House education leaders moved quickly this week to start work on an initiative to improve the state’s high school graduation rate, holding an informational session with educators, business people and leaders of community groups.
Meanwhile, budget writers neared agreement on an education package. Outside of our chamber, our state’s top law enforcement officer, Attorney General Roy Cooper, and state education leaders have started a review of campus safety in the wake of the massacre at Virginia Tech. We wish them well and pledge to help protect our college students in any way we can.
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.
Education
Education, community and business leaders gathered this week to help provide the House Education Subcommittee on Pre-School, Elementary and Secondary Education with some guidance as it begins a new initiative to improve the state’s graduation rate. Howard Lee, chairman of the State Board of Education, State Superintendent of Public Instruction June Atkinson, as well as the presidents of Communities in Schools, the North Carolina Association of Educators and the N.C. Society of Hispanic Professionals and representatives from the Hunt Institute, the N.C. Justice Center and SAS attended the hearing, along with Speaker Joe Hackney, House Majority Leader Hugh Holliman and other lawmakers. Each of the presenters agreed that the state needed to use a multi-faceted approach and increase community involvement if it wanted to address the needs of students at risk of dropping out of school. The next step in the initiative is to hold two public hearings — one in Raleigh and one in Durham, where local community leaders administrators, teachers, parents, and students are expected to share their concerns and ideas about how to reduce the dropout rate. The House is expected to approve legislation this session, possibly to create pilot programs using some of the ideas gathered at the hearings and from educators.
The House education budget subcommittee has agreed with the Senate on a nearly $11 billion budget proposal. The draft offers about $114 million less than what Gov. Mike Easley wants and would not allow for his Learn and Earn program to be offered online to all of the state’s high schools. Budget writers in both chambers hope that more money will be available for education after the budget and finance packages are refined.
Public Safety
Attorney General Roy Cooper and the state’s higher education leaders announced Wednesday they will review campus safety as a result of the 33 shooting deaths earlier this week at Virginia Tech. Erskine Bowles, president of the 16-campus University of North Carolina system, said the system had already planned to limit access to dorms and install more cameras on its campuses. The crime rate on UNC campuses is one-sixth the crime rate of the entire state, he said. Cooper’s task force will study lock-down procedures, how to improve communication with students and ways to better identify potential lawbreakers.
Rep. Ty Harrell has introduced a bill (H1764) to redact some personal, identifying information such as cell phone numbers, driver’s license numbers, birth dates and insurance policy numbers from online vehicle accident reports. The online revelation of such detailed, personal information leaves people involved in accidents open to online identify theft.
Health
A revised bill (H259) to restrict smoking in North Carolina has again cleared the Judicary I Committee, this time without the proposed ban on smoking at businesses that some lawmakers opposed. The latest version of the bill would prohibit smoking in restaurants and lodging facilities statewide and allow local governments to impose stricter regulations for other businesses. Existing law doesn’t allow local governments to enact anti-smoking rules more restrictive than state regulations.
The House unanimously approved a bill (H267) Monday that would outlaw the use or possession of alcohol inhalers. Violating the proposed law would be a Class 1 misdemeanor. The devices vaporize distilled alcohol and mix it with oxygen, allowing it to be breathed rather than drank. The process allows alcohol to enter the bloodstream quicker. Seventeen other states have banned the devices. The Senate also has passed a version of the bill. The chambers will negotiate a compromise.
Military
Service members and small businesses would benefit from a proposal recently introduced in the House. The bill (H1499) would offer small businesses — those with 25 or fewer employees — tax credits for employing reservists or National Guardsmen who are called to active duty. The credits would help pay the cost of training people to replace the deployed service members and also the cost of reintegrating returning soldiers into the company’s work force.
Environment
Sen. Julia Boseman has proposed a measure (S1103) expected to help revive the state’s shrinking oyster population. Disease, declining water quality and overharvesting have destroyed 90 percent of the state’s oyster reefs since the early 1900s, according to state officials. Oysters are considered essential to the marine habitat because they filter water and their reefs serve as habitat for other species. Boseman proposes spending $16.3 million for a statewide oyster hatchery program that would spawn up to 5 billion larvae a year.
Housing
Local governments would get some financial aid to help them remove abandoned mobile homes if lawmakers approve a bill (H1134) introduced this week. Under the bill, buyers of new and used mobile homes would pay a $300 fee at the time of purchase that would go into a fund. Local governments could draw up to $1,000 from the fund each time they remove stranded mobile homes. Rep. Phil Haire, one of the primary sponsors of the measure, estimates that the state has 40,000 abandoned mobile homes.
Notes
The CIAA men’s basketball champions from Elizabeth City State University were honored in the House on Tuesday. The Vikings went into the CIAA tournament with a losing record and were lightly regarded, but they won four straight games, all by 5 points or less, and upset perennial contender Virginia Union in the finals to capture their first CIAA men’s basketball championship in 26 years.
The American bullfrog is now a step closer to becoming the official amphibian of North Carolina. The House overwhelmingly approved a bill (H958) on Thursday bestowing the honor on the frog as students from Pines Elementary School watched from the gallery. The students had asked Rep. Timothy Spear for the legislation while he was visiting them earlier this school year. The bill now goes to the Senate.
Nearly 100 undergraduate students from University of North Carolina schools visited the General Assembly on Tuesday as part of a research symposium. The research ranged from bee behavior to a study of access for the disabled to how racial bias influences jurors.
Speaker Joe Hackney is using a new approach to make sure bills get careful review in the House. Hackney is frequently assigning bills to two different committees, increasing the opportunity for scrutiny before the bills reach the House floor. The additional time required for this practice is worth the benefits of the extra attention, Hackney said.
Please remember that you can listen to each day’s session, committee meetings and press conferences on the General Assembly’s website. 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 1585-Study Mandatory Boating Safety Education
* HB 1692-Funds/HIV-AIDS Outreach Clinic
The following people visited my office:
Jean Reaves, Roger Edwards, Stella Ricks, Delores Peterson, Bill Pickette, Lee Pickette, Joe Jerman, Curtis Vincent, Susie Vincent, Leo Pickette, Rebecca Bayse, Fletcher Vincent, Nellie Wilkins, Mary Williams, Odell Brooks, Mary Vincent, Cain Green, Daisy New Church, Irene B. Mason, Martha Hairsen, Fannie L. Green, Raymond Vincent, Marvin Mason
Roanoke Valley Adult Day Care Center and Senior Center supporters
Jeanne Fox, H. Leslie Perry Memorial Library, Vance County
Bill Monahan, Kapstone Kraft Paper Co.
Judy Haney, West Fraser, Seaboard
Sheriff Wardie Vincent, Northampton County
Sheriff Johnny Williams, Warren County
Sharon Rasmussen, Boris Royster, Angie Vaughan, James R. Williams
Vance County DaVita Dialysis
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.