North Carolina has a housing and sawmill problem. The number of local sawmills in North Carolina has been declining, while the population of North Carolina, and the subsequent demand for housing, continues to rise exponentially. North Carolina’s Department of Housing has found that the state will be short a little under a million houses by 2030. Last Tuesday the North Carolina Senate Agriculture Committee passed the Support Local Sawmills Act onto the Rules and Operations Committee. …The act would clear two major barriers that impede the utilization of local lumber. First, it expands the ability of landowners and small sawmill owners to sell their unstamped (also referred to as ungraded) lumber to others for residential construction purposes, promoting a vibrant marketplace for local wood products.Second, the bill eliminates the discretion given to building inspectors, ensuring a standardized process for approving the use of local lumber.