This week in the North Carolina House of Representatives, House District 27 Representative Rodney D. Pierce joined three bills — proposed legislation “with particular relevance for our communities as a primary sponsor,” he said in a statement.
Environmental Justice, is a comprehensive package to ensure that minority or low-income communities are not disproportionately impacted by permits granted for mining, solid waste and other hazardous waste. It requires that public hearings be held when relevant to allow for communities to share their questions and concerns before projects are expanded. “Environmental justice is close to my heart and to our community,” Pierce said. “Warren County is the birthplace of the environmental justice movement, and our communities are still feeling the effects of unchecked pollution. This commonsense legislation would help ensure that citizens have a seat at the table when decisions are made that could negatively impact our environment.”
Pierce is a first primary sponsor of House Bill 103, which addresses North Carolina American Indian hunting and fishing rights.
He is joined by three Republican legislators, each of whom represents parts of the state with significant tribal populations. The bill would exempt North Carolina tribal members from hunting, trapping and fishing license requirements. One of those Republicans is Rep. Jarrod Lowery, a member of the Lumbee Tribe, who are poised to soon receive federal recognition.
“This is something we can do for North Carolina tribal communities, particularly the Haliwa-Saponi Tribe who are indigenous to our area,” said Pierce. “They were hunting and fishing this land long before anyone had a concept of licensure for such things. Removing this license requirement for native nations is an obvious step for us to take.”
This bill establishes a prostate cancer control program and was filed by Pierce and joined by three Republican colleagues, two of whom — Dr. Timothy Reeder and Dr. Grant Campbell — are the only members in the House who belong to the NC Medical Society.
The bill would appropriate $2 million in recurring funds for the Department of Health and Human Services to administer a statewide Prostate Cancer Control Program that would provide free or low-cost prostate cancer screenings for uninsured or underinsured North Carolina men.
“Prostate cancer is an issue that so many families have dealt with in our state,” Pierce noted. “I am excited to join this bill as a first primary sponsor along with my bipartisan colleagues so that we can help lower-income North Carolina men get the screenings they need. So many diseases are treatable if we catch them early and this funding would ensure that many more unnecessary deaths are prevented.”
