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I had to scoot out of town unexpectedly this weekend - and let me tell you, the drive to Atlanta just stinks - and am just back in town. On my way back, friends let me know the House was getting ready to roll out its budget.

The budget bill and accompanying money report are posted online.

According to what House Speaker Joe Hackney told members Monday night, the House will run the bills through the Finance, Appropriations and other committees Tuesday. If Republicans don't pose procedural objections, the full House will debate the bill Wednesday and Thursday. After that, the Senate gets to take a crack at the bill.

The bill is likely to evolve over the next few days. There are always tweaks this way and that. But will less money available this year, expect the fights over the scraps in the next few days to get pretty darned heated.

Total spending is $21.3 billion. Republicans have called a presser to talk about the budget Tuesday morning, and I'm guessing they're going to say it spends too much.

After a quick run through the two documents, here are some things I noted:

• * Funding for the furniture market still takes a 1 percent cut to promotion budget.

• * A big facet of Gov. Mike Easley's mental health reform plans had been to consolidate the Local Management Entities that govern mental health services. The House budget bill would prohibit the governor and DHHS from doing this without scrutiny from the General Assembly.

• * UNCG gets a $42.7 million classroom building.

• * UNCG and NCA&T gets $1.85 million to plan for a joint data-processing center.

• * It will cost you more to get married and be born. The fee for a marriage license would go from $50 to $60 under the House plan. Newborn screening fees would go from $14 to $18.91.

The original draft of the House budget released last night was remarkable for its lack of local projects. There was no money, leadership said, to pay for lots of small projects when there were big priorities - such as mental health and education - that needed tending and not a lot of money to go around.

But the house appropriations committee is hard at work this afternoon and a Greensboro project that was not in the original draft has made its return.

The International Civil Rights Museum would receive $245,000 from the state under an amendment put forward and won by Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat and one of the "big chairs" of the appropriations committee. Originally, the museum appeared nowhere in the House spending plan.

At this point in the game, the honorables can't create money with new taxes and they can't exchange money between different sections of the budget. So if there's a project one wants funded in the "General Government" section - as is the museum - one has to find money in that part of the budget. You can't, for example, take money from the natural and economic development section and shift it to education.

Adams found money used in the administration of the legislature and shifted it to the museum.

"I'm just trying to keep it alive so it will go to conference," Adams said.

The real game here for someone trying to fund a project is to make sure it is either in the governor's budget, the House budget or the Senate budget. All three, of course, would be best. But as long as it's in one, the item is alive. The civil rights museum was not in the governor's budget and the Senate has yet to take a whack at their spending plan.

Adams said she hoped the Senate would put funding into their budget. Either way, she said, the goal was to try to win as much as $1 million in state support for the museum this year.

Adams also said that Rep. Hugh Holliman - the House majority leader and someone who sits in on high-level budget discussions - had run and won an amendment that would put more money into the High Point Furniture Market. The original draft cut promotional aid to the market by 1 percent. Holliman's amendment would boost support by something close to $600,000, Adams said.

My friend Taft Wireback has been writing about problems with the state tire contract for a while now, including a proposal to fix the current system.

The bill in question comes in both House and Senate flavors, and it is the Senate version that looks like it might run first.

The Senate Commerce Committee heard the bill today but was on the verge of voting the thing down before Chairman R.C. Soles figured out it was about to die and ended the meeting. It would come back another day, he said.

Ralph Edelberg, an engineer with the Division of Purchasing and Contracts, helped cause the delay. He said the bill would restrict the division's ability to get contracts that various state agencies want.

Members of the committee were concerned that the bill's language would specifically exclude White's Tire Service, of Wilson, from bidding on the state tire contract because of the "bead-to-bead" process they use to repair process.

Sen. Tony Rand, the Senate majority leader, said that he thought the bill was suppose to open the state tire contract to more competition. But he complained that it looked like it went to the opposite direction, making it so at least one company could not compete.

"It looks to me like we're just flipping it, we're favoring the other side," Rand said.

That "other side" would be companies like BesTreads in Winston-Salem and Snider Tire of Greensboro.

Meanwhile, Sen. Katie Dorsett said he objection was that the state purchasing division had not been consulted on the crafting of the bill.

More to come on this one.

If you live in Rockingham County, you've probably heard about the proposed horse park. (More here.)

Well, now the state House of Representatives are well aware of the project as well.

The House was working on its budget today, and the Appropriations Committee spent something like 10 hours today making tweaks and tucks. Our story begins at the end of this marathon when Rep. Nelson Cole brings in something like the 77th amendment of the day.

To listen while you read, click here to listen to the 10 minutes or so of committee discussion and vote.

As it was originally drafted, the budget included $3.34 million to build a horse barn at the Hunt Horse Complex at the state fair grounds in Raleigh.

Cole's amendment takes that money and moves it down I-40, up Rt. 29 and up to the "Upper Piedmont Agricultural Research Station."

The what now?

Regular readers will recall the ongoing tug-of-war involving Ag Commissioner, Steve Troxler, NC State and a cast of thousands. Those research stations are spread across the state, some managed by the Ag Department, some by the universities.

Well, the "Upper Piedmont Agricultural Research Station" is in Rockingham County, right next to Chinqa Penn.

Already, NCA&T conducts some research there.

Why mention A&T?

Glad you asked.

As it turns out, economic developers in Rockingham County have dreamed up a big horse show complex as a way to spur development in the area. At the same time, A&T's equestrian program has had designs on a new facility.

So the economic developers and the A&T folks realize they're working toward similar agendas.

Back to the Appropriations meeting.

Cole's amendment sends the $3.34 million to A&T. The equine program gets to build a big barn and other horse-related items at the research station, which now looks a bit more relevant. To boot, Rockingham's "Horse Park of the South" gets a jump start.

"They will be a joint but separate venture," Cole said.

The Appropriations Committee passed the amendment on a voice vote.

Again, click here to listen to the 10 minutes or so of committee discussion and vote.

You might think that Wake County representatives might have an issue with the change.

You'd be right.

"That barn belongs at the Hunt Horse Complex," Rep. Grier Martin said after the meeting. While Rockingham County deserves its horse complex, he said, it shouldn't come at the Hunt Horse Complex's expense.

Martin and Cole left the meeting room and walked back over to the legislative building together. It seemed like they might try to reach some sort of détente.

Cole's take is that Wake County doesn't necessarily need more state investment.

"My question is, what do they need in Raleigh to generate economic development," Cole said. "We've got to rebuild our (Rockingham County's) economy ... All the prosperity in North Carolina is along the interstates."

In the mean time, at least for the moment, Rockingham County and the Triad can claim an odd sort of budget victory in what is definitely an odd sort of budget.

Immediate questions that need answering: What happens to land that the county has already bought for the complex? Will the Cole amendment survive tomorrow's House floor session or will Grier nab the money back? And what will happen when the Senate gets in the picture?

The House ran it's budget through the Finance and Appropriations committees Tuesday. Next stop is the House floor session that will begin at 2 p.m.

Update: You can click here to see the post-surgery bill. (Thanks to Mr. Cohen for the heads up.) Update: Click here for the updated money report.

On the floor, the honorables can run amendments to the bill, so if you tune into session you'll hear folks trying to make some more tweaks and tucks.

If you're interested in some Triad-centric highlights, you can check in on Rockingham's horse complex here or civil rights museum money here.

I'm not going to try to recount the entire day of slicing and dicing here. The AP's Gary Robertson has a good take on why Gov. Easley is unhappy with the House budget. Update: And Miss Laura has more on the day at the tavern.

I do have a couple bits of audio to share, though.

Rep. Pat Hurley, a Randolph County Republican, had set out to run an amendment that would restrict the growth of lottery commission salaries. Specifically, it would keep any lottery commission employee from getting paid more than the governor.

You may recall that lottery commission employees have been in line for a 5 percent race at a time when most state employees are looking at 1.5 percent. That idea got some unfavorable attention.

Click here to listen to Hurley pitch her amendment and some debate.

Rep. Bill Owens, a Democrat and Rules Chairman, and Rep. Alma Adams, an Appropriations Committee Chairman and Greensboro Democrat, combined to talk her out of the amendment.

"I've made my point and I think you see that," Hurley said.

Fair enough, but I'm not so sure that amendment wouldn't have passed the committee. Liberal Democrats and Republicans aren't enamored with the lottery and might have taken the opportunity to tweak the state's gambling enterprise.

Heck, Hurley didn't even have the best quote on the amendment. That came from Rep. Joe Kiser, a Republican and former sheriff who planted tongue firmly in cheek to quip:

"By paying these high salaries we're doing nothing but taking money away from the children."

Hurley brought it back later as a study of salary grades across state government. You can click here to listen to her fully back down.

My bet: someone else tries to run the lottery limitation bill Wednesday on the House floor.

Today is a big lobby day at the General Assembly, with several groups coming down to press their agendas here at the legislature. Among those here today are folks who would like the state to curtail city's abilities to force annexations. Click here, here and here for background.

Among those up here are Michael Savicki, of the Cow Palace neighborhood outside Lexington in Davidson County. And yes, that's a model guillotine.

"We've been needing a symbol, in my opinion, to get national attention," Savicki said. If his group were able to generate enough negative press, he said, people would stop moving to the state and then legislators would be forced to deal more quickly with annexation issues.

You can listen to him explain things here:

Funny thing: the stop annexation folks are down here as the North Carolina League of Cities, whose members are on the other side of the issue. It has been interesting to watch the folks who are cross-agendas wander about the building tonight.

Apparently, the anti-annexation people are planning to protest outside a wine and cheese function the league is throwing for legislators tonight.

... the House included the $2.7 million to renovate the polar bear exhibit. House members also included $600,000 to rebuild the African Pavilion.

Sorry kids: the $2.7 million for a permanent the children's zoo area got axed.

As I sit here listening to the honorables read their budget out loud to their colleagues, I can catch up on some things that have gone untended. Among them: linking up to a blog that was new something like a year ago.

Go check out Talk Politics by UNC's Leroy Towns and Anne Johnston.

The House passed the budget on a 102-12 vote today. That's a tentative okay and the honorables will debate the bill again on Thursday before delivering a final verdict. The bill then heads to the Senate, which if it follows historical patters, will rework the thing pretty good before getting into final negotiations with the House.

For those following the Rockingham County horse complex saga, funding for that got trimmed back.

Rep. Nelson Cole had raided funds slated for the N.C. State Fairgrounds horse complex for the Rockingham project. He gave $900,000 of the $3.34 million he took back to the Wake County project, will keeping the rest for Rockingham.

My guess is that neither number is going to be the final amount in the budget, but both are not eligible for the final and most important draft.

From today's paper: local projects in High Point, Greensboro and Rockingham County made out well in the budget.

The honorables passed the budget 102-12 Wednesday but the House has to vote again today before sending it on to the Senate, which will do their own thing before everyone sits down to do a compromise budget.

In action this morning, we're seeing more amendments.

Of note, Rep. Skip Stam's amendment that would have lead to a discussion on repealing local land transfer tax authority has been ruled out of order in four different ways, so it won't be heard.

The big debate of the morning so far has been whether the state should fork over another $1 million to the Johnson & Wales culinary school in Atlanta. The addition money would get the state up to $6 million on its $10 million commitment to the Charlotte school, made during the days of House Speaker Jim Black's reign.

More to come.

Final vote 104-10.

On to the Senate.

As they say (or used to) in the news biz: Get me rewrite! If tradition holds, they'll produce a bill substantially different from what the House put forward.

I'm told we'll likely see them roll out something in a week from Monday.

Guilford County Commissioner Linda Shaw is getting ready to step away from her post as Republican National Committeewoman.

Her replacement will be elected at the North Carolina Republican state convention in Greensboro this weekend. At the same time, the party is expected to confirm Rep. David Lewis as Republican National Committeeman.

Republicans I've spoken with this week say they only know of one candidate, Mary Frances Forrester, who is running to replace Shaw. Other nominations could arise from the floor, but Shaw and other leaders say Forrester is likely to get the nod.

Forrester is the wife of Sen. Jim Forrester, but has been a party insider in her own right. She is a former chairwoman of the Gaston County Republican Party, has been a delegate to the national convention and has served in roles such as parliamentarian and bylaws chairman for various GOP organs.

She attracted some less than welcome attention from the gay press when she penned this piece for the N.C. Christian Action League website.

My fellow Christians, make no mistake. It is under the guise of tolerance that the homosexual agenda is seeking to change the course of Western Civilization, redefine the family and rob our children of their innocence.

Reaction came here, here, here, and here, among other places.

My guess is that it's unlikely the furor surrounding her piece probably won't be much of a roadblock to winning the committeewoman seat.

In a comment on a prior post, alert reader Doug asks why the News & Record hasn't written about the latest Mike Easley flying about on state aircraft story.

There are two ways stories make it into the paper: one, the AP or other wire services we subscribe moves a version we can use - that hasn't happened of a staff member like myself writes it. I've been assigned to other tasks this week (with varying degrees of success) and I'm not sure how this story would rank priority wise at any rate. Here's why:

The latest story in question was this one in Carolina Journal, a publication of the Conservative John Locke Foundation. It reads:

RALEIGH — When Gov. Mike Easley and the first lady fly in state aircraft, most of their trips include a connection to Brunswick County, where the couple owns two homes. Easley does not reimburse the state for any portion of the coastal trips, although state documents apparently require that he do so.

Easley and his wife, Mary, flew on state-owned aircraft 237 days over the past four years, according to records obtained by Carolina Journal from the N.C. Department of Commerce, which is charged with managing the three aircraft available to the governor. The actual period of study was from Jan. 1, 2004 through April 10, 2008.

It's interesting stuff, but one reason the story may not be causing much of a ruckus - I've not seen it in the N+O or Charlotte O or other papers - is that the gist of it is not new. Consider, the News & Observer wrote the following in 2002:

Easley has been flown to or from his home on the Cape Fear River 16 times this year in the state's Sikorsky 76, a seven-passenger helicopter operated by the Department of Commerce.

Easley spokeswoman Cari Boyce said the governor travels to Southport frequently because he lives there. In addition, she said, Easley has a southeastern office in Southport, although she did not elaborate whether it is in his home or somewhere else in Southport. There is no line item for such an office in the budget.

In any event, an analysis of Commerce Department flight logs shows that Easley has traveled by helicopter to Southport for as many as seven weekends this year. He has used the 4-year-old, $6.8 million helicopter to go home more than for anything else.

And he has done so at a cost to the state of roughly $2,050 per flight hour, according to the Department of Commerce. That adds up to more than $30,000 in the first five months of the year. Easley flew far less last year, making just five trips to Southport or Bald Head Island, another coastal resort where the governor owns property.

There is no policy in North Carolina prohibiting the use of state aircraft for personal use -- leaving the choice ultimately up to Easley .

Boyce said the governor's method of travel is purely a matter of security and is determined by Bryan Beatty, secretary of the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety and the man ultimately in charge of protecting the governor.

Beatty said convenience and time management are also factors. Easley is the chief executive of a government that spends $26 billion in federal and state dollars and employs 227,000 people. His schedule is tight. His drop-offs and pick-ups at Southport are usually on the way to or from official state business -- a speech in Charlotte, a school appearance in Goldsboro.

It often makes sense from security and time-management standpoints to travel by air, Beatty said.

Easley, I believe, ended up reimbursing the state for some expenses back then, although seems to have retrenched from that, if I read the CJ piece right. There have been, if memory serves, periodic follow-ups on the governor's flying habits - including whether helicopter use was consistent with calls for fuel conservation in the aftermath of Katrina.

One odd bit from this week's Carolina Journal piece made me scratch my head a bit:

Other frequent flyers on the state aircraft were UNC Chancellor James Moeser, who made 71 trips, and State Treasurer Richard Moore, who made 46 trips. Unlike Easley’s flights, all of Moeser’s and Moore’s trips appear to be solely for public business, where the trip started and ended in Raleigh. Neither was delivered to or picked up at locations not associated with the public business for which the aircraft were requested.

Well, no. Moeser's frequent use of the state aircraft to go schmooze bigwigs at various sporting events actually prompted the legislature to change the state law governing the use of the aircraft. I wrote a story, linked from this blog post, which said:

House budget writers want to make it more expensive for state officials to travel to athletic events on state aircraft, a provision apparently aimed at UNC-Chapel Hill's use of two state airplanes.

The Commerce Department owns two planes based in Raleigh...

[snip]

UNC-CH Chancellor James Moeser and other high-ranking officials also used the plane to travel to sports events 15 times in 2006, records obtained by the legislature's fiscal research division show.

For example, an entry on March 17 reads "Chancellor attending NCAA Basketball Championships."

Use of the state aircraft is "a time-management issue," a university spokesman said.

The Indy here in Raleigh also did a follow up piece. While I don't think any of those flights were illegal, there were plenty of folks questioning whether they were necessary or met the strict definition of "state business."

I've talked to some folks who question why the Dept. of Commerce needs an air fleet at all. After all, North Carolina isn't as big or detached as Alaska and that state's governor scored bit-time popularity points by selling the state jet.

Charlotte's Jim Morrill reports that Ada Fisher won the race for GOP National Committeewoman over Mary Frances Forrester.

That's pretty darned interesting, since Forrester was the odd-on favorite by most of the big-wig Republicans I talked with last week. Jim's brief indicates that Fisher's candidacy was something of a surprise, and it sure wasn't who the party leadership was counting on.

Fisher twice took on the unenviable task of trying to unseat Democrat Mel Watt from the 12th Congressional District, so probably won some love among the rank and file that way.

She is running this year for running for state House seat against Lorene Coates.

The Associated Press unleashed a big project on Congressional earmarks this weekend. As part of the project, they rolled out an interactive map, which shows North Carolina's per capita earmark rank is 42.

AP recruited some newspapers to help out with the reporting. I'm really liking the interactive feature the Asbury Park Press rolled out.

The bulk of the stories were based on data from a few different places available on the web, including the Taxpayers for Common Sense. It's fun to play with even if you're not writing a big ol' takeout. (Previously.)

I didn't spend much time around Jones Street today...I had a touch of the Obama-mania.

As it turns out, Monday night was kind of quiet, with the bulk of the time taken up honoring baseball teams and churches and what not.

For you raw milk fans, Rep. Pricey Harrison expects her bill disapproving the Ag Board's pet milk rule will be heard by the House Ag committee on Wednesday. A related bill, which would provide a mechanism by which it would be legal for humans to obtain and drink raw milk, will probably not get done this year, she said after session tonight.

From the "everyone's talking about it" file comes this story at the WECT site, which says Sen. Julia Boseman of Wilmington admitted in court to using marijuana. As the barkeep has commented, (last item) this one feels like it's going to get uglier before too long. (Star News has more.

One Tuesday's Senate floor calendar: The Jessica Lunsford Act. It had been in the Appropriations Committee and was moved to the floor by Sen. Tony Rand Monday night.

The Skip and Phil show (weekly presser by Skip Stam and Phil Berger, House and Senate Republican leaders) is due to return Tuesday morning at 9:30 a.m. with talk about "earmarks" according to one staffer who stopped by the press room to prod us all to stop by.

Republican leaders Skip Stam (of the House) and Phil Berger (of the Senate) held their weekly news conference, this week focusing on earmarks. Check that, they were really focusing on all proposed spending increases in the budget.

(You can click here to listen to the full presser.)

Here's why I say this wasn't really an earmark newser:

They presented a list of Senators and a total amount by their name. They only attributed funding to the Senator if they were the primary sponsor on the list and it didn't matter if the spending was a departmental request, salary bump, or local project.

(Click here for the news release and list they handed out.)

So, if we take the person at the top of their list, state Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Democrat, gets tagged with a $617,511,720 total. But the bulk of that - to the tune of $500,000 or so - is a request for employee and teacher pay raises.

If you think about earmarks in the classic federal sense, such as the ones detailed in this post, salary increases wouldn't qualify. Earmarks are traditionally thought of as pork and/or spending that would benefit a legislator's home area. Pay raises would be a benefit across the state.

That said, the larger point that Senators had requested $2 billion in spending increases is well taken. However, it's worth noting that the majority of that spending probably won't make it in the final version of the bill.

I asked Stam if he knew what the comparison was between the amount of new spending requested by the House and what made the final cut. He quipped:

"The Democrats this year in the House were constrained by the lack of money. But if get next year to a situation where the economy is doing better, they're instinctively, perhaps genetically, inclined to spend whatever money is there, where as Republicans will look more at priorities and only spend what is necessary."

He added, "I was kidding about the genetic part."

There was a second part to the Republicans thesis here. Not only were Democrats requesting a lot of spending, but it is sometimes hard to track exactly how some items get in the budget.

Now, the very fact that Republicans can file a spending request list shows there is some transparency. But, as Berger notes, there will be some items that show up that are never debated of filed under a bill and no one will be able to tell how they got there, at least not by way of a paper trail. And the budget process is run by the Democratic leadership in such a way that it produces the result they want. Of course, you could make an argument that doing that sort of thing is one of the spoils of power.

At any rate, here's a video slice of Berger talking about that point for those who don't want to wade through the audio posted up above:

The North Carolina Association of Realtors sent out this press release today, which reads in part:

The North Carolina Association of Realtors®, with more than 43,000 members statewide, has made a $10 million commitment to continue its statewide efforts to protect private property rights and housing affordability.

The Association’s 160-member board of directors today approved a longterm plan to direct association dollars into a special advocacy fund designed to educate the public on key issues. An immediate infusion of $2 million will be made, and monies from future budgets also will be directed into the fund.

[snip]

The NC Association of Realtors® has been a leader in educating the public about state and local government efforts to impose a real estate transfer tax, also known as the home tax. Since November 2007, 19 counties have overwhelmingly voted against a tax on homeownership. In one county - Gates - voters have said no in two separate elections.

Translation: We're happy no local government has passed this thing but would much rather it not be an option and we're willing to spend a lot of money to make your constituents think you're a bad, bad, bad person if you don't vote to repeal.

Update: On a related note, our friends at the Associated Press just moved this little nugget:

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) _ The Senate Finance Committee wants to repeal a local tax option that has been shot down by voters in every county where it was considered.

The committee recommended Wednesday to expunge a law approved last year that allows counties to triple land transfer taxes if approved by local voters.

Since last fall, 19 counties have asked voters to approve the tax hike. None was successful. Democratic Sen. David Hoyle of Gaston County told the committee that county commissioners shouldn't have the option to include the request on the ballot. He said voters have already shown they're not interested.

The bill now goes to the full Senate.

Democratic leaders in the House don't seem interested in repealing the law. They rejected efforts to discuss the issue during last week's state budget bill debate.

The folks at the JWP Civitas Institute, a conservative policy group, just put out this study on N.C. Senate earmarks:

During the current "short" session of the General Assembly, more than half a billion dollars worth of earmark spending has been requested by the North Carolina Senate as identified by The Civitas Institute. The total for the two year budget cycle comes to roughly $1.3 billion in Senate earmark requests.

Now hold on a minute, you may be saying. Didn't the Republican leadership just come out with an earmark list that totaled $2 billion?

Yes, but the methodology is different. While the Republican leaders counted any appropriation bill as an earmark, the Civitas study used a more narrow definition, more in keeping with what the word "earmark" has come to mean: an appropriation that takes the decision making out of the executive branch's hands and sends money to one particular geographic area.

Of local note: Civitas calls Sen. Katie Dorsett's request for $500,000 to go to the John Coltraine Music Hall in High Point one "of the most outrageous/controversial items."

Update: Worth noting - I would still quibble with some of the items counted as earmarks. More than $2 million in drug and alcohol treatment grants that would be administered by the department of corrections wouldn't count in my mind because that money isn't "earmarked" for any one particular nonprofit or company.

For those in Guilford County interested in the H 1195, the Pleasant Garden Recall bill, it passed the House today. Because it's a local bill and has already passed the Senate, it's a done deal.

Folks from the Natural Science Center of Greensboro came to the General Assembly today, along with a lot of their colleagues from around the state. They set up booths all around the building and showed off whatever it was that made their museum special.

The Grassroots science museums took a cut in the House version of the budget and part of today's appearance was to argue for restoration of that funding.

The folks manning the Greensboro booth said that they'd had lots of traffic from pages and interns, although the day had been a bit light on legislators. (To be fair, pretty much every Wednesday there's some group of groups showing their wares, so it's pretty easy for this to blend into the background.)

Greensboro did have a pretty good display though. They had an infra red camera that showed how hot your body is.

Here's a picture of museum staffer Rick Betton aiming the camera at me and the thermal image it produced displayed on the monitor.

And here's Terri Cooke who donned a plastic bag as Martha Regester looked on. Even though Cooke was under the bag, the camera picked up both of the museum staffers just fine. I'm told the camera is useful if you're looking for critters at night.

No word on whether it's useful in finding room money in the budget for your program.

Groups hoping to end North Carolina's ban on collective bargaining rights for public workers rallied at the General Assembly today. North Carolina and Virginia are the only two states with such a prohibition.

H 1583 would end that ban.

Greensboro Mayor Yvonne Johnson came for the rally today, probably among the few municipal officials to be so outspoken in support of the bill. The North Carolina League of Municipalities, which lobbies on behalf of the state's towns and cities, has opposed the legislation.

"There's no question in my mind that we ought to have the option," Yvonne Johnson said on a phone call. "I think we could save a lot of legal fees that way...I think city employees should have the same rights as somebody who works at Wal*Mart."

For those following the dust up over Agriculture Research Stations, there appears to be an agreement to play nice among all involved.
Rep. Dewey Hill, who chairs the House Ag Committee, sent out an e-mail this afternoon saying H 2450 wouldn't move forward:

House Agriculture Committee Members:

HB 2450 Study Ag. Research Stations/Develop Plan will not be moving forward. Commissioner Steven W. Troxler, NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; Dr. Johnny C. Wynne, Dean and Executive Director for Agricultural Programs, NC State University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences; Dr. Alton Thompson, Dean, Agricultural Education/Economics and Rural Sociology, NC Agricultural and Technical State University have agreed to continue their work together and to jointly study and develop a comprehensive strategic plan for the management of agricultural research stations.

I am pleased these leaders in our thriving agricultural community will be working together to improve our way of life as we live and work in this great State of North Carolina. A common vision of an agricultural research system that is efficient and up to date is shared. Also shared is a continuing commitment to work together for the best future of North Carolina agriculture. Your ongoing support is most appreciated.

Sincerely,
Dewey Hill, Chair
House Agriculture Committee

That comes on the heels of this joint letter from the Ag Department, NCSU and NCA&T going out Tuesday along with this e-mail from Ag Commissioner Steve Troxler:

Dear Friend of Agriculture:

Many of you are aware of efforts recently undertaken by the General Assembly's Program Evaluation Division (PED) to study the agricultural research stations system in North Carolina. The goal of the PED's work was to find ways to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our research system. This is a laudable goal and one that all agricultural leaders agree is necessary as food prices climb and our population continues to grow.

I am pleased to report that NCSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Dean Johnny Wynne, NCA&TSU School of Agriculture and Environmental Sciences Dean Alton Thompson, and I have collaborated on a joint letter that reaffirms our commitment to work together to improve our agricultural stations system. A copy of the letter is attached.

Dean Wynne, Dean Thompson, and I are looking forward to moving ahead with our efforts. We look forward to consulting with you as plans are developed, and appreciate your continued interest in our agricultural research system. I hope you will not hesitate to contact my office if you have questions.

Sincerely,

Steve W. Troxler
Commissioner of Agriculture

I'm not sure if or how this affects Rep. Nelson Cole's bid for horse facility money.

But it does seem to indicate that some of the tension between NCSU and the Ag Department might have eased.

For those following the state tire contract debate, you should know S 1797 cleared the Senate today and is headed to the House.

The latest Senate version would permit companies to continue to grind the identifying markings off of tires before doing retreads.

Rep. Nelson Cole opposes removing that measure, saying it will be tough to identify tires incase of a recall or an accident involving a retread.

Cole said Wednesday that when the bill is vetted in the House, there will be a PCS - proposed committee substitute - that restores the language.

H 2367, which would create a year-long moratorium on forced municipal annexations, passed the House finance committee this morning on a 25-4 vote, if I counted right.

The bill next goes to the House Judiciary II committee, and then on to the floor. There seems to be a fair amount of momentum for this thing on the House side, although conventional wisdom says its prospects in the Senate are far less certain.

(Click here and here for background.)

The topic of cities bringing land into their corporate boundaries has been a hot one down here at the legislature, at least on the House side. There have been several cases throughout the state where people feel quite aggrieved at the process. The basic argument against particular annexations seems to be this: they help the city by increasing the tax base but hurt homeowners because they have to pay extra taxes without getting a lot in extra services. At times, they complain, cities are involved in land and money grabs rather than logical growth.

Under the bill, homeowners could voluntarily request they be brought into a city. But a city could not target land adjacent to its corporate borders and bring it in. The idea is to give the General Assembly a year to work out changes to the law that would protect homeowners.

Groups pushing for the moratorium and a rewrite of the state's annexation laws have organized under the Fair Annexation Coalition.

Cities, represented by the North Carolina League of Municipalities, have said that they shouldn't be punished for a few bad actors or cases outside the norm. Stifling annexation, they say, will hurt economic development. They argue that solutions can be crafted while annexations continue.

Click here to listen to a short clip from Doug Aiken, with the coalition, and Andy Romanet with the league speaking to the finance committee this morning.

Rep. Pryor Gibson attempted to amend the bill so it would be a six month moratorium, ending on Jan. 1.

"We lack political courage," Gibson said.

Click here to listen Gibson make his pitch and then lose the vote.

Of local note, Rep. Earl Jones, D-Greensboro, and Rep. John Blust, R-Greensboro, voted in favor of the bill. Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Lexington, did not vote on the measure. His house is in a territory that's due to be annexed, so he has a conflict.

The votes against the bill were Gibson, Rep. Jean Farmer-Butterfield of Wilson, Rep. Bill Owens of Elizabeth City and Rep. Kelly Alexander of Charlotte, all Democrats.

Alexander is the newly minted legislator appointed on May 30 and during his comments on the bill said that he did not want to "throw the baby out with the bathwater," a line that Romanet used in his presentation.

Senate majority leader Tony Rand said his chamber's top appropriators were scheduled to finish tinkering with the skeleton of their budget proposal this Friday. They plan to give staff members the weekend to write up and print what will amount to the first draft.

That would let the Senate appropriation subcommittees to meet on their parts of the bill Monday and the full appropriations and finance committees to take a swing at the thing on Tuesday.

According to Rand, salaries for teachers and state workers will be about the same as they were in the House budget. If that average of 3 percent raises for teachers holds, it will disappoint Gov. Mike Easley, who wanted to see a much bigger boost in salaries to get teachers to the national average.

Rand said that Senate leaders hadn't yet figured out what they'll do with COPS or other borrowing as of Thursday morning, saying that was a topic to be discussed Thursday afternoon.

If plans for next week hold (and you can almost hear the legislative building itself laugh at you when you talk about plans and timelines) the subcommittees would do their work on Monday, the full committees would do their mojo on Tuesday and the bill would be voted on Wednesday and Thursday.

That would allow conference discussions to begin Friday, Rand said. For those who don't follow the budget full time: the conference process lets the House, Senate and governor's office settle the difference between their three versions of the budget.

Cross-posted from Decision 2008:

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Doug points to the Libertarian candidate for governor, Mike Munger, sounding off about being excluded from a series of upcoming gubernatorial debates. Dome also has coverage. (Also: BlueNC.)<