Work in Raleigh continues to pick up speed as more bills are introduced and considered by the committees.
Legislators on the House and Senate Appropriations Committees also continue their discussions about the budget and are considering spending recommendations by Governor Easley, individual lawmakers and advocacy groups. We are also going through the various state programs to determine what can be eliminated or made more efficient.
This week, legislators introduced bills on a wide range of topics, including school construction, assistance for members of the military and their families, expanding renewable energy industries in our state and encouraging people to build or manufacture energy-efficient homes, and efforts to reduce crime in our state.
Lawmakers also took a little time out of their usual busy schedules on Wednesday to honor the Wake Forest University football team for winning the Atlantic Coast Conference championship for the first time since 1970 and playing in the Orange Bowl.
On Thursday, members of the House and Senate held a special joint session at East Carolina University in Greenville to celebrate and honor the school’s establishment, achievements and contributions throughout its 100 years of existence.
Thursday, March 8th is the 100th anniversary of the ratification of a law establishing the East Carolina Teachers Training School, which has grown from its first class of 123 teaching students to become an emerging, national research university with an enrollment today of close to 25,000 students.
The number of visitors each day at the General Assembly also continues to increase as we delve into more important issues and begin work on the budget. School children, advocacy groups, average citizens and lobbyists from across the state walk the halls of the Legislative Building in order to meet with Representatives and Senators. All residents of the 27th District/Northampton, Vance and Warren Counties are encouraged to come to Raleigh while we’re in session — and be sure to let me know when you’re coming or stop by my office to say hello.
Please remember that you can learn more about the General Assembly by visiting www.ncleg.net. Our newly updated website allows citizens to listen in on each day’s legislative session, committee meetings and press conferences, learn more about introduced legislation, and view each day’s schedule and list of bills to be voted on. The House will be back in session on Monday night at 7:00 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 General Assembly 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.
New House Rules Approved — Greater Debate, Openness and Transparency
After weeks of discussion and over an hour of debate on Tuesday, House members approved a new set of rules (House Resolution 423) that will ensure greater debate on various issues and more openness and transparency in the way business is done in the House. The rules, which passed by an 83-34 vote — all Democratic House members and 18 Republicans supported the bill — will govern the House during the next two years. These new, stronger rules will allow us to accomplish our legislative goals regarding education, health care, our economy and other important issues while also strengthening the trust and confidence of the people of North Carolina, which must be our top priority each and every day.
With passage of these permanent rules, the House will no longer allow “special provisions,” which have been slipped into the budget in the past with little or no debate. (The Senate leadership continues to support special provisions.) There will be no same day consideration of legislation without a vote of the House, which will allow ample time to study a bill before a vote occurs. There will be greater consultation and discussions with the Minority Leader. And, the House will not allow so-called “blank bills” that do not contain substantive provisions when introduced, but are filled in later during a session. (The Senate rules allow each Senator to introduce two blank bills per session.) View the permanent rules here.
Smoking Ban in State Buildings Advances to the Senate
The House overwhelmingly approved legislation (House Bill 24) on Wednesday that seeks to ban smoking in all state government buildings. The bill, which is aimed at protecting the health of state workers, school children and other visitors from second-hand smoke, was approved by a vote of 107-4. The bill now moves to the Senate, which if approved and signed into law by the governor, the smoking restrictions would start January 1.
Lawmakers have previously banned smoking in the Legislative Building and its offices and in prisons, and next week may begin debate on a bill (House Bill 259) that would ban smoking in most public places, including restaurants and places of employment.
Update from the Committees
High-Risk Health Insurance Pool — After gaining approval of the House Health Committee last week, legislation to create a “high-risk” insurance pool (House Bill 265) was approved by the Insurance Committee on Tuesday and will next be considered by the Finance Committee. The legislation would create a high-risk health insurance pool to allow people with pre-existing health conditions to get health insurance at more affordable rates. The program would be funded through enrollee premiums and insurer assessments. A similar bill was approved by the House last year, but the Senate did not consider it before adjournment.
Hog Farm Moratorium — A 10-year state moratorium on new hog farms and their waste lagoons would be expanded for three more years under a bill (House Bill 275) approved Wednesday by the House Agriculture Committee. The moratorium, which has been extended several times since first approved in 1997, is currently set to expire Sept. 1. Rep. Dewey Hill, D-Columbus, the bill sponsor, argues that the moratorium should be extended while researchers and the swine industry try to lower costs of alternative waste disposal methods. The committee approved extending the ban until 2010, despite requests by two environmental groups to permanently ban waste lagoons in North Carolina. Such a ban would pressure the hog industry and others to develop less expensive technology for farmers, according to the groups. The bill now goes to the House Committee on Environment and Natural Resources for consideration.
Update: NC’s Death Penalty
The State’s Department of Correction has filed a lawsuit, which asks the courts to strip the North Carolina Medical Board of its power to discipline physicians who participate in executions. The board adopted a new policy in January, which said that taking part in an execution would violate a doctor’s ethical code of conduct and could result in a suspension of his or her license. This new policy has, in essence, halted North Carolina’s death penalty, and thus far, has put five executions on hold. The Department of Correction filed this lawsuit in hopes of resolving the impasse in time to carry out the scheduled execution of Allen Richard Holman at 2 a.m. on Friday.
On Tuesday, state officials argued that executions aren’t medical procedures, and therefore don’t fall under the medical board’s jurisdiction so scheduled executions could resume. State law requires a doctor be present at an execution to ensure that the condemned inmate doesn’t suffer. But last year, a federal judge allowed an execution to go forward only after the state said a doctor would monitor the inmate to ensure he didn’t feel pain as officials injected him with a combination of three deadly chemicals.
A Wake County judge last month halted several planned executions, ruling that the medical board’s policy conflicted with the state law. State officials would need to adopt a new protocol to get around the policy, the judge said. The Council of State, which is made up of the Governor, Lt. Governor, Attorney General and other statewide elected officials, subsequently adopted a new protocol that actually increased the role of physicians in executions. Previously, a nurse or emergency medical technician monitored the inmate’s body function, but the new rules called for a doctor to handle those duties and to halt any execution if it appeared the prisoner was suffering.
Challenges to lethal injection, namely, whether it violates the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, have effectively placed executions on hold in 11 states. The question of doctor participation has figured in some of those disputes. In order to resolve these issues in North Carolina, the courts and/or the General Assembly will need to act.
North Carolina Still Tops in Business
For the second year in a row, North Carolina has ranked as the top state in the Southeast for attracting new industrial plants. The state also ranked third nationally, up two spots from last year, according to Site Selection magazine’s annual Governor’s Cup ranking. The magazine’s tracking of new corporate plant locations, released in its March edition, listed two North Carolina regions as leading the nation in their category. The Mooresville/Statesville area was named the top rural region. Meanwhile, the Greensboro/High Point area ranked top in attracting industrial plants among areas with populations ranging from 200,000 to 1 million. “North Carolina leads the region and nation in plant expansions and attracting new business,” Gov. Mike Easley said. “This ranking is further proof that new and expanding companies are finding there is no better place to live, work and raise a family.”
Constitutional Amendment Banning Same-Sex Marriage Rally
This week legislators introduced House Bill 493, which will allow citizens across North Carolina to vote on a constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage. On Tuesday, several thousand people from across the state held a rally at the Legislative Building urging passage of this bill. Legislative leaders have declined to take up the issue over the past three years, saying no changes in state law are needed. Current state law says that a valid marriage is one “created by the consent of a male and female person.” A 1996 law also states that North Carolina does not recognize gay marriages performed in other states. The House bill has my support and 62 co-sponsors, or more than half of the 120-member body. A three-fifths majority of the members in the House and the Senate would be required to put the amendment on the ballot for the November election. Twenty-seven states across the country have placed in their state constitutions provisions designed to ban gay marriages. Seven of them approved referenda in the November 2006 elections to add prohibitions, although voters in Arizona rejected a ballot question.
Other Legislative Highlights
Below are several bills that have been introduced in the House or Senate during the last week:
* House Bill 485 would require high school students to receive annual health instruction including information about how a parent may lawfully abandon a newborn baby.
* Senate Bill 591 would give consumers the option to stop delivery of local telephone directories to their home or office, patterned after the “Do Not Call” registry.
* House Bill 516 would reinstate participation goals for businesses operated by minorities or women in Department of Transportation contracts.
* House Bill 557 would establish the “N.C. Green Business Fund” that would provide grants to encourage development of renewable energy and energy-efficient industries in the state.
* House Bill 526 would provide corporate and individual income tax credits for taxpayers that build or manufacture energy-efficient homes. The taxpayer must document the home’s energy efficiency. The amount of credit is $1,000 for a new federally qualified energy-efficient home, or $2,000 for a new state-certified energy efficient home, but not both.
* House Bill 527 would make it illegal to use a cell phone while driving a motor vehicle on a public street or highway.
* House Bill 531 would raise the amount of pension for members of the North Carolina National Guard.
* Senate Bill 653 would create the North Carolina National Guard Death Benefit and Higher Education Fund, which would provide $250,000 to the family of a guard member killed in the line of duty and a free college education to the victim’s dependent children.
* House Bill 547 would allow funds in the National Guard Tuition Assistance Program to be used to provide grants to members of the National Guard to pay outstanding student loans.
* House Bill 486 would provide a property tax exclusion for disabled veterans and their surviving spouses, and to reimburse local governments for the resulting revenue loss.
* House Bill 554 would increase punishments for some assaults on patients in a health care facility or residential care facility that causes bodily injury.
* House Bill 492 redefines “delinquent juvenile” as someone who is between the age of six years and eighteen years. Currently, that definition only applies to children up to age sixteen.
* Senate Bill 563 would authorize counties to levy a one-cent local sales and use tax for public school construction, road construction, mental health programs, or other capital infrastructure needs.
* Senate Bill 495 would set aside 3 percent of the lottery profits to pay for emergency repairs to public schools in counties with lower-than-average wealth.
* House Bill 535 would require criminal background checks for current and future EMS personnel.
* House Bill 539 would increase the income eligibility limit for the state’s homestead tax exclusion.
* House Bill 553 would not allow a defendant convicted of first degree murder who had a severe mental disability at the time of the crime to be sentenced to death.
* House Bill 563 would reduce from 48 hours to 24 hours the amount of time an abandoned vehicle must sit on the right of way of a public highway before an officer can remove it.
I introduced the following bills:
* HB 516-Minority Businesses/DOT Contracts
* HB 519-Amend CPA Criminal Punishment
I met with the following people/groups:
* Dr. Kathi Gibson, Superintendent Northampton County Schools
* Chief District Court Judge Alfred Kwasikpui
* Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce
* Northampton/Warren Healthy Carolinians, Crystal Keener, Hilda Baskerville
* Susie Johnson, Northampton County Schools, Jeanie Watson, School Nurse
* Attended Seaboard Lions Club Sale