The state Senate passed a wide-ranging regulatory reform bill with little controversy Monday, sending the House legislation that would boost a landfill cleanup at Charlotte Motor Speedway and require fewer water fountains and toilets in small businesses.

Lawmakers dropped a portion of the bill that would have repealed the state's prohibition on disposing of televisions and computers in landfills. The proposed change was a bridge too far for the Senate, despite concerns in some parts of the state that the state ban doesn't encourage recycling as effectively as hoped.

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The vote on Senate Bill 553, which touches on a several parts of state code, was 39-5.

The bill may get more changes in the House, but for now it would:

  • Cut in half Charlotte Motor Speedway's required match for a state grant to clean up an unlined landfill on its site. The grant, up to $2 million, currently requires a 2-to-1 match from the track. This would make it a 1-to-1 match.
    • Tweak state rules for sanitary landfills that have lived past their local approval. Current law allows them to stay open provided the owner "has complied" with the terms of that local approval. The bill changes "has complied" to "is in substantial compliance."
      • Double the size of a business than can open without a water fountain, setting the threshold at 3,000 square feet. The bill would also up the threshold a bit on toilets, allowing businesses up to 3,000 square feet to have just one.
        • Order all of the state's occupational licensing boards to study how they might increase online options for their continuing education requirements.
          • Add aquaculture to the list of things that can be done in flood-prone areas without a permit.
            • Require the state Department of Environmental Quality to study funding needs and legal changes that would speed up various reviews for "permits typically required for job creating and real estate development."

              The bill didn't get any debate on the Senate floor Monday beyond brief explanations from bill sponsors.

              Sen. Andy Wells, R-Catawba, said he'd like to see the more generous grant match offer for Charlotte Motor Speedway made to other groups trying to clean up old landfills around the state. There are hundreds of these unlined landfills in North Carolina, and Wells said the state's cleanup program gets to only a couple a year.