House Bill 586 PUV/Repeal Forest Planning Requirement,  introduced by Rep Larry Pittman (R-Cabarrus) and endorsed by the Citizens Constitutional Caucus, is held up in the House Agriculture Committee.

The bill will roll back the control now possessed by the state government over North Carolina tree farmers. This control is based on principles designed by the United Nation’s program of sustainability, which violate the Constitution and private property rights.

We believe HB 586 is beneficial for our state because it will promote freedom in agriculture, reduce unnecessary government control over farmers, and increase productivity in the farming industry. We’re grateful to Rep. Pittman for sponsoring this bill

However, Speaker of the House Thom Tillis has coded House Bill 586 with a color that stops the House Agriculture Committee from putting it on their calendar so they can vote on it.

So far HB 586 has been passed over by a number of bills the committee received after HB 586. These bills include HB 614, HB 628, HB 663, HB 821 and HB 686.

We’re not sure why the Speaker coded the bills the way he did.

In order for HB 586 to make it to the next committee in time, it needs to be heard by the Agriculture Committee by tomorrow.

Otherwise the tree farmers will still have to keep giving the government control of their land.

Therefore we are asking everyone to take time now to pray and call the speaker today to ask him to recode HB 586 to a better color so the Agriculture Committee will vote on it.

Call the Speaker today at (919) 733-3451.

Let him know we’re praying for him. Thank him for his service to the people of North Carolina. Tell him you would like him to recode HB 586 so it will be heard by the committee.

In addition please contact your representative and ask them to support HB 586.

Don R. Watson, M.A.
Citizens Constitutional Caucus
National Coordinator

“The Citizens Constitutional Caucus believes HB 586 is beneficial for our state because it will promote freedom in agriculture, reduce unnecessary government control over farmers, and increase productivity in the farming industry,” said Katherine Bredehoeft, co-chair of the caucus’ Farm and Forest Property Protection Task Force.

“It will also protect the God-given right of private property ownership and help reduce the detrimental effects of the misguided planning policy of ‘sustainability’ on our state economy.”

For years, the state has used the standard of “present use value” to help lower the property tax burden on desirable industries, such as farming, thatare using land in a way that generates less income than other industries. PUV provides a way for a state to encourage beneficial industries that it wants to promote for economic and other reasons by providing a property tax break.

The General Assembly slipped the intrusive requirement for a ‘sound’ management plan into an otherwise beneficial law in 2002, Bredehoeft explained. “It is one of the so-called sustainability provisions contained in Agenda 21, a plan developed by the UN Conference on Environment and Development.”

“This means that the bureaucratic advisory board they set up by the rest of the law gets to dictate what the details of a written sound management plan are,” said Bredehoeft. “The farmer either has to get the state forestry department to write his plan for free, or else pay a forester who is licensed to do plans to write one,” she explained.

She noted that these plans have become more stringent over the years as the forestry department promotes more and more Agenda 21 policies.

But she said that the most egregious injustice of this policy is that if the farmer loses PUV status, they not only have to start paying higher property taxes in the future, but the state also forces them to pay back the money they saved by the lowered property tax for three years retroactively.

“Since the PUV rate is usually about a third the regular tax rate and most of the farms have large acreage, this huge tax bill would bankrupt the farmer.,” Bredehoeft said. Essentially this means once a farmer agrees to the sound management plan, they are locked in it forever.

“It’s a no-win situation for the farmer,” Bredehoeft said.

State Senators Allran, Cook, Goolsby, Jackson, and Rabin.

We would like to congratulate you for having the principled conviction to introduce and sponsor legislation that is Constitutionally-based and that has resulted in potentially opening the eyes of “We the People” to the cancerous perversion of the Constitution which has manifested itself over the past 100 plus years.

Furthermore, we want to encourage you to hold firm to your principles of adhering to the Constitution, which you affirmed to uphold during your swearing in ceremony, regardless of the reaction of those who “interpret” the Constitution differently.

First of all, before anyone rushes to comment on your actions, we would suggest that they peruse the First Amendment. It is a simple, straightforward amendment to understand and to determine the meaning therein.

- Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion,

- or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,

- or abridging the freedom of speech,

- or of the press,

- or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

Secondly, everyone needs to realize that the states formed the federal government, not vice versa.

Thirdly, white papers will soon be presented concerning issues that have been highlighted by the recent media brouhaha. These are intended for the enlightenment of “We the People.” Topics will include, but not be limited to, the following:

- Freedom of conscience issue

- The Incorporation Doctrine

- Original Intent

We look forward to supporting you and other Constitutional servants in all branches of government. We encourage you to hold strong to the core laws of the Constitution and your constitutional principles.

Respectively Submitted by
The Citizens Constitutional Caucus Advisory Council

Here is the tentative agenda:

9:00 a.m. Task Force Update

Farm & Forest

Second Amendment

Citizens Legislator Contact

Sheriffs United

College/Young Adults NC

10:30 a.m. Break

10:45 a.m. State Coordinators Present CCC Goals & Individual State Projects

Georgia, Kansas, Texas, Tennessee

12:00 p.m. Lunch

1:00 p.m. Legislative Update and Review

Outreach council discussion of proposals to support specific legislation or resolutions in the General Assembly. Each segment will begin with a 15 minute presentation on an issue, followed by 15 minutes of discussion.

3:00 p.m. Break

3:15 p.m. New & Proposed Task Forces

Stop Common Core

Civil Liberties

3:45 p.m. Activation Orientation & Implementation Overview

Strategy and Tactics

Know Your Enemy

Know Your Self

Know Your Foundation

4:45 p.m. Membership Information

Registration:

$20 in advance by June 27 (includes lunch), or at the door (no lunch). Spouse $15

CCC members who joined this year are eligible for a $25 Chick-Fil-A Gift Certificate Drawing

Make check payable to Covenant Restoration, LLC and mail to: Covenant Restoration LLC, 963 N. Harrison Ave #107, Cary, NC 27513

Online registration coming.

Not only do we have members in North Carolina from “Murphy to Manteo,” with outreach coordinators in 24 counties, we’ve established companion groups in four other states: Georgia, Kansas, Tennessee, and Texas.

We have also been officially endorsed by a number of other organizations including the Patriot Institute, the Patriot Coalition, Ag Freedom, Dr. Dan’s Freedom Forum, Constitutional Alliance Fund-PAC, the Christian Party of America and the Christian Party of North Carolina.

The Citizens Constitutional Caucus has also been featured in articles by Dr. Dan’s Freedom Forum and the Raleigh Libertarian Examiner.

We’ve been most encouraged by the list of Constitutional legislators we have either identified or who have contacted us directly. They are: Rep. John Bell, Rep. Bill Cook, Rep. Michael Speciale, Rep. Bob Steinburg, Rep. Mark Brody, Rep. Larry Pittman, Rep. Mike Hager, Rep. Chris Millis, Rep. Mark Hollo, Rep. Jon Hardister, Rep. David Lewis, Rep. Jason Saine, Rep. Mike Stone, Rep. Pat McElraft, Rep. Harry Warren, Rep. Carl Ford, Rep. Roger West, Rep. James Langdon, Rep. Ted Davis, Rep. Rick Catlin, Sen. Thom Goolsby, Sen. Brent Jackson, and Sen. Ron Rabin.

In addition to hold private meetings with several of them, we have had Citizens Constitutional Caucus representatives speak at events with certain legislators.

Jeff Lewis, Glen Bradley and others have written legislation for NC and other states, i.e., NDAA, Agenda 21, etc.

Some legislators have contacted us requesting we develop specific legislation for them, and one asked us to provide resources he could use for constitutional presentations in his district.

In the coming months, we plan on holding “town hall” meetings with legislators, and potentially a press conference, in the Legislative Building in Raleigh on days the General Assembly is in session.

The caucus has set up several task forces to work on specific issues and projects. The groups formed so far include: Second Amendment; Farm, Forest, and Property Protection; Education; ICLEI (International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives) in Orange County; Social Media, College Outreach, and; Sheriffs United.

Finally, the Caucus has set up a web site, recorded introductory videos for the website, begun publishing an electronic newsletter, and produced promotional materials for your perusal.

On Friday, Feb. 22, we had a round-table discussion with state coordinators from Tennessee and Georgia. Brenda Lenard will be organizing a CCC chapter in Tennessee. LaNell Babbage-Torres will be organizing in Georgia. In addition, Lisa Babbage will be coordinating CCC activities of college students and young adults in Georgia.

The next day we conducted a three-part program following the educate, legislate, active model. This included presentations on Agenda 21, particularly activities by Orange County commissioners, as well as the U.N. Small Arms Treaty and the National Defense Authorization Act. The caucus agreed to conduct further research on these topics with the goal of developing legislation to present to the N.C. General Assembly.

The caucus did approve legislation drafted by Jeff Lewis of the Patriot Coalition, which would declare that North Carolina “is not a battlefield subject to the Laws of War.”

Sonja Holmes reported she had a request from one legislator to look into the issue of extraterritorial jurisdiction. This is the power the General Assembly grants to municipalities to regulate development outside their boundaries, without having to get the “consent of the governed,” the people affected by the rules. The caucus agreed to develop legislation in this area as well.

The primary work of the CCC will be conducted through a system of task forces. These are the task forces already in place:

Farm & Forest – Sonja Holmes  and Katherine Bredenhoeft

2nd Amendment – James Hill  and Roger Lytle

Education – Bill Moore

NC College/Young Adults – Jordan Hennessy

Tenn. College/Young Adults – Lisa Babbage

Sheriff’s United – Glen Bradley

Citizen’s Legislator Contact – Jacqueline Esslinger  and Katherine Bredenhoeft-

Join the action. If you are interested in serving on one of these task forces please contact the task force coordinator.

The previously scheduled Feb. 23 agenda remains the same.

The agenda will start with a roundtable discussion featuring state coordinators Brenda Lenard (Tenn.), LaNell Babbage-Torres (Ga.), and Richard Frye (Kan.).

The Education Task Force will then make a presentation on its action plan.

Following that, we will hear about legislative action plans from Richard Frye, Patriot Coalition general counsel, who will be joined by Glen Bradley and Jeff Lewis.

Finally, we will discuss possible additional task forces, on topics such as the Second Amendment, and Shari Law that have been presented to the Advisory Council.

This is a golden opportunity for the citizen to view the big picture of the Legislative Constitutional Caucus and the Citizens Constitutional Caucus. Then they will understand how they can become active in reestablishing the Constitution as the rule of law in the Republic.

Here is the agenda:

PART I: EDUCATE – INFORMING THE CITIZENS ABOUT THE PROBLEM

8:30 a.m. Registration

9:00 a.m. Welcome: The Formulation of the CCC

9:15 a.m. Purpose and Design of the CCC Spider Web

9:30 a.m. New Medium of Communication: A Key to Our Success

10:15 a.m. Question and Answer period

11:00 a.m. Update on the Legislative Constitutional Caucus Legislative Liaison Process

11:30 a.m. Presentation of the New County & State Coordinators

LUNCH

PART II: LEGISLATE – THE CAUCUS DEVELOPS THE ACTION PLAN

Presentation of Issues for Caucus Review
Independence Hall Caucus Floor Debate Session

1:00 p.m. Call to Order-Roll & Call of Caucus members

1:15 p.m. 1^st Issue(County Level) – Orange County’s Involvement with ICLEI

1:30 p.m. Caucus Discussion and Vote on Plan of Action

1:45 p.m. 2^nd Issue (State Level) – Second Amendment Preservation

2:00 p.m. Caucus Discussion and Vote on Plan for Second Issue

2:15 p.m. 3^rd Issue (Federal Level) – Government Propaganda Demonizing Patriotic Americans (SPLC, MIAC, and DHS reports, i.e., HSAC/CVE and West Point CTC report)

2:30 p.m. Caucus Discussion and Vote on Plan for Third Issue

2:45 p.m. Closing of the Independence Hall Caucus Floor Debate Session

PART III: ACTIVATE – GETTING THE CITIZENS TO IMPLEMENT THE CAUCUS ACTION PLAN

3:00 p.m. How A Caucus Task Force Works Panel

The Farm, Forest, and Property Protection Task Force

Members: Dr. Dan Eichenbaum, Larry Swanda, Kathy Andrews, George Barrett, Jeff Lewis, Sonya Holmes, Dr. Katherine Bredehoeft

This task force was created as a direct outcome of the Dec. 1, 2012 Caucus meeting’s review of the Agenda 21 Resolution

3:30 p.m. Implementing & Promoting the CCC Resolutions/Legislation

3:45 p.m. Task Force – Focused Constitutional Issues Food For Thought

4:15 p.m. Additional Task Forces Break Out

4:30 p.m. Breakout for County/State & Potential Coordinators