There’s a law that says if you have a local government borrowing for more than $1 million that has to go to the LGC for approval, you generally need to send an advance notice to the General Assembly’s joint committee on local government 45 days prior to the LGC’s consideration of your application. Here’s a link to the statute. You’ll see there are some exceptions to the filing requirement; refundings are also exempt from the filing requirement.
When this law came into effect, there was some fear in the NC public finance community that this committee would try to exercise oversight, or at least influence with the LGC, about which local government financings went through. So far, those concerns have not become reality. The 45-day letters are being used to educate the committee members about the scope of local government borrowing in North Carolina, but I am unaware of the committee’s making any inquiries with LGC staff about the particulars of any specific proposed borrowing.

The LGC staff and committee, in fact, seem to be trying to alleviate concerns. Here’s a link to some material on the 45-day filing process from the LGC and the Committee. In addition, I can say that when I’ve had to send in a filing less than 45 days prior to LGC consideration, that hasn’t been a problem. Now, that’s only happened to me with late-arising financings in unusual circumstances – and in the filings I have explained the circumstances (and apologized for the late filing). I don’t know what the reaction would be now – well over a year into the life of this requirement – if someone simply made the filing late, or didn’t even make the filing (although the LGC has said it’s free to approve your deal even if you don’t file at all, I’m not sure how comfortable I am with that idea).

The statute spells out a few things that have to be in these 45-day letters. The committee and its staff, however, would like a few more pieces of information. Here’s a link to a form 45-day filing letter that I use. This form is a little more complicated than some of the other forms I use, but you may find it helpful.

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