if the custodians of … Read more