My fellow representatives and I took an important symbolic step this week by unanimously agreeing to apologize for the institution of slavery and the immoral laws approved by our General Assembly predecessors.
We continued to debate issues of health, property rights and furthered our discussion of the state’s budget and also mourned some of our former colleagues.
Thank you as always for allowing me to share this information with you, and please let me know if I can be of any service.
Civil Rights
North Carolina became the third state in the nation to formally apologize for slavery after the state House approved a resolution initially introduced in the Senate, as well as a House resolution sponsored by Reps. Larry Womble and Earline Parmon. The resolutions were approved unanimously after a 2 ½ hour debate. The resolutions also included apologies for the state’s Jim Crow laws and other legalized segregation dating to the 17th century. Several lawmakers say they hope the discussion will lead to a longer debate on how the vestiges of slavery and racism still permeate our society and that their colleagues will back proposals aimed at eliminating racial disparities. Virginia and Maryland have approved similar proposals.
Education
A House committee voted Wednesday in favor of legislation that would ban corporal punishment in the state’s schools. Right now, 67 school systems in the state allow corporal punishment while 48 have banned it. A survey by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill found that students are seldom spanked in the systems that allow it. School groups are divided over the proposal. The N.C. School Boards Association believes the decision should be left to local boards, while the N.C. Association of Educators argues that some teachers in counties that allow corporal punishment are being forced to uphold a policy they oppose.
Health
A bipartisan group of representatives introduced legislation this week that would give Medicaid relief to the state’s counties. Medicaid spending in the state has increased from $3.1 billion in 1995 to $8.5 billion in the last fiscal year. During that time, the counties’ share of that spending has nearly tripled to about $450 million. The proposal would cap the counties’ contributions to what they spent in the 2005-06 fiscal year and would also allow the state to offer financial help to poor counties or others struggling to pay their share of Medicaid costs.
Some nurses asked the North Carolina Board of Nursing to follow the lead of the state Medical Board by passing an ethics policy that bars its members from taking part in executions. The N.C. Nurses Association plans to discuss the issue later this month, but its position would not bind the licensing board. A nursing board spokesman says the group would have to seek legislation to keep nurses from participating in executions since the board has no authority to discipline its members for ethics violations as the medical board does. The Medical Board’s policy has resulted in a de facto death penalty moratorium in the state as the courts seek to resolve the board’s stance with a state law that requires doctors to attend executions.
Budget
The main budget-writers in the General Assembly asked their fellow lawmakers to trim Gov. Mike Easley’s proposed $20.1 billion budget by about 1 percent. The $210 million cut would reduce the governor’s proposed $350 million expansion budget by 60 percent. Easley’s recommended education budget would be reduced by $115 million, while the Health and Human Services proposal would lose $26 million. Part of the reason for the proposed cuts is uncertainty over the state’s tax structure. Easley and some members of the House favor keeping a quarter-cent sales tax and an income tax increase for the state’s wealthiest workers — both approved in 2001 — on the books. Some members of the Senate want to eliminate the taxes, which together generate about $300 million.
Property Rights
Most of the members of the House renewed a push for a constitutional amendment to ban condemnation of land except for public purposes. Supporters failed last year to get the proposed amendment on the ballot, but they did get a law passed that prevented some towns and cities in North Carolina from condemning land for economic development purposes. To get on the ballot, the proposal would have to be approved by three-fifths of members in each chamber. I and ninety-five of the 120 House members favor the proposal.
Transportation
The state’s drivers will soon be seeing red. Starting April 16, the blue lettering on the state’s standard-issue license plates will be replaced with red letters. The Wright brothers’ plane and sea grass will remain as the background. The change is the first to North Carolina’s standard license plate design in 25 years. North Carolina has had the same standard plate longer than any other state except Delaware. Its plate dates to 1962. The state set aside $1.2 million for the more than 600,000 new plates it plans to distribute during the first year.
Notes
Former Sen. William N. Martin died of a heart ailment late last week at the age of 61. Martin, a Democrat, represented Greensboro in the Legislature from 1983 to 2002. After failing to win the Democratic nomination for the 13th District seat in Congress, Martin became a public policy and governmental affairs consultant. He is survived by his wife and two sons.
Ruth Easterling, a Mecklenburg County Democrat who served in the House from 1977 to 2002, was remembered by her colleagues Tuesday for her dedication to children’s issues. Easterling died in November at the age of 95. Rep. Beverly Earle called Easterling “one of the most profound legislators this state will ever know.” Easterling was the longest-serving female House member ever when she stepped down.
Floyd McKissick, a lawyer who was also chairman of the Durham County Democratic Party, was elected by the party’s executive committee to replace the late Jeanne Lucas in the state Senate. Lucas died March 9. Her term runs through 2008. McKissick was a member of the Durham City Council from 1993-2001.
Please remember that you can listen to each day’s session, committee meetings and press conferences on the General Assembly’s Web site. Once on the site, select “audio,” and then make your selection — House Chamber, Senate Chamber, Appropriations Committee Room or Press Conference Room.
I introduced the following bills:
* HB 1394-Study Increasing Glass/Plastic Recycling
* HB 1397-Veterinary Medicine Clinical Teaching & Research Funds
I met with the following:
* Earl Evans, Haliwa-Saponi Tribe
* Dr. Michelle Ogle, Maria Parham Medical Center, and Rebecca Keene, Ruth Denney, Phyllis Daniels, Rita Cozart, Alijah Burwell, Richard Allen and Raeford Massey
The House will return to session Monday at 7 p.m.
As I’ve said many times before, I hope you will continue to let me know how you feel about the issues that are being debated by the North Carolina Legislature and the challenges you and your family are facing each day.
By working together, we can make Northampton, Vance and Warren Counties and all regions of North Carolina a better place to live, work and raise a family.