News-Record.com

Congressman Howard Coble is among those calling for the Congress to confirm nominees to the Federal Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. The nominees have generally been held up by Senate Democrats because they view the appointments - made by President Bush - as too ideologically committed in their rulings.

From a news release:

Today, 21 Republican Members of the U.S. House of Representatives called on Senate Democrats to schedule hearings for the Fourth Circuit judicial nominees. In a letter to Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, the House Members - who represent constituents in the Fourth Circuit - urged Senate Democrats to give the nominees an up-or-down vote.

According to the letter, the 21 Members believe that their constituents are paying the price for the judicial vacancies “as they see their cases delayed because there are not enough judges to handle the caseload on the Fourth Circuit.”

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit has a current vacancy rate of 33 percent; the nonpartisan Judicial Conference has found three of these vacancies to be "judicial emergencies." One of the seats, based in North Carolina, has been vacant for over 13 years.

Statements from several of the Members are below:

[snip]

Representative Howard Coble (R-NC): "Chief Judge Robert Conrad, who was nominated to fill the vacancy in North Carolina, is a longtime friend of mine and extremely qualified to fill this position. To leave a seat vacant for more than 5,000 days is a travesty. The people of North Carolina and the Fourth Circuit deserve better. I urge the Senate to move on this and other vacancies expeditiously."

Other Republicans also weighed in:

Representative Walter Jones (R-NC): "Many people in North Carolina rely on our federal courts, yet the Fourth Circuit seat based in North Carolina has been vacant for more than 5,000 days. The Senate’s refusal to hold a vote on President Bush’s four nominees to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit is completely unacceptable. Due to the Senate’s inaction, our citizens continue to suffer as cases get delayed because there are not enough judges to handle the Fourth Circuit caseload. My constituents deserve better."

Representative Patrick McHenry (R-NC): "By playing partisan politics with the judiciary, Senate Democrats are depriving the people of the Fourth Circuit their right to justice. They need to stop playing games and do their jobs."

Representative Sue Myrick (R-NC): "The people in North Carolina, who are served by the Fourth Circuit, deserve better. We need these judicial spots filled so that people can get justice; not a waiting line because we don't have enough judges to hear the cases."

Last year I wrote a couple times (here and here) about a scrape over the state's agricultural research stations. From one story:

But a proposal by state senators to transfer management of the 18 research stations from the Department of Agriculture to N.C. State has sparked an argument involving land conservation, government efficiency and the state’s $20 billion budget.

The provision was eventually booted from the budget, but is now apparently under study by the legislature's professional research staff. In particular, a new division designed to root out waste has taken aim. From columnist Scott Mooneyham:

A draft report already prepared by the division recommends closing seven of the 18 stations, selling the land for an estimated $54.7 million and generating $3.9 million in annual savings. The remaining stations would be operated by N.C. State and N.C. A&T State universities. Currently, the state Department of Agriculture operates most the stations.

The seven stations that would be closed encompass nearly 6,900 acres and have 55 full-time employees.

One key finding in the report: Only a couple of other states operate more agriculture research stations than North Carolina; California and Texas have fewer.

[snip]

But the issue is bigger than just the consolidation of agricultural research stations.

These recommendations are really a test case for this notion that the legislature can set aside cronyism and turf protection and the pork barrel mentality. Will these analysts provide independent, objective assessments that are heeded by legislators, or will they ultimately serve up justification for the political whims of their political masters?

Click here to read the whole column.

From today's paper: the race for the Democratic presidential nominations is affecting races lower down on both the Dem and GOP ballots.

Also: more hot air over the gas tax.

Meanwhile, early voting ended in Guilford County Saturday and Lorraine Ahearn ponders race and politics.

And in case you missed it, Obama and Clinton chatted up Dems in Raleigh on Friday night.

Still chewing over the primary? You can listen to editorial writers Doug Clark and Allen Johnson, columnist Jeri Rowe and staff writer Mark Binker chew over Guilford County and national primary results by clicking right here.

The podcast starts with a couple voices from election night: State Sen. Kay Hagan and Sheriff BJ Barnes. We get to talking after those clips and it takes us about 2 minutes to get really warmed up.

All indications are that Gov. Mike Easley will introduce his budget early next week, probably Monday. He gave folks a preview today by way of a news release. He focused on $31 million in additional spending for "those who often are overlooked by society but are the most in need."

Among the items:

• * $10.4 million to match federal child health insurance funding to serve an additional 10,683 children in need.
• * $9 million in federal block grant dollars to take 1,110 children off child care waiting lists.
• * $8.3 million to increase foster care and adoption payments to encourage quality care for more children.

Click here to read the whole thing.

Gov. Mike Easley gave an early look at his budget by way of a news release last week.

(Click here for the legislative preview story from the dead tree edition.)

(Update: Other legislative/budget previews from Charlotte, Raleigh and Fayetteville.)

Easley's budget advisor Dan Gerlach sat down with some of us scruffy media types on Friday to give a further glimpse. As he described it, Easley's budget would have three themes:

• * providing help to the less fortunate - "the least of these" in the in vogue parlance of Raleigh.
• * education. Expect Easley to make the case that his budget raises teacher salaries to the national average.
• * fiscal responsibility. You'll see him put more money in the rainy day fund and project a budget surplus at the end of the fiscal year. Basically, he aims to leave the next governor in better financial shape that was the case in 2000 when he took office.

For those who need it, here's the 90-second budget primer: The state writes a two-year budget in odd-number years. So in 2007, the state wrote a $20.7 billion budget. In even number years, the General Assembly gets to "tweak" the budget, making adjustments, adding new programs, perhaps phasing in or out a tax. Actually, the "tweak" can end up looking like a wholesale rewrite. This year, because of a cruddy economy, tax revenues are down and what gets done this summer is likely to be more in the mold of a tweak - if you can call a few-hundred-million-bucks a tweak.

At any rate, the tweaking begins on Monday when Gov. Mike Easley puts his budget on the table. Then the House goes to work, with the formal "short session" beginning on Tuesday. After the House writes its budget version, the Senate gets a crack. And finally, the House, Senate and governor sit down to negotiate a tax and spending plan that makes almost nobody completely happy.

One last note: technically, there's a budget in place until June 30, 2009 and there aren't any taxes expiring. Therefore, we don't have the prospect this summer of getting into one of those fabulous showdowns where everyone threatens to shut down state government and we have continuing resolutions and there's all that gnashing of teeth. However, the cities and counties who all have to have their budgets done by July 1 and depend a great deal on the state budget, would really like things to wrap up ASAP.

So what does the governor have in the offing? We'll find out in detail at 11 a.m. Monday. However, here are the notes from Gerlach's Friday briefing, in no particular order:

• * The overall budget will go up 4 percent, about half of the increase from the year before.
• * Even though the budget overall will increase, Gerlach said there will be "substantial" cuts in some departments. The reason for this is that the governor wants to do some things - like expand teacher pay - that will cost money. But tax revenues haven't grown fast enough to keep everything in state government as it is and do the expansions.
• * The cuts will not affect classrooms or social services, Gerlach said.
• * Agencies will be given some specific marching orders and in other cases just general guidelines on what to pare back.
• * It is business taxes and sales taxes that are projected to fall off the most.
• * Enrollment is expected to be up in public schools, universities and community colleges. Community college enrollment is particularly seen to be "spiking."
• * The governor will propose no changes to lottery distribution or policy.
• * There will be more funding for support programs that serve military families.
• * There will be a comprehensive package of mental health reforms and funding proposed. In addition to increases, the governor's budget anticipates reducing Medicaid funding for community support programs.
• * For years the state has transferred money from the Highway Transportation Trust Fund to the general fund, basically subsidizing state spending on education and social programs. With the highway fund in dire straights, the General Assembly last year said they were going to stop those transfers. The governor's budget will begin the phase out, meaning less money will go from the trust fund to the general fund this year. Gerlach did not say how much.
• * The governor will designate money that stays in the trust fund to build either urban loops or to jump start construction by the turnpike authority (read: build toll roads).
• * The governor does not plan to offer transportation or other big bond package.
• * There will be some borrowing in the governor's budget, all in non-voter-approved mechanisms and all aimed at finishing projects in process. ("We're trying to wrap things up and not start obligating future governors and legislatures to costs," Gerlach said.)
• * Teacher pay will go to the national average. State employees and community college workers will get pay raises - though it didn't sound like they would be as big.
• * There will be more staff for probation and parole.
• * The governor will propose a sales tax holiday for October on energy efficient appliances.

Now remember, none of this makes it into the final budget with out the legislature sticking it in there. Easley has had a fairly good record of getting his big ticket items in the final budget, but the tighter money gets the harder the honorables tend to scrap - and this year money seems to be on the tight side.

I'll have my own session/budget preview story up online in the morning (I think). (Click here for that.) For now, click on the jump for the Associated Press' budget preview.

Oh, woe is us, the Jordan Lake Rules are at hand.

Eh, not so much.

I've written about these things before (here / here / here / here) but it for those coming late to the story:

The Haw River sweeps through the Triad, taking leftovers from storm water runoff, sewage plants, bits of farm fertilizer, etc... with it. At the end of its run, the Haw feeds into the southern end of Jordan Lake.

Jordan Lake, which serves as a water supply in the Triangle area, has problems with pollution in the form of too much nitrogen and phosphorus that cause algae blooms and other problems.

So on Friday, the Environmental Review Commission approved new rules that would help curb pollution in the Haw River arm. From a news release sent out by DENR:

The approved nutrient management strategy is comprised of 11 rules that define the strategy’s goals and set requirements for nutrient management, agriculture, wastewater discharges and storm water management for new and existing development and government entities. The rules also address buffer protection and mitigation for buffer impacts and provide criteria for trading nutrient reduction requirements among different sources of nutrients to achieve more cost effective options. The goals for reducing nutrients are based on nutrient loads entering Jordan Lake between 1997 and 2001.

That all sounds fine and dandy, but there's significant cost attached to accomplishing all of that. Ballpark estimates say the City of Greensboro will spend a minimum of $70 million just to upgrade sewage plants. And the city could be forced to tear into existing neighborhoods to create storm water controls and developers are none to happy about the idea of doing all this either.

So are these rules going into effect right away? No.

Next stop is the Rules Review Commission, which will knock things about and then almost certainly enough people will write protest letters to knock things back to the General Assembly.

And because of all the moving pieces involved, most folks don't think the legislature is going to get it back before 2009. And once it's back in the General Assembly, expect both sides to release all their various hounds for a big ol' legislative showdown. My guess is we're looking at 11-monhts minimum before we know what the outcome of this will be.

Apropos of nothing 'round here, but:

Go Jays! Beat Navy!

So Gov. Mike Easley released his budget Monday and - surprise! - he wants to raise liquor and cigarette taxes.

The reason he gave for the sin tax hikes were:

• * the cigarette taxes were needed to pay for teacher raises.
  
• * the liquor taxes were needed to pay for mental health improvements.

Click here to listen to Easley talk about how he arrived at asking for the two taxes.

Okay...let's get it out of our systems: Yes, if enacted, teachers would have a conflict of interest when they told their students not to smoke. And sure, it's a little funny that alcohol taxes would fund mental health services, which include substance abuse services.

But seriously folks: Easley has sold them right. Who is going to argue that they can't afford to pay a few more cents for beer if it's going to help the mentally ill, right? And you sort of have a choice as to whether to smoke or drink, don't you?

Still, the smart money around Jones Street has been saying the taxes will have a hard time getting through the General Assembly. After chatting with folks all day, here is the short list of things that argue against the taxes getting into the final budget:

• * Legislators don't have a real good mechanism for earmarking revenue (see: Lottery). That means money from the taxes will just get dumped into the general fund. That sort of deconstructs the won't-someone-please-think-of-the-children/less fortunate argument for levying them.

• * Budget leaders aren't looking for a fight. And new taxes of any sort mean a fight will be a brewing. No, it doesn't matter that they're sin taxes. The honorables want this train to pull into the station on time (July 1) and that might not happen if there's a tax fight. (House Speaker Joe Hackney and Majority Leader Hugh Holliman both made variations of this point today.)

  Click here to listen to Hackney chat with reporters about the political realities of the taxes, as well as thoughts on other parts of the budget proposal.

• * Cigarette taxes mean taking on the tobacco industry. No, tobacco isn't king anymore, but it still knows its way around court. Just think about Lorillard in Guilford County, Reynolds in Forsyth County and tobacco farms throughout the state and you get an idea of the number of legislators with a dog in that fight.

• * You think the tobacco industry has some political clout? Go check your favorite politician's campaign finance report for beer and wine money, particularly money from wholesalers.

• * Easley designated his tobacco tax for education. A couple folks who would ordinarily like to do tobacco taxes say they're more logically apportioned to health programs. So Easley's proposal didn't pick up help from some of this idea's most likely supporters.

• * There secondary constituencies that would oppose the increases, such as retailers who sell cigarettes and alcohol.

• * It's an election year. People are already hacked off about gas prices. Voters across the state have just shot down sales taxes. You do the math.

• * There are a couple other places to get the money. Just as an example, the legislature could decide not to put $61 million into the rainy day fund and just about cover the mental health programs Easley wanted to fund.

Does this mean they absolutely won't be in the final budget? No. But they face some serious handicaps. More on this in Tuesday's paper.

Click here for my newspaper story on Gov. Easley's tax and budget proposal.

For a different view, here's the Grand McClatchy Empire's take.

The honorables return to Raleigh at high noon today.

As part of this story I mentioned that the governor has included three items for the N.C. Zoo in his proposed budget.

The Zoo in Asheboro is an agency under the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and as such, it shouldn't be a big shock that the taxpayers would be called upon to invest in the thing. However, this is going to be a tight budget year and there will be people lobbying for holding the line on taxes and funding various programs for people critters.

So here was my question yesterday when Easley's budget advisor Dan Gerlach took the podium: with all the various interests competing for dollars, how do you sell expenditures on polar bears? (More on them in a second.)

"What we're getting at is the fact the zoo...our capitol people, our hard core number crunchers...I think it's safe to say they're mortified by what they saw at the zoo in terms of the amount of capitol construction and rebuilding that needs to happen," Gerlach said. "The place is, I'm not going to say falling apart, but it needs some help."

The zoo has about 500-acres of exhibits and it can take a lot to keep up with basic maintenance, just ask anyone who tried to go gawk at the animals last weekend.

And in fact, up until last year's budget, the state had not put any big expansion or renovation money into the zoo for 14 years. Last year the zoo got a barn to house some antelope and a shed for its grounds keeping tools - albeit a pretty large one. During those 14 years, the zoo was able to expand thanks largely to private donors. And the General Assembly did make with some smaller repair money.

This year, the governor included three items:

• * $2.7 million to expand the polar bear exhibit, with another $1.8 million coming from donations.
• * $2.7 million to build a permanent children's zoo exhibit, with another $1.8 million coming from donations. There is a temporary children's exhibit there now.
• * $600,000 to plan the replacement of the African pavilion, with another $400,000 coming from donations. It would cost more to fix the old building than to rebuild the whole thing.

Here's the deal with the polar bears, according to the zoo spokesman Rod Hackney:

The zoo had two polar bears up until recently when one died from liver problems. The zoo wants to get some more polar bears but there are none available from American zoos. There are polar bears to be had in Canada.

However, Canadian zoos have more stringent standards than American zoos when it comes to loaning or transferring polar bears. To meet those standards, the zoo would have to double the size of the polar bear exhibit and make some other tweaks. Most notably, the zoo would need to convert the polar bear's pool from a freshwater tank to a saltwater tank.

Polar bear fans will want to keep an eye on this item as the budget goes through the legislative wringer. Somehow I doubt the zoo is going to let the bear come down and lobby in person, in which case I'd bet he'd get his new exhibit pdq.

This picture is from the zoo website, where you can learn more about bears.

Gov. Easley's budget provides money for tackling new problems, such as the mess in mental health care.

But it also would chip away at some long-standing issues that have flown kind of under the radar. One example: subsidized child care.

The state pays to subsidize child care for low income families so the parents can head to work. It's not only a social service, but something economic developers say is useful in creating a stable workforce.

Easley's budget would spend enough to remove 1,110 children from the waiting list, all of it in federal block grant funds. He didn't propose putting any state funding into it.

Just by way of comparison, there are somewhere north of 27,000 kids on waiting lists for subsidized spots.

With the legislature due to return today, the Skip and Phil show returned as well. That is Rep. Paul "Skip" Stam and Sen. Phil Berger, the Republican minority leaders in the House and Senate.

Their tradition last session was to hold a weekly news conference or two to comment on what was going on that week, basically getting the GOP spin on issues before us scruffy media types.

What's going on this week is the budget and both Berger and Stam say that Gov. Mike Easley's proposal falls short of the mark.

Click here to listen to Stam's take.

And Click here to listen to Berger's take.

The bigger news bulletin from the news conference might be the appearance of Charlotte Mayor Pat McCrory, the Republican nominee for Governor. Most of the Senate lined up behind Senator Fred Smith during the primary, but today they were all playing nice together.

Click here to listen to McCrory's remarks, where he gets behind the GOP agenda and says he'll push for new gang legislation. The gang bill in question has passed the House but is awaiting hearing in the Senate. (There's also a Senate version of the bill, which seems to be a little less get-tough and a little more prevention oriented.)

Because the honorables can't resist the urge to write-up new laws when they come back to town, I've been trolling the bill filings. A few things of note:

• * Three members have filed a bill to repeal the sales and land transfer tax options given to counties last year.

• * Sen. Dorsett filled the bill to bring the General Assembly to Greensboro next week.

• * Market money.

• * Money for the zoo.

• * Nelson Cole says "Go team!"

The Guilford County legislative delegation, the 10 members who represent the county at the General Assembly, is due to get together Thursday. They are due to meet immediately after "the last house adjourns." Both the House and Senate are scheduled to convene at 10 a.m. and have extremely light calendars so figure this meeting is going to start sometime before 11 a.m. (I'd say 10:30 a.m., but there's a good chance one chamber or the other will dither around for a bit before adjourning.)

According to Rep. Maggie Jeffus, the chairman of the delegation, the assembled honorables will:

• * hear from DOT on the Urban Loop noise issue in the Kings Mill neighborhood.

• * discuss protest petitions. We may find out whether the 100 percent support to file a bill exists. Under the rules that govern the short session, a local bill can't be filed unless all legislators who represent the affected area sign on.

• * discuss others parts of the Greensboro City Council legislative agenda, including whether to put the city attorney under the supervision of the city council, rather than the manager.

I'll be keeping an eye on their doings.

Some honorables want to repeal the land transfer tax while others talked about other taxing issues on Wednesday.

Guilford County's legislative delegation to the General Assembly has decided not to run a bill that would restore protest petitions to Greensboro. That decision was reached during a legislative delegation meeting that wrapped up in the past hour.

Under rules for the legislative short session, legislators are prohibited from running bills that are controversial among their delegation. One objection is enough to stop a bill from being filed.

In the case of Greensboro, all legislators who represent a portion of the city must sign off on such a bill.

Sen. Phil Berger was the foremost "no" vote. His district covers all of Rockingham County and portions of Guilford County, including areas where the city has done satellite annexations.

Berger explained that without a resolution from City Council asking for the change, and with numerous people e-mailing him both in support and against the bill, the measure is better left until the legislature returns in 2009.

"I don't think anyone can say this is not controversial," Berger said.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, was going to file the bill but confirmed she could not do so under the rules.

More on this later.

Click here to listen to Sen. Phil Berger explain why he has blocked the local bill on protest petitions.

Greensboro State Sen. Kay Hagan gave up her position as co-chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee today.

She will, according to the Senate President Pro Temp's office, remain in an "advisory capacity," although the exact title and role has yet to be fleshed out.

Leaving the same post is Sen. Walter Dalton, of Rutherford County.

Dalton is the Democratic nominee for Lt. Governor, Hagan is running for the U.S. Senate against Elizabeth Dole.

Hagan's appointment to the budget post in 2003 marked an ascendancy in influence for not only her, but the Guilford County delegation as a whole. Until then, the county and Triad delegations had a reputation as a mid-level crew overshadowed by more powerful groups from Charlotte and down east.

(Oddly enough: Replacing Hagan and Dalton will be Sen. Charlie Albertson, from Duplin County in the east, and Charles Dannelly from Charlotte.)

But today, in addition to Hagan, two House members - Reps. Alma Adams and Maggie Jeffus - from Guilford County sit on the House appropriations committee, a Senator - Katie Dorsett - is the Democratic whip in her chamber, and at least two other fairly junior legislators - Reps. Pricey Harrison and Earl Jones - can lay claim to committee chairmanships.

What this means for Hagan is a little unclear. Certainly she'll have less of the nuts and bolts work on the budget to do. Her "advisory" status probably gives her enough status to advocate for key items and license to be in the room during the highest levels of negotiations.

Hagan had already been handing off pieces of her legislative portfolio, such as the raw milk bill. But this is pretty much an indication that she's clearing her decks of most responsibilities in order to focus on the U.S. Senate race.

Congressman Brad Miller took some time on the U.S. House floor to wish Greensboro a happy birthday this week.

The dead tree edition of the paper carried a story today about a nascent effort to opt North Carolina out of the federal ID law.

You can read the legislation in question by clicking here.

As noted in the story, there are some civil liberties concerns with REAL ID: having a gigantic federal database with a lot of information about private citizens, etc...

But this feels to me to be a worry about money. Rep. Nelson Cole says the choice is simple: do the stuff to comply with REAL ID or pave roads. He'd rather pave roads.

North Carolina is not the first to kick up a fuss and you can get some good background on the federal program by clicking here.

If I were forced to read between the lines of what everyone was telling me last week, I'd say the states who are passing these sorts of measures are stalling for time. Recognizing that the Dept. of Homeland Security has already effectively delayed implementation of the program until the end of 2009, states are hoping that a new president and new Congress will tweak the rules to their liking or get rid of the thing entirely.

That said, I get the feeling that if Congress were to pony up $450 million or so to help states defray the cost of putting the systems in place, they'd have somewhere around 45 of 50 on board as soon as the checks were in the mail.

Congressman Howard Coble, a Greensboro Republican, said he was "disappointed" North Carolina was making noise like it didn't want to play, but he understood the dilemma budget writers were in. Congressman Brad Miller, a Raleigh Democrat, had this to say in an e-mail:

The concept of a national identification system with centralized repositories and tracking capabilities has always been controversial. I am wary of national security plans that may be exploited to undermine the rights of our citizens and could ultimately undermine privacy rights as well as the right to travel.

However, in order to make Real ID less burdensome, states should have more flexibility and funding to update their systems to meet objectives similar to those of Real ID. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security should also consider allowing states reciprocity for people who have already been verified for certain federal identification cards. We must do everything we can to ensure the safety of our citizens against the threat of terrorism. But the states should not be forced to take on this responsibility alone.

I was trying to get a sense on Friday of how this bill might fair in the short session. It's very much the type of thing that could get squirled away in the budget, so it wouldn't have to run on its own. That's probably the nicest thing you can say about a piece of legislation right now, since most folks on Jones Street are still saying this session will run faster than a lard-slicked Slip 'n Slide. I didn't get the sense that it was on either the House or Senate leadership's radar as either a bill to kill or expedite.

This news release just in from the North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law:

Raleigh, N.C. The North Carolina Institute for Constitutional Law (NCICL) filed a brief today with the State Supreme Court in an appeal of a lawsuit challenging the passage of the Lottery Act.

In its brief, NCICL argues that the Lottery Act is a revenue bill. The State Constitution requires that revenue bills satisfy certain procedural safeguards in order to be valid. The General Assembly did not follow those safeguards when it passed the Lottery Act in 2005. The State is expected to file its brief in June.

In a split decision released last March, the Court of Appeals affirmed a trial court’s decision to dismiss the lawsuit. Judge Ann Marie Calabria wrote a powerful dissenting opinion in which she concluded that the Lottery Act is a revenue bill which was not passed in accordance with constitutional mandates specific to revenue bills. Explaining why she would have ruled in favor of NCICL’s lawsuit, Judge Calabria wrote: “Constitutionally-mandated procedures are a concern of the highest order, and they may not be estopped by a hurry to sell lottery tickets.”

“While the intent of the legislature may have been noble,” said Jeanette Doran, Senior Staff Attorney at NCICL, “good intentions do not trump the constitution. The General Assembly does not get a free pass to ignore inconvenient constitutional mandates just because legislators might mean well.”

NCICL filed the lawsuit on behalf of six plaintiffs: Charles Heatherly; Thomas Spampinato; W. Edward Goodall, Jr.; Paul Stam; Wake County Taxpayers Association; and the North Carolina Family Policy Council. The North Carolina Justice Center represented additional parties who joined the lawsuit including North Carolina Fair Share, the North Carolina Common Sense Foundation and an individual, Willis Williams.

For those who don't remember, there are a couple things are at issue here: is the lottery equivalent to a tax and did the House and Senate follow the Constitution when passing the lottery bill? I'd add in this: Will any court willingly wade into the fray and tell the legislative branch of government how to go about it's business? The answer, so far, has been no.

I know this is basketball country and I know some of y'all might feel some in-state allegiance to Duke ... although I can't imagine why... but:

Let me just note that Johns Hopkins did, in fact, beat Navy and will next take on Duke in the big Lacrosse tourney. I'll be pulling for the Blue Jays to beat the li'l devils.

We now return you to your regular wonky programming.

Two (unrelated) stories from today's paper:

• Greensboro Rep. Pricey Harrison wants to require stores to provide for plastic bag recycling.

• Local clergy were talking about the death penalty Monday night. Sen. Phil Berger was quoted about wanting to end the de facto moratorium on executions in North Carolina.

Berger will be talking about that very topic at a noon news conference today.

School nutrition programs have come to the General Assembly today, saying they need more money. (Click here for the online story on that.) Guilford County is among those looking at a potential shortfall.

Meanwhile, the Senate Rules Committee has moved the House gang prevention bill to the floor. It will be debated in the Senate when a certain Charlotte mayor who happens to be running for governor as a Republican and has made gangs a key part of his campaign platform is in town tomorrow.

When Pat McCrory comes to town, the honorables will be dealing a version of the bill that deals less with rehabilitation, a concern raised by Sen. Martin Nesbitt, whose Judiciary Committee worked on the bill last year.

"Our committee went in the direction of trying to save these young people and extract them from gangs," Nesbitt said.

There was some indication that the "extraction" issue might be taken up in a conference committee.

In case anyone hasn't been paying attention, McCrory is running against Democratic Lt. Gov. Bev Perdue, who will likely preside over the Senate session tomorrow. Does anyone have any thoughts on whether McCrory now gets to declare victory for pushing an anti-gang bill through or whether he will be irked that the Senate is depriving him of the argument that the legislature isn't moving on the issue?

Instant Update: Before I even had a chance to cut and paste into MoveableType, who should walk into to the building by McCrory himself.

"I'd love to lose the political campaign issue of crime," McCrory said.

Click here to listen to more of his answer.

Update: But wait, there's more! After the Senate floor session today, the Rules Committee met yet again on Senate Bill 1358, which addresses the gang prevention side that Nesbitt was talking about.

When asked if this flurry of activity might have anything to do with Democrats trying to help a certain Lt. Governor, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand said:

"I would argue to you that everything we do in this building or within 400 yards around here has political implications."

Click here to listen to his full answer.

For those interested in the school lunch story you can click here to listen to Cynthia Sevier, who heads Guilford County's school nutrition program, explain the problems she is having.

Cross posted from Inside Scoop.

-=-=-=-=-=-

So earlier this month, about three-quarters of voters in Guilford County rejected a one-quarter-cent sales tax increase.

If you're Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow, what do you do?

That's right: ask the General Assembly to authorize a referendum on a full penny increase. You'll find that little nugget squirled away at the end of this coming Thursday's commissioners meeting agenda. You can read the proposed resolution here. (PDF)

I got wind of this from Rep. Maggie Jeffus, a Greensboro Democrat who chairs the Guilford County legislative delegation here at the General Assembly. I think she was a bit surprised to see this request show up, but agreed to look into running it.

In an e-mail, Sharron Kurtz, a lawyer for the county, sent Jeffus a copy of the resolution.

"Guilford County Commissioner Billy Yow has requested that I forward to you a proposed resolution that will be presented to the Board for their consideration at their next meeting...The one cent would be committed exclusively for repayment of educational debt," Kurtz wrote.

There are a few problems right off the bat with doing this sort of thing down here. Drafting deadlines for legislation and rules governing what is or is not a "local bill" may be hard to get around.

But the biggie may be the requirement that all 10 members of the county legislative delegation sign off on this thing.

Several members expressed skepticism that they could bring themselves to back such a measure, even if the legislative voodoo can be done.

"I'm going to have to talk to several folks, because the voters just said 'no,'" said Rep. Laura Wiley, a High Point Republican.

Sen. Phil Berger, a Rockingham Republican who represents parts of Guilford County, was similarly skeptical.

"I'd like to see the request before I make too much of a commitment, but I'll tell you I believe the voters of Guilford County have spoken on the issue of whether their taxes ought to be raised," Berger said.

Gerald Witt is reporting out a story for tomorrow's paper, which I'm sure will include some comments from Mr. Yow.

From Congressman Howard Coble's office:

Coast Guard veteran, U.S. Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), who is also a member of the House panel that has jurisdiction over the nation’s Coast Guard, will be a special guest on Wednesday at the graduation ceremonies of the United States Coast Guard Academy. Congressman Coble will travel to New London, Connecticut, with Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad Allen for the graduation where Vice President Dick Cheney will be the commencement speaker.

Rep. Coble, the former Chairman and current member of the House Coast Guard subcommittee, said he agreed to accept the Commandant’s invitation because two of his constituents will be graduating tomorrow. "I have never been able to attend the Coast Guard Academy graduation ceremonies in the past," Rep. Coble stated. "and since there will be 6th District residents, both from Moore County, receiving their diplomas, I thought it was important to be there in person to congratulate them."

[snip]

Rep. Coble said he has received approval to miss any House votes during the day on Wednesday and hopes to return to Capitol Hill by 4 p.m. tomorrow.

Last year, the General Assembly set aside a pile of cash to build a nanotechnology school as a joint project between UNCG and NCA&T. (Background: here and here.)

This year the Guilford County delegation is coming back for funding ($2.9 million) to staff up the schools. (House and Senate bills.)

One would presume the legislature isn't going to build a spiffy building without hiring some folks to occupy it, but you never know.

Stories from today's paper

• * A wrap up on the school lunch issue.

• * Who wants to raise a sales tax? Billy does.

• * Road trip. The General Assembly is heading to Greensboro Thursday.

Today at the General Assembly: Mayors are coming to lobby on gangs, service providers are coming to lobby on mental health, librarians are coming to lobby for books and the House continues to assemble a budget.

North Carolina's state budget isn't in the same bad straits as states like Virginia. Part of that has to do with the fact that state budget writers were conservative in their budget estimates. And part of that has to do with the fact our economy seems to be doing a bit better here than the nation as a whole.

Click here to listen to a conversation about just that from the House Finance Committee this morning. The first person asking a question is Rep. Larry Womble.

There are some real characters wandering about the General Assembly today - and not just the elected sort.

Yes, that's Sen. Tony Rand reading a book to school kids flanked by Little Red Riding Hood and some fairy-queen-magical looking critter. Not pictured: the Cat in the Hat.

The state association of library directors is lobbying for a $5 million appropriation down here today.

Also in the building: A coalition of big-city mayors pushing for anti-gang legislation. Those bills are on the Senate calendar this afternoon.

Background here.

Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson is not up here in Raleigh due to scheduling conflicts. However, she said on the phone that she's less than impressed with the effort to criminalize recruiting or belonging to a gang.

"But I think differently from a lot of people," Johnson said. In addition to being mayor, Johnson runs the nonprofit "One Step Further," which works to provide sentencing alternatives and helps youth offenders get back in the community.

"We could get a whole lot more out of trying to change person's behavior from negative to positive than out of putting everybody in jail," Johnson said. That puts her more in favor of the rehabilitation bill coming from the Senate than the punishment piece in the House bill.

More later.

The Guilford County legislative delegation met today. Even if the commissioners pass a resolution asking for the ability to put a one-cent sales tax on the November ballot, the delegation will not file such a bill.

All six members who were around to discuss the sales tax about 25 minutes ago expressed some level of skepticism. Rep. Maggie Jeffus was trying to see if she had approval to go forward and was explaining the procedure for getting the bill filed.

Rep. Pricey Harrison was the first person to speak up against it.

"I do not approve so I'll save you the time," Harrison said. "I'm just fundamentally opposed to these regressive taxes."

Sales taxes are said to be regressive because they take a higher percentage of income from poor families than they do from the wealth.

Rep. Earl Jones and Katie Dorsett also said they didn't understand why the commissioners would come back for such a tax referendum only weeks after one for a 1/4 cent failed.

Because this is the legislative short session - a kind of over-time period meant to tweak the budget and take care of urgent business - local bills that do not have the support of their entire legislative delegation are not eligible for consideration.

Rep. Verla Insko was one of at least two legislators to speak to "The Coalition," a group of agencies and groups formed to push for better mental health and related funding. She seemed upbeat about the chances of some key bits of mental health funding.

(Yes, I know I need a tripod.)

So Rep. Earl Jones wants to study medical marijuana. He filed H 2405 today.

The measure would not legalize marijuana for medicinal use. Rather, it seeks a legislative study, which is a way that legislators float ideas and round up support for an idea. Jones said he would hope to file a legalization bill in 2008.

He said he was hoping for a "joint" study committee, which really means that both House and Senate members would sit on it, but sounds far funnier than that in this context. Such bills usually get wrapped into one omnibus piece of legislation that governs all study bills at the end of session, so what he's really doing by filing the bill is asking leaders to stick this study in that package.

"It's a health and quality of life issues," Jones said. There is evidence, he said, that medical use of marijuana can help those with cancer and other diseases combat symptoms of their illness and/or treatment. "Once people get accurate information, they always support the right position."

But I'll let Jones tell you more himself.

The honorables are filing so many bills right now, there's no room on the racks outside the House Clerk's offices to fit them all. So it takes something really off to grab my attention.

H 2482 did just that. If you click on that link, you might not see anything amiss. After all, it's not unusual for legislators to seek funding for nonprofits.

In this case, the bill asks for $3 million to plow into the International Civil Rights Museum in Greensboro.

But if you looked at that same web page this afternoon, you would have seen this (click to enlarge):

If you take a look, that version of the bill information shows Rep. Earl Jones, a Greensboro Democrat is the second primary sponsor. That's not a position you get if you absent-mindedly sign the bill, but sort of gives you pride of place right behind the author.

And if you take a look at this page from the civil rights center, you'll see Jones is a member and officer of the board for the civil rights center.

I now direct your attention to G.S. 138A 37, which governs conflicts of interests by legislators:

Except as permitted under G.S. 138A 38, no legislator shall knowingly participate in a legislative action if the legislator, a member of the legislator's extended family, the legislator's client, a business with which the legislator is associated, or a nonprofit corporation or organization with which the legislator is associated, has an economic interest in, or may reasonably and foreseeably benefit from the action... (eds note: bold mine)

G.S. 138A 38 lays out exemptions.

When I asked around, Rep. Rick Glazier, who chairs the House ethics committee, said without knowing more about the facts of this particular case, he couldn't say whether one of those exemptions applied.

Rep. Hugh Holliman, a Davidson Democrat and the House majority leader, was less circumspect.

"I just think that's a conflict of interest and I would hope he would recuse himself from the issue," Holliman said.

Out of fairness, it's worth nothing that up through 2006, it was common practice for legislators to sponsor appropriations bills that directly benefited their organizations. Rep. Alma Adams used to regularly file one on behalf of her arts group in Greensboro, for example.

But the ethics tsunami that swept in after Speaker Jim Black was sent to the federal pen sought to address some of the blatant self-dealing. Of course, now legislators are usually bright enough just to get their friends to sponsor bills for the nonprofit in question.

At about 4:15 p.m. Wednesday, Jones said he was not aware of any conflict. When reminded that he did not sign on to a similar bill filed in 2007, Jones recalled that was right after the state's ethics laws had undergone a major rewrite.

"At that time the rules had just come out and there was a big question mark about everything," Jones said. It may have been the uncertainty about the rules that caused him to beg off last year.

"I'll have to check on that," he said.

Well, apparently he checked with someone who has a pretty clear ready on the statute.

He called about an hour later to say he had been given advice that sponsoring that bill would have been a conflict and a breach of the ethics act and that he called the House Clerk's office to remove his name.

A check of the bill jacket later this afternoon showed his named had been scratched out, and he no longer shows up as a sponsor online.

Still, this was a case that even if it didn't step over the letter of the law, certainly raised some very immediate red flags. One might be forgiven for asking Jones what exactly he was smoking.

A coda to all this: when told that Jones had removed his name, Glazier said the Greensboro legislator was likely out of any jeopardy. "That would seem to me to resolve any problems."

The honorables are filing bills like they're going out of style. (What, you want more folksy sayings from my grandmother? Fine: They've filed more bills than Carter has pills.) At any rate, it's a lot to plow through.

Here are some of the more interesting filings from Guilford and Rockingham legislators:

• * The Guilford County delegation has filed a bill to change Greensboro's recall law. It would prevent a recall election from happening in the first six months or last six months of a council member's term in office.

  However, it also adds some other language that voters may or may not be comfy with:

  The grounds for recall must be for cause, misfeasance, malfeasance, nonfeasance, or a violation of the oath of office. A recall petition must be registered with the Guilford County Board of Elections before it is circulated for signatures; however, no recall petition may be registered within six months before a general election involving the members named in the petition.

  Not really sure how someone would litigate that first bit.

• * You already know Rep. Earl Jones (D-Greensboro) wants to "legalize it," and about the bill he filed then didn't. He also says cities and counties should be required to regulate dangerous critters.

• * Rep. Nelson Cole (D-Rockingham) says Wentworth should change back to electing all their council members every two years. He also wants to give the university system $5 million to build a horse park in Rockingham County.

• * Sen. Stan Bingham (R-Davidson and Guilford) wants to make it so drivers licenses for those under 21-years-old to be printed vertically. The idea is that it will be easy for bartenders and liquor store clerks to tell who can get served and who can't.

• * Rep. John Blust has filed a bill that tweaks how Summerfield's council fills vacancies.

• * If you were looking for Rep. Pricey Harrison's plastic bag bill, it's been given a bill number: H 2527. She's also filed a bill disapproving the raw milk rule.

Now that the Senate has done some gang legislation (whether Greensboro's mayor likes it or not) and the Guilford delegation has shot down Billy Yow's hopes of a 1-cent sales tax bump, they honorables are heading to Greensboro today.

My colleague J. Brian Ewing will handle coverage of the festivities. More background here.

With the gang of 170 out of town, those of us who cover the legislature will be using the day to get some real work done...or at least catch up on our Scrabulous matches.

I just sent the following to our online desk:

There will be a new political party in town before the day is out.

North Carolina Elections Director Gary Bartlett said he is about to sign a letter that will give the Libertarian Party the same status as Republicans and Democrats in North Carolina.

The Libertarians have been a party in North Carolina before, but lost their status due to stringent ballot access laws that require party candidates to attract a certain number of votes.

Party officials said they delivered petitions with 72,935 signatures to the State Board of Elections.

“They have sufficient numbers to be recognized as a new party,” Bartlett said.

Starting today, voters will be able to register as Libertarians and Libertarian candidates chosen by the party will be put on the fall election ballot.

For those who didn't make it to Greensboro (like me) for the legislative session Thursday, click here to read what you missed. And click here for photos from the event. (Gallery)

Beth Wood has some unexpected work to do. The Democratic candidate for state auditor has signed up to qualify for the state’s public financing pilot.

Under the law, candidates for auditor, superintendent of public instruction and commissioner of insurance — three of the ten executive offices in North Carolina government elected by statewide vote — could get tax dollars to prosecute their campaigns.

Republican incumbent Les Merritt qualified for funding and will get about $300,000 in taxpayer support.

Wood raised 881 contributions, more than the 750 separate contributions the law requires.

However, she raised about $250 less than the $29,975 required by the public financing law.

“I’m just going to depend on the good democrats across North Carolina to help me raise the $300,000 I need to beat Les Merritt,” Wood said. “On equal ground, I can beat him.”

Wood is still upbeat about the public financing program.

“There are some tweaks that need to be worked out and I will be an advocate for the program going forward,” she said.

Earlier today, my friends and neighbors over at the Legion of Dome wrote about how Hagan had put in appropriation bills requesting $48 million in spending.

Although the post doesn't say so, this smells like a critique on U.S. Senate candidate Kay Hagan as it does state Sen. Kay Hagan.

Now, I don't want to just defend my hometown senator here. (My paper circulates in Greensboro, Hagan is from Greensboro.) But let's have a little context to this analysis:

• * Yes, Hagan has a long bill list but so do other appropriators. I came up with roughly $45 million in spending requests when I looked at Sen. Charlie Albertson's filings, and he was just appointed to the chairman slot Hagan used to occupy.

• * Appropriations bills like this are placeholders. They're request for funds in the upcoming budget but by no means guarantee funding. Yes, Hagan has a better shot than most at getting her items on board, but it's not a slam dunk - especially this year.

• * Of the 16 bills that Dome detailed, Hagan is on the author of one. The rest she signed on to as a co-sponsor, a status that means she's supportive of the effort but not carrying it's water.

• * The one appropriations bill she wrote: $2,939,000 to fund operations for the joint UNCG-NCA&T nanotechnology campus. The legislature agreed to build the school last year and this puts staff into place.

• * Big chunks of what she has signed onto are of statewide significance, not parochial projects.

• * The Furniture Market and Civil Rights museum are long-standing Guilford County projects. She'd be in more trouble if she didn't sign onto those.

I have to ponder this a bit more over the weekend. I have written my fair share of legislators-grub-for-money stories, but they've tended to look at groups like a geographic delegation or appropriations chairs. Singling Hagan out feels a little odd to me.

Duke falls. The Johns Hopkins Blue Jays beat the li'l devils 10-9.

The Jays will meet Syracuse in the finals on Monday.

No weekender story from me this week. But here are some bits and pieces to keep you occupied.

• * Barry Smith at the Freedom chain wrote about the dueling bills on community colleges and illegal immigration. Rep. Pricey Harrison takes the view that the community college system should admit everyone.

  My bet: both bills get stuck in legislative limbo.

• * An anonymous e-mailer asked if I planned on writing anything about the conversation that the barkeep (second item in the post) and I had with Earl Jones about his medical marijuana bill. Well I did a post ealier, with video, earlier this week and a story (not by me) in the works for the paper. The item kind of got buried under Earl's other story of the day.

• *Dome comments on my comments about Dome's comments on Hagan's sponsorship and co-sponsorship of spending bills.

  And predictably I got an e-mail accusing me of being "in the tank" for "big spender" Hagan from one of my Republican correspondents.

  Look, all I'm asking for is a little context. Dome says they're going to look at all appropriations bills filed by folks running statewide this year so that's fair enough. Although, it's noteworthy that the preponderance of folks running statewide don't serve in the legislature.

  As for being "in the tank," no not really. I'm all for criticism of candidates, it's a good thing if its fair and accurate. And my suspicion is Hagan is going to get blasted for real before her Senate campaign is out. But criticism is usually more effective if it's on point.

  For example, my favorite misfire of the Senate campaign came from the N.C. GOP, that said Hagan and Sen. Walter Dalton (who is running for Lt. Gov.) were trying to "distance themselves from the budget writing process this year."

  The idea that Hagan is running from her record as an appropriator is, um, wrong. She plays it up in her campaign bio.

  Darned facts…always getting in the way of a good story.

D'oh! Hopkins lost to Syracuse, a team that can't be bothered to come up with a proper mascot.

Still...it's better than loosing to Duke. And the Jays had an unexpectedly brilliant end to their season.

We now return you to your normal wonky programming.

The N.C. General Assembly has its own police force, which is responsible for patrolling the grounds and generally keeping the honorables safe. They are real cops, with badges, guns and arrest powers.

Sen. Tony Rand, the Senate majority leaders and a Fayetteville Democrat, wants to expand their powers.

Right now, a General Assembly police officer automatically has jurisdiction anywhere within the territory bounded by 440 in Wake County, essentially inside the beltline.

Rand has filed S 1957, which would expand that authority to all of Wake County.

It also would imbue the General Assembly police with police powers while on a variety of protective details, including "providing physical security for any special event sanctioned by the General Assembly being held outside of Wake county such as local, state, regional, or national meetings of legislative bodies or representative organizations in this State, while accompanying a member of the General Assembly to or from any event listed in this subdivision, or while assigned to protect any other dignitary as requested be either the Speaker or the House or the President Pro Tempore of the Senate."

I'll see if the opportunity arises to ask Sen. Rand about what this is all about later today.

Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, is pushing a study bill on clean cars legislation.

Study bills create legislative committees to ponder a topic. Generally, a bill drafted by a study committee has a little more oomph when it comes before the honorables. It also gives folks on all sides a chance to weigh in.

The clean cars bill would have North Carolina study the costs and benefits of adopting the clean emission standards used by California. Right now, 14 states already have adopted them. The idea would be to study the issue this summer and fall with the goal of introducing a full fledged clean car bill next year.

Here's video of Harrison explaining the measure.

Harrison and her co-sponsor, Rep. Grier Martin, say they expect a fair amount of resistance to the measure.

Click here to listen to that bit, audio only I'm afraid.

More from Environment North Carolina.

Sen. Robert Pittenger has resigned.

He is the Republican candidate for Lieutenant Governor. Sen. Walter Dalton, the Democratic nominee, has made no such move so far. He said after the Senate session that he had "too much work to do here."

Click here to listen to Senate President Pro Temp Marc Basnight wish him well and then Pittenger say a few words.

Pittenger will be at a bit of an advantage on fundraising for the moment, since state law limits what legislators can raise while the session is going.

Cross-posted from Inside Scoop.

-=-=-=-=-=-=-

Scoop has been writing about the back and forth between the county commissioner and the Guilford County legislative delegation over the sales tax.

Quick summary: The commissioners put a bunch of bonds on the May ballot that would have been paid back with a new 1/4 cent sales tax. That sales tax failed by a wide margin. So the commissioners asked the legislature to let them hold a referendum on a 1 penny sales tax, which is four times as much for those of your reaching for a pencil. The legislators have said "no" - and to be honest, a lot of them sort of giggled when they wondered out loud about the logic of going back to the voters in such a short time. At any rate, the commissioners are now blaming the legislature for the tax hikes that will come as a result of the bonds the commissioners put on the ballot.

Clear as mud? Good.

Well, former Guilford County Republican Party Chairman Marcus Kindley is apparently siding with the commissioners and sent members of the legislative delegation a nasty-gram recently. Kindley gave up his spot as county chairman to run for state chairman, a race he lost. (He also gave up his blog, the address for which was taken over by some non-family friendly folks. It's not safe for work, or really, anywhere.)

Here's Kindley's epistle to the legislative delegation, as provided by Rep. John Blust:

An Open Letter to the Guilford County Legislative Delegation

As a Guilford County taxpayer, Property Owner and Business Owner with over 60 associated persons; I wanted to inform you that I am considering organizing a 527 in order to inform the voters of Guilford County about our current tax situation.

In essence our delegation to the State of North Carolina has condemned those individuals in Guilford County who have worked hard, saved money, created jobs by building their businesses and purchased both office spaces and homes to rising property taxes from now as far as the eye can see! It is through their tax dollars that you have the ability to sit in a building in Raleigh, drive there on State and Federal Roads and FAIL the people you represent.

Property owners are asked to bear the burden of the bond issues passed in Guilford mainly for Schools. As a Municipal Bond Principal, licensed by the MSRB(Municipal Securities Rulemaking Board) the SEC and FINRA (Financial Industry Regulatory Agency formerly the NASD) I DO understand accrual of interest, sinking funds, and paying back the funds borrowed. I also understand that we will be paying back much more than we have issued in bonds. To my knowledge none of you hold such a designation ( I have held mine for 21 years) and being elected to office does not make one intelligent in these various areas.

By not allowing a VOTE ( the very principal of American Democracy) on a 1 cent sales tax on the ballot in November you have CONDEMNED all those voters who work hard, play by the rules to be overwhelmed with an undue part of the burden for a future tax collections to repay the bonds you may have championed. ( We will research this)

You are being unfair. To let those who spend their money in Guilford County share in the funds collected to repay these bonds is only fair. And that will be the theme of our 527 advertisements.

As a business owner, former 3 term Chairman of the Guilford County Republican Party, and civic leader I know how to use PR to make our case.

We’ll ask children if they think it is fair for some to pay while others don’t, We’ll ask older citizens if they think it is fair for them to bear ALL of the cost while they live on Social Security. This will be a campaign rarely seen in Guilford County. Actually I should thank you for providing such a clear cut issue of UNFAIRNESS and UN-AMERICAN representation by our elected officials. It may be the beginning of the Guilford County Voter taking a closer look at how our Government works for them and wake them up to how much representation is lacking in Raleigh.


Sincerely,
Marcus Kindley
CEO
Intercarolina Financial Services
( A Full Service Brokerage Firm)

Cross-posted from Decision 2008.

-=-=-=-=-=-

State Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro, is running to unseat Republican U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole, who has made immigration a big part of her campaign.

Today, Hagan did a round-table program with sheriffs in Raleigh about the 287(g) program, which gives local agencies the ability to ask prisoners if they're legal and start deportation proceedings.

For a story I wrote a few months ago, Hagan said:

Hagan said the federal government needed to ramp up its enforcement, both at the borders and ports of entry and in communities. She said the program allowing local sheriff s to enforce immigration laws - a program favored by Dole - should be replaced by more federal enforcement. And she said the needs of businesses in North Carolina that use seasonal workers need to be taken into account in whatever program is pursued.

Hagan backed off that skepticism a bit today, saying that 287(g) was fine, but it should be paid for by the federal government. Here's a video of her answer:

I noted earlier a bill that would expand the General Assembly's police powers. Sen. Tony Rand, it's sponsor, told me today that the bill is designed to allow the General Assembly take care of itself when it hits the road. The road trip to Greensboro last week was part of the inspiration. Basically, Rand said it shouldn't be local government's responsibility to provide security when the General Assembly takes its show on the road.

Sen. Phil Berger has filed a bill to prevent Community Colleges from admitting illegal immigrants. This appears to follow on the controversy from a couple weeks ago that had the AG and Gov. Easley playing tit-for-tat.

Sen. Katie Dorsett says state employees should get a 7 percent raise.

Sen. Kay Hagan wants to support soccer with a license plate. Rep. Brubaker and Hurley of Randolph County have offered up a Victory Junction Gang plate.

Rep. Alma Adams wants the state to put millions into preventing foreclosures.

And Rep. Pricey Harrison wants North Carolina companies to stop using coal mined through mountain-top removal. Click here to listen to her explain the thing.

Sen. Stan Bingham has been away from the General Assembly for a couple weeks. One of his daughters got married, another was graduating law school.

Bingham is always good for a story, especially when returning from a road trip. And today, on the Senate floor was no different.

This one involves a missing license plate, a police officer, the lack of shirt and a thorough search of his vehicle.

Click here to listen in.

One quote: "You mean to tell me you're in the North Carolina Senate?"

Sure, it's three weeks into the session, but the House Democrats rolled out their priorities for the session. No big surprises: education and drop-out prevention figure prominently, health care for kids and bolstering the mental health system do to.

Speaker Joe Hackney and Majority Leader Hugh Holliman stressed they were looking for money for key priorities and having to find cuts. When asked about the dozens and dozens of small appropriations bills that members were filing to lay claim to slivers of the budget pie, Holliman smiled.

"I would suggest to you that there will be very, very limited funds making it into the budget," he said.

Rep. Nelson Cole, a big wheel on transportation issues, acknowledged that there had been talk about a bond issues for building roads and such.

"That decision will not be made until we get close to the end of session," he said.

For you masochists out there, click here to listen to the 25 minute Q+A with us scruffy media types. (Audio link is repaired.)

The AP's take after the jump.

I'm a little surprised this hasn't gotten more notice. From our friends at the Associated Press:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ North Carolina motorists could purchase a new license plate affixed with the words "Choose Life" in a measure approved by the state House Transportation Committee.

The panel on Wednesday backed the idea of the plate containing the anti-abortion phrase. More than 300 people would have to request the plate for it to be created.

Proceeds from the additional $25 required for each plate purchased would go to a special fund to benefit crisis pregnancy centers.

The bill now goes to the House Finance Committee.

Planned Parenthood of Central North Carolina spokeswoman Paige Johnson said her group opposes the bill and believes legislative leaders won't support allocating money for centers that fail to provide information to women about all of their options if they are pregnant.

Click here for the bill itself, H932.

The paper this morning updated a few ongoing stories.

Legislators want the DOT to rethink how the agency does noise mitigation. This is especially key if the state builds a four-land highway outside your bedroom window.

This story covers more on Rep. Earl Jones' medical marijuana proposal. (Previously)

Finally, this story details how an odd sales tax ruling by the Department of Revenue could hurt the High Point furniture market. From the story:

But over the past few years, the Department of Revenue has decided that if someone buys a piece of furniture or even just a knickknack from a designer, all the services that designer provided to that customer should be taxed at the same rate.

That change threatens one of the fastest growing aspects of the furniture market in High Point, which hosts a semiannual trade show as well as a growing year-round trade.

"It is difficult in just working through this because if you sold a $10 lamp and $50,000 in design services you have to pay taxes on the whole $50,000...but that's our interpretation," Revenue Secretary Reginald Hinton told the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday.

Click here to listen to testimony from Brian Casey, with the market authority, and interior designer Susan Carson from Winston-Salem. And click here to listen to Sec. Reginald S. Hinton testify and committee discussion on this bill. (This second bit is way long, but if you're into this topic, there you go.)

From Gerry Cohen's bill drafting blog:

With filings today, the 4,962 total bills and 2,164 Senate bills filed in 2007-2008 are the highest since the 1913 Session of the North Carolina General Assembly saw 5,627 and 2,660 respectively. The House total of 2,798 bills filed in 2007-2008 was exceeded in the past century only by 2,967 in 1913 and 2,895 in 2005.

More here.

This confirms what anyone watching the bill filings must suspect.

What's really funny is we're in a session where there's supposed to be no money and we're supposed to get out of here faster than most years in recent history. Yet the honorables found more ways they'd like to spend money and more bills upon which they'd like to spend time.

There's a certain logic to some of this. By filing a bill, you can wave the flag for the home folks (or whatever constituency you're friendly with) and even if it goes nowhere, well, at least you filed a bill.

But one does wonder sometimes if what the honorables are thinking.