The NC Chamber supports Senate Bill 582: Farm Act of 2023 and plans to score this vote. We encourage you to vote to pass this bill.

The NC Chamber strongly supports a clarification to the definition of wetlands of North Carolina provided in Section 15 of the bill, “Clarify Wetlands Definition.” For 27 years, the definition of wetlands in North Carolina was coupled to the federal definition, Waters of the United States (WOTUS). In 2019, during a triennial review process for technical and grammatical changes, the NC Environmental Management Commission de-coupled the definition from WOTUS, changing the definition to a broad all-encompassing definition of “Waters of North Carolina.” This change opened the door for expansive regulatory burdens on agriculture and landowners already facing a federal permitting regime.