Laws passed by the North Carolina General Assembly last year are now in effect that will limit the authority of local governments. Chapel Hill town attorney Ralph Karpinos presented some of these changes to the town council in their work session Wednesday night.

“As you probably have heard just by watching the media there’s not a lot of good news,” he said. “Most of it has been was in which the general assembly has been trying to reduce the authority of the town and other local governments.”

Towns in North Carolina derive their powers from the General Assembly, meaning the assembly can regulate what towns are able to do. One change made this year was to limit local government’s ability to regulate firearms.

“Prior to the 2015 session of the General Assembly, local regulation of the possession, ownership, transfer, sale, purchase, storage, licensing and registration of firearms was prohibited,” he said. “In 2015 the legislature added to this list taxation, manufacture and transportation.”

Should a local government attempt to regulate one of these issues, a person may file a lawsuit seeking damages and court costs. Karpinos said they still have the authority to regulate the discharge and display of firearms.

The General Assembly also prohibited towns from issuing sanctuary city ordinances.

“This is in large part a response to actions that were taken or reported to have been taken by a number of cities around the state, including Chapel Hill,” Karpinos said.

Chapel Hill and Carrboro had been sanctuary cities for several years, meaning that local police do not turn undocumented residents over to federal authorities, if the resident has no history of violence or felony behavior.

The law also prohibits the use of documents issue by a foreign consulate as acceptable documentation, but councilwoman Maria Palmer said the town was working on creating a local ID to give to immigrants.

“That legislation does authorize the use of locally-issued IDs, if the police accept them,” Palmer said. “We’re working right now with Centro Hispano and the chiefs of police in Carrboro and Chapel Hill and the sheriff to start issuing that documentation starting in February.”

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