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General Assembly members don't show up at the legislative building in force until late on most Monday's of session, but it looks like at least some of your elected reps will be toting that barge and lifting that shovel (or whatever the parliamentary equivalent of all that is) right off the bat this week.

Alert Capital Beat reader Mary Johnson copied me on an e-mail that says the Guilford County delegation is going to be meeting with some of the pediatricians, nurse practitioners and other health types from our area at a shindig hosted by Moses Cone Health Systems. The e-mail doesn't list a time, but does say the docs and nurses will brief "the Guilford County legislative delegation on the most important issues affecting child/adolescent health in the current session of the NC General Assembly." I'm thinking the cuts to Medicaid in the Senate budget might come up. Anybody going to this shindig who wants to share any thoughts is welcome.

The Senate chambers will be buzzing first thing in the morning, but it will be a different branch of government in temporary residence. The N.C. Supreme Court is scheduled to hear STATE V. PHILIP MORRIS USA, ET AL at 9:30 a.m. The Supremes' usual digs are being redone, and this being a tobacco case, there is probably a lot of interest.

And of course, both houses are scheduled to meet in session starting at 7 p.m., which means if you tune in at 7:20 p.m. or so you should be in time to catch the opening prayer. Each has a pretty full agenda. On the Senate side, a lot of folks will be watching debate on Senate Bill 189, which would set age limits for who could drive one those off-road All Terrain Vehicles. No one younger than 12 would be able to if this law passes, and anyone 12-16 would not be allowed to drive one with a engine bigger than 90 cubic centimeters. The idea behind the bill is to prevent injuries to kids who are over-matched by their machines. The bill has met resistance from some Senators who have shown that Democrats and Republicans alike can have a Libertarian streak.

The rest of the week is looking pretty busy too. Politics fans will get some extra innings this weekend when the GOP holds its annual convention in Ashville (May 20 - 22).

From today's paper:

Community college students applying for some programs could be screened

RALEIGH - Community colleges could run criminal background checks on students hoping to enter programs that lead to a state-issued license if a bill approved by the House on Monday becomes law.

The Senate will next consider the proposal, which would allow the community college system to require a variety of academic or nonacademic criteria to screen students applying to programs such as nursing and massage therapy.

From our friends at the Associated Press:

RALEIGH (AP) - According to Mike Wilkins, the chief of staff to Speaker Jim Black, the House is working to get its budget passed by June 9. House budget-writers met Monday to set their calendar to pass their spending plan for state government. If the chamber meets its projections, then the budget bill would come out the week after the House and Senate meet the "crossover" deadline the week before. With crossover, House and Senate rules require bills that don't incur spending or adjust taxes and fees to pass at least one chamber by a certain date. Otherwise they can't be considered for the remainder of the two-year session.

The bill that would allow judges to carry concealed weapons in their courtrooms passed the Senate Judiciary II committee Tuesday morning. (Click here for my newspaper story on this topic.)

As might be expected, the bill got an endorsement from the NRA and was opposed by a group called North Carolinians Against Gun Violence.

Not much new information from the committee hearing. The bill sponsor, Sen. Tom Apodaca , did say he had been contacted by more judges who say they might not carry guns into their courtrooms but might use the law to be able to carry weapons on their way to and from their car.

It turns out there is a House version of this proposal that I didn't find out about until a few days ago, which hasn't been heard in that body yet.

Next stop for the Senate bill is the Senate floor. I'm not smart enough to do a dependable handicap, but I can say that the bill left committee on a voice vote with no one voicing opposition.

A Senate committee just cleared a bill that would ban Internet hunting in North Carolina. Specifically, it would ban someone setting up an operation in North Carolina that offers one the opportunity to view and shoot game over the Internet.

The bill has already been cleared by the House and with the nod from the Senate’s Agriculture, Environment and Natural Resources committee it next heads to the Senate floor.

There was such an operation in Texas. See stories from The Washington Post and the L.A. Times on the place. (Registration required in both cases.)

The way I read it, House Bill 772 only bans computer assisted hunting by remote. So, if you're on site, and use a computer to track your quarry and "pull" the trigger, you're free to blast away.

Bill sponsor Rep. Fred Steen, a Landis Republican, summed up this bill best when he told the committee: "I don't think we want anywhere in North Carolina where you can click a mouse and delete a Moose."

This one goes out to all the students in the UNC system.

As you may or may no know, you have a representative on the system's Board of Governors, the top policy making body. What you may not know is that person, usually the president of the student body association, does not have a vote on the board.

Rep. Alma Adams is the chief proponent of a bill to give that student representative a vote and equal status to the other 32 governors. The measure passed the House Tuesday, but not after some tense debate.

I'll leave it to you to figure out which representatives are giving y'all a little respect and which ones just give you little respect.

Click here for audio of the floor debate.

I wrote a story a couple weeks ago (not posted) about a proposal to create a pledge to the North Carolina flag. It turns out that some civic clubs have been saying a pledge that isn't official. Some have even dropped the ritual of saying the state salute.

Rep. Melanie Wade Goodwin, a Hamlet Democrat, has proposed a bill that would make the pledge official. The text, which was approved by the House Tuesday and now goes to the Senate, reads:

"I salute the flag of North Carolina and pledge to the Old North State love, loyalty, and faith."

Click here to listen audio of Goodwin as she instructed members on how to perform the salute properly.

A couple of General Assembly items from today's paper with ties to Rockingham County:

Well, sort of. I've been busy today writing stuff for the dead-tree edition of the paper and ignoring all you good folks out here in cyberspace. Frankly, I'm pooped.

But never fear! You're elected representatives are going to fill in, by way of their e-mail newsletters.

Disclaimer: This is info straight from the politicians' mouth, er, keyboard. And while I wouldn't be putting it up here if I thought it was a load of hooey, neither have I challenged or probed it much.

First From Sen. Kay Hagan's weekly e-mail newsletter:

Greetings from Raleigh,

As you know, creating jobs and growing our economy is a top priority for the Senate. This week new legislation, Senate Bill 967, (Link added.-mb) was approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee to help small businesses grow in North Carolina.

Good Monday morning. I'm cleaning up a few e-mails from over the weekend that tell me some of you folks are itching to talk.

I've gotten a few responses from folks unhappy with the idea of giving state funding and sanction to needle exchange programs, as proposed in House Bill 411. (My story from last week is unposted.)

Basically, the argument seems to be between folks who think giving clean needles to users of illegal drugs would help prevent the spread of HIV and other diseases and those who think such programs merely encourage more drug use.

Other stories from over the weekend include:

Coming up this week: The House will be taking a road trip to Edenton, where the General Assembly last met about 300 years ago. The town was the first colonial capital of North Carolina.

The House session, which begins at 11 a.m., will help celebrate a $3 million renovation of the Chowan County Courthouse there.

And for those who want to boss me around, tonight's calendars can be found here for the House and Senate. If anything of interest pops out at you, let me know via e-mail: mbinker@news-record.com .

Half-ways anyway.

The House abandoned Raleigh late Tuesday afternoon for their trip to the Chowan County and the restored courthouse there. (The county was home to North Carolina's capitol back in the colonial days.) That means the volume here in Cap City is turned down a notch or two today. House members will be back in town Thursday.

The agenda for the House session down in Chowan is far from a barn burner, but the honorables are expected to put the finishing touches on bills that would make the Venus Flytrap the state's official carnivorous plant, make the Fraser Fir the state's official Christmas tree and congratulate the UNC Basketball team.

It's not all fun and games today, though. The Senate is still open for business, and I'm jetting off right now to listen to Kay Hagan press her case for a bill that would require schools to teach financial literacy.

Update: Hagan's bill cleared the Senate's education committee easily, so expect to see it on the floor Thursday.

I got an e-mail this morning telling me that Alma Adams' bill to raise the minimum wage is in the House Commerce Committee on Wednesday, June 1. (Prior coverage linked to here.)

That may sound innocuous enough, but if you're a fan of the bill get ready to sit on the edge of your seat.

Every year the General Assembly sets a deadline by which bills that don't deal with fees or taxes have to pass one house or the other in order to be considered. Called crossover, that deadline falls on Thursday, June 2.

And to pass out of the House once it hits the floor, a bill has to get two separate affirmative votes by the body. Although there are ways to expedite those votes, a determined opponent might be able to slow things to a point where the bill simply doesn't meet the crossover deadline. (Heck, some folks who might not like the bill could even vote for it on the first of those votes but work to keep that second vote from happening.)

And the minimum wage bill will have plenty of company. Every session, there are bills that die not for a lack of votes but for a lack of voting. Next week should be interesting.

On another scheduling note: The House and Senate will meet in skeleton sessions on Friday, with no recorded votes taken. The honorables, like most everyone else, will be taking Monday off. Then on Tuesday, things will kick into high gear as bill sponsors rush to beat crossover.

I got an e-mail this morning that our Legislative Briefs column didn't run in today's paper. So here it is (the last two items courtesy of our friends at AP):

FINANCIAL LITERACY
Schools would be required to teach financial literacy classes under a bill that cleared the Senate 48-0 Thursday. The measure now goes to the House.

Sponsored by Sen. Kay Hagan, a Greensboro Democrat, the proposed law would require the State Board of Education to develop a personal financial literacy curriculum within the next two years.

"You have to understand debt and money issues in order to get by in the world today," Hagan told her colleagues on the floor Thursday.
Howard Lee, chairman of the state board, told legislators earlier this week that he and the other board members supported the bill.

"I think it's critical that every student have access to this information," Lee told the Senate's Education Committee.

Hagan said the curriculum the state board will develop would not a be a full-year or even a full-semester course, but be part of the curriculum of an existing course.

House OKs bill to expand legislative police powers
Members of the special police force that protects members of the General Assembly would be able to use their powers throughout much of Raleigh and, in certain cases, across the state under a bill the House approved Thursday.

As the law stands now, the 17-member General Assembly special police can only make arrests and exercise other police powers in the capitol building, legislative office building and surrounding grounds in downtown Raleigh.

The proposal to expand their powers will now go to the Senate.

As it is written, the General Assembly Police's powers would extend to the inner borders of Interstate 440 , called the inner beltline, which circles downtown Raleigh.

And those powers would extend to other places in the state where the General Assembly is conducting official business, such as the House session in Chowan County earlier this week.

"Say we had to evacuate the building and take the members across the street," said Jeff Weaver, chief of the General Assembly's police force. "Right now, we'd be out of our jurisdiction."

Weaver said the expanded powers were not meant to give his force the latitude to escort individual members as they traveled throughout the state.

"We don't really need statewide jurisdiction," Weaver said.

General Assembly officers are armed, but the force does not own any marked cars or cars with lights, Weaver said.

Bill would help Charlotte pay for NASCAR museum
The General Assembly approved a bill to allow the Charlotte area to raise its hotel room tax to help pay for a possible NASCAR hall of fame. The House voted 92-18 to give Mecklenburg County the right to raise the local occupancy tax from 6 percent to 8 percent.

The Senate already approved that authority to tax. The tax would generate about half the money needed for a proposed $137.5 million bid by North Carolina to bring the hall to Charlotte.

Atlanta, Daytona Beach, Fla., Kansas City, Kan., and Richmond, Va., also are in the running for the hall. NASCAR's bid deadline is Tuesday.

House committee moves to close autopsy findings
A House judiciary panel debated a bill that would exempt photographs and recordings of official autopsy reports from the definition of a public record.

The measure would generally bar a person off the street from receiving copies of photos or recordings from death investigations.
People could still review the findings at reasonable times. Written autopsies could still be copied.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Karen Ray, R-Iredell, said she's not aware of any North Carolina newspapers or Web sites that have published or posted these photos.

The N .C. Press Association opposes the bill. A newspaper editor says the obstacles placed in the bill to review the photos will make it difficult for an average person with few resources to examine them. No vote was taken.

I wrote a story in today's paper regarding a proposal that restaurants be required to completley separate smokers from non-smokers.

The bill is a compromise, falling short of the total ban that was proposed earlier in the session.

Our crack online department has also thrown up an informal poll to gauge whether readers think the proposal is a good idea.

If merely clikcing a mouse isn't enough for your, light up the comments below.

Two stories in the paper today (Sunday) out of state government.

This is about an effort in the state senate to limit the amount of money paid to folks drawing workers compensation.

The issues are pretty complex and those who are proposing changes say they want to curb fraud in the system. They also complain that businesses are paying too much in workers comp costs.

On the other side, opponents say businesses wouldn't save all that much money through the reforms that are proposed. And they argue that the changes would end up hurting folks who least could afford it.

Although the debate has a lot more texture, at the General Assembly building it is turning into a wrestling match between the various business lobbyists (like NCCBI) and the trial lawyers' bar. Some union groups are also in the mix.

On a final note: I've got to thank Gail Meehan, who I write about in this article, for taking the time to share her story with me.

Chris Coletta, who will be working with the News & Record for the summer, authored this piece on the debate over whether the student member of the UNC system's board of governors should have a vote.

Regular readers of this blog (hey you three!) will remember I posted audio from the House debate in which some of the honorables laid out their point of view. (Click here to find that post.)

At least one Greensboro blogger thinks the student member couldn't stand the pressure of having a vote. Gate of gatecity blog writes: "A student having voting rights would create an additional dynamic to the game, and they would be lobbied by all. I doubt that a young student would be able to handle the pressure that would be put on him or her. It is unfortunate that I feel this is so, but I think it is the realist in me."

Coletta gives another take in his story, from board member Ray Farris, who says: "students' ability to advocate actually would be diminished under the plan. Voting board members are required to be impartial policy-makers, he said, and can't advocate for one group as students now do. 'I think it would be difficult for a student representative to take a certain position (and have a vote),' he said. 'They are expected to advocate for students. We lose the whole purpose of having a student on the board by having them do as others do.' "

I know there are plenty who disagree with those views, saying that if you bother to put a student on the board you ought to let them participate fully. I've heard some make a numerical argument that goes something like, "Well, the student would only have one of 33 votes. How badly could they screw something up?"

The thing I found most interesting in Coletta's piece is the fact the current board member is serving in a number of capacities, including as part of the search committee to find a new system president. Both sides use this as evidence to back their argument, with those against saying that the student already serves effectively without a vote and backers saying it is an example of the student exercising their power wisely.

I'm open to your thoughts. Or e-mail Chris by clicking here.

I heard from a bunch of folks via e-mail back when I posted on a bill that would restricted cell phone use while driving. To sum up the comments:

It's 8:02 p.m. as I write this and the honorables are still going at it, after starting their sessions at 2 p.m. or 3 p.m. this afternoon. They're moving a lot of bills but for those of your holding your breath on the execution moratorium, you've gotten a reprieve.

House Speaker Jim Black has pulled it back from consideration, after members decided it didn't need to meet Thursday's crossover deadline.

Here's what our friends at the Associated Press wrote about it:

An effort to raise the state's minimum wage seemed to have more lives than any respectable cat might want Wednesday. But despite second chances galore, Rep. Alma Adams' bill couldn't clear a final legislative roadblock.

(Update: Here's the story from today's Greensboro edition of the paper. If you got the Rockingham version of the paper, this story wasn't there. If you got the High Point edition, you got an interim version of the story while the wage bill was still in the throws of living and dying.)

The bill would have raised the state minimum wage to $6.15 an hour, a $1 higher than the current rate. (North Carolina's minimum wage is pegged to the federal minimum, $5.15 an hour.)

The bill survived an unfavorable vote by the House Commerce Committee and some cleaver parliamentary maneuvers on the House floor, either of which would have avoided a recorded vote by the House's members.

"They didn't want a vote, they didn't want it to be on the record," Adams said after the House's marathon session ended after midnight. "The people who voted against this ought to be ashamed."

The House stayed in session until after midnight Wednesday evening to complete bills in advance of the crossover deadline. The Senate didn't show quite as much fortitude, cutting out an hour or two earlier. Still, members of both chambers were a bit bleary-eyed this morning.

Both chambers managed to adjourn before noon today (Thursday) and a majority of the honorables lit out for home soon afterward.

For those who haven't been watching (or reading) the play-by-play:

I'm about to clear out of the office, but before I jet here are a couple of things that are of interest:

And just because a lot of state tax money went into it, the High Point furniture market folks are pretty darned excited about their new transportation terminal. Look, they even sent a picture of where the thing will be... ...once they build it.

Of those three, the release on the immigrant tuition is the most significant. There was a huge row when that bill was proposed, with resistance mainly coming from folks who said that those who enter the country illegally should not be rewarded for doing so. The other side of the argument said that children were being unjustly punished for the sins of their parents. Don't be surprised to see the issue come up again.

I got busy with this story yesterday (Tuesday) on the tax package passed by the House Finance Committee. (The full House will take up the measure today - Wednesday.)

The important bit about that bill is it provides for a continuing resolution, which keeps the government running while the legislature haggles.

No one can predict the future, but lots of folks were skeptical of the line that the CR was just there in case things didn't get done. Lobbyists, legislative staffers and even some of the honorables took the introduction of a CR as a sign that it could be long hot summer here at the legislature.

But as a result of covering that story (and not having a lot of extra room in today's paper) an other story I was working on got displaced.

It seems the Republicans are unhappy their legislative agenda isn't getting heard. Particularly, last week's crossover deadline for bills that don't spend or generate money passed without some key GOP-backed items getting so much as a committee hearing.

The GOP honorables even brought newly re-confirmed state GOP chairman Ferrell Blount to the Legislative Building to reinforce that message.

But don't think nothing is getting done by the GOP representatives and senators.

Members of the House appropriations committee will be busy today looking at the first public drafts of that body's budget. (Yeah, yeah, the transportation subcommittee met yesterday. If you drive I-95, they're looking at tolls for that road again.)

This is the part where the honorables try to figure out how to spend the money that they agreed to raise earlier this week. The House gave final approval to a tax package Thursday, which now goes to the Senate.

In case you didn't see it in the paper, House Speaker Jim Black has promised to resurrect the proposal to hike the minimum wage. If you remember, that died during the crossover rush. But nothing the leaders in the House really like is ever dead, and apparently the "Living Wage Act" will, um, live...if not this summer then in next year's short session. Update: Find that story here.

Oh, and I spent some time at a party Thursday. All I can add is that the shrimp looked marvelous, although it's hard to eat and take notes at the same time so I can't say for sure.

I'll check back in later this afternoon.

The House Appropriations subcommittees rolled out their pieces of the budgets today Friday, except for the Transportation Committee which did its thing Thursday.

There will be more in the paper over the weekend (Saturday probably), but Guilford County seems to have made out okay.

Like in the Senate budget, House budget writers gave the market $1.2 million to help with transportation needs. Mainly, this is to facilitate folks getting to and from the showrooms in downtown High Point back to where ever they're staying.

The Senate budget included another $1 million for marketing that was pretty specifically set aside for the market as well. The idea was that High Point needed help selling itself to potential visitors, particularly with the threat of Las Vegas on the rise.

The House version of that language still provides $1 million but now the language reads: "Provide funds to promote North Carolina industries, including the furniture industry."

Yeah, furniture is still mentioned. But that language gives the Dept. of Commerce pretty broad discretion on how to spend that money. Local reps said they were too unhappy with the language. They also note that the budget is a long way from passage.

That's true enough.

We're in about the third quarter of the political football game known as the state budget.

From today's paper: this story talks about items specific to Guilford County.

As you'll read, the most important difference between the House and Senate budget from High Point's perspective is some tinkering with funding for the furniture market. The Senate set aside $1 million for marketing the semi-annual market. The House changed that money to be for marketing all state industries, including the furniture industry.

For a broader perspective, our print edition turned to our friends at the Associated Press. Here's there story on Friday's budget release (after the jump):

Wednesday the good folks down at the legislature could be excused for being a bit star struck.

First they get Frank Capra Jr. telling the Senate Finance Committee why incentives for fill makers are a good thing.

The same day, Miss USA 2005, Charlotte Native Chelsea Cooley, is scheduled to meet with both houses, according to our friends at AP.

...but no one reports it, was it really spent?

The nonpartisan group Democracy North Carolina has studied the disclosure reports that folks who lobby the legislature are supposed to make. They found that a lot of those reports are missing.

From the Democracy North Carolina press release:

"The NC Beer & Wine Wholesalers Association and the Christian Action League often oppose one another when they lobby lawmakers in Raleigh. But the two groups have one thing in common: The Secretary of State's office has no record that either group submitted any of the required reports listing payments to their lobbyists for 2003 and 2004.

The two organizations are not alone, according to an in-depth analysis by Democracy North Carolina, a nonpartisan watchdog group based in Carrboro. Focusing only on the expense reports due twice a year from clients or 'principals,' rather than from their lobbyists, the analysis found that 341 of the nearly 2,700 reports required for 2003-2004 are missing. At least one report is missing for 201 of the 717 groups and businesses with a registered lobbyist in that period."

Other facts from the report:

No, not this story, although the folks who back the High Point furniture market WERE surprised at what House budget writers did with marketing money that had been set aside for the trade show.

The surprise was this move by House Democrats to run a second tax bill through their chamber late Monday night. If you remember, the House passed a tax bill last week, raising sales and income taxes.

But in order to make their budget plans work, Democrats need revenue from an increase tax on cigarettes, as well as other hikes in other taxes and fees.

However, don't be fooled: it's the cigarette tax that proving controversial.

The problem is this: the Dems only hold a 63-57 majority in the chamber, which means if three members are unhappy with a proposal, controversial pieces of legislation can't pass without Republican help. And no Republicans lately have been disposed to build any bridges with regards to budget or tax issues.

Complicating matters, there are some Democrats, like Rep. Earl Jones, who don't want to see any tobacco tax hike.

Others would like to raise the tax to 75-cents.

Of course, there was some question last night whether the thing would even make it to the floor. Support in the House Finance Committee seemed shaky last night.

As I type this morning (9:07 a.m.), the committee is meeting again on the bill, this time with six additional Democratic members appointed by Speaker Jim Black yesterday. So it seems the tobacco tax increase is destined for the House floor this afternoon.

What's the big deal? Again, the House version of the state budget doesn't work without a tobacco tax increase. And neither the full appropriations committee nor full House want to start debating a spending bill without the revenue to back it up.

I'll update this post if and when the committee makes a decision.

Instant update: Before I even had a chance to mash the send key, Democrats forced a committee vote on the bill. The tax package passed and will be sent to the floor.

House Speaker Jim Black has sketched out the schedule for the House to pass a budget this week.

Right at 2 p.m. Wednesday is where things get sticky. If the committee isn't finished, the House will recess and everyone will head back to Appropriations.

Bills that raised taxes and fees have to be "read" three times on the floor. There's some debate as to whether that first reading has taken place. The consensus seems to be "probably."

That would leave two more readings. Traditionally, it's those second and third readings were a bill is debated. All three readings have to happen on separate days.

If the House gets around to it, the members could debate and vote on second reading Wednesday. If not, that will push second reading back to Thursday.

Black told members that if passage is pushed back to that later schedule, they may find themselves in the chambers at 12:01 a.m. Friday morning to do the third and final reading.

Of course, once the House passes their version of the budget is when the real fun begins. House and Senate negotiators will have a lot of work to do in order to bridget the differences between the two chamber's versions of the budget.

The state could have saved a lot of time and money (not to mention a few trees) had they issued the House budget electronically Tuesday night.

Instead, we were left to skulk about the building until late (11:30 p.m.) to get copies of the bill the House Appropriations Committee will start going through at 8 a.m. Wednesday morning.

Between the two books that make up the document, it is about 500 pages long and much of it is written in language only a lawyer would dare call "English."

Most of what's in the document, we've seen before, either in the various finance bills that have run over the past two weeks or in the appropriations subcommittees last week. Here are some highlights.

After the committee hearing the budget must go to the full House. Speaker Jim Black says he wants to complete work on the measure by the end of the week. Budget writers would then begin the process of negotiations between the House and Senate over a final version of the bill.

If you didn't get the dead-tree version of the paper, check out:

Hey Kids! Play along with state budget writers at home with the North Carolina state budget home game.

A very, very, very large PDF is posted here, or surf to it on the front page of the www.ncleg.net website. (You can also find there copies of SB 622, which is the tax and fee bill from earlier this week.)

So far, they've just posted the appropriations bill itself, and not the accompanying materials that make it sort of understandable.

Also, at 10:20 a.m. the House Appropriations Committee is just starting in on a series of amendments, so what actually shows up in the bill the House eventually votes on will be somewhat different.

Update: Just to be real clear, both the finance package from earlier this week and the Appropriations bill being considered today are number SB 622. One is just a later version of the other. The earlier version didn't have any spending in it.

Smoke 'em if you've got 'em...you can do that in the state capital building...which makes for, quite literally, smoke filled back rooms.(Just don't light up on the floor of either chamber, where the smoking is verboten.)

The honoroables in the House are taking a break until 8:30 p.m so they can rest up and attend a function featuring Lou Dobbs. Maybe he'll give them some money advice they can put to use tonight.

Speaker Jim Black says he plans to take a vote on the budget bill "before midnight."

For Greensboro, the big budget news of the day revolves around the International Civil Rights Center and Museum.
Workers have recently found problems with the building being renovated for the center, driving up the cost of completion.

Until this morning, the museum wasn't mentioned anywhere in any of the three major drafts of the budget. But during the House Appropriations Committee this morning, Rep. Pricey Harrison, a Greensboro Democrat, proposed an amendment that was accepted.

It moves $100,000 from the N.C. Museum of Art to a new line item that creates a grant for the civil rights museum.

The amount of money is small relative to the needs of the project, but that's not important.

What's important, from a strategic point of view, is that the money is there.

That's because after the House passes its budget this week, the members of the House and Senate will hammer out a compromise budget between the two bodies.

Without a line item for the museum in one version of the budget or the other, it would have taken some serious arm twisting by museum backer to get a grant done at all. Now, it has passable shot at getting funded.

...I walk out of the legislative building for two hours and things just get out of hand.

Well, that was fun. Sort of. Maybe not.

As promised, the state House met into the wee hours of the evening. My stories:

For readers who got the Rockingham and High Point versions of the paper, the dead tree edition rolled off the presses before things got heated up down at the General Assembly. So between the time we had to send stories for your edition of the paper and the end of the House session, the way raises for state employees would be formulated under the House budget changed.

My colleague Bruce Buchanan writes this weekend about a proposed law that would limit junk food in school vending machines.

The bill has passed the House and we'll keep an eye on it if and as it makes a run through the Senate.

Capital Blog reader Diane writes in to ask:

"What is the scoop on the money that Rep. Pricey Harrison asked for to help fund an ACC Hall of Fame Museum in Greensboro?

I have exchanged some e-mails with her, but don't know much about it. Did it get out of committee?

A few "influential people" in town support giving money to the ACC, but I haven't read much about it in the paper."

In case some of you other loyal readers - we must be up to at least 22 or so now! - are wondering:

Greensboro leaders unveiled plans for and ACC Hall of Fame back in January. It would be located next to the Greensboro Coliseum and cement the town's ties to the ACC college athletic conference, which has its headquarters in Greensboro.

Our story from January (written by Matt Williams) says that it would cost about $3.2 million just to pick up the land for the project. Total cost might be in the $23 million ballpark.

Where to get the money?

The members of the conference committee that's supposed to hammer out a final budget between the House and Senate have been announced over the past few days.

I had always thought these committees, in concept, were supposed to be a small group of members gathered to have discrete negotiations over how to put together a document everyone (or at least a majority) could hold their noses and vote for.

Turns out that "small" idea was a misconception. Folks, taken together, there are more General Assembly members on this conference committee than there are seats in the entire Senate.

You can find the whole list here, but let me save you some time:

Your humble correspondent is in a foul mood this morning afternoon, so you'll forgive me if this post is a bit snippy. Story ideas for the paper have been crashing left and right all week, and today isn't looking up.

To boot, it appears more and more likely the General Assembly is going to miss the June 30 deadline for having a new budget in place. Off the record, folks are pretty definitive that the differences between the House and Senate budget are too numerous to bridge by then. (It's not that I don't love geeking out on the budget, but there are other fun things to write about in state government.)

On the record, the statements are getting pretty vague. Here's what Sen. Linda Garrou had to say on the Senate floor a few minutes ago: "It is my hope that we'll finish the budget sooner rather than later."

And she's one of the ones in charge of the budget process.

Meanwhile, the Senate has begun moving the continuing resolution sent over by the House through it's machinery. As explained by Sen. David Hoyle: "We need to pass a continuing resolution so we can keep the lights running and the prisoners locked up."

The continuing resolution keeps some key taxes in place, allows the state's bills to continue to get paid and gives the General Assembly more time to deliberate. The question now becomes how much more time.

My guess is we'll be sweating with the oldies down at the legislature well into July.

Meanwhile, Gov. Mike Easley called a last minute news conference that, for my readers, wasn't worth the mileage I'm going to have to write up because I went to it. If you're interested in North Carolina school districts (none of them in Guilford, Rockingham, Randolph, Davidson or Alamance) getting funding for life sciences-themed high schools click here for the news release. (If we have any Winston-Salem folks tuning in, this might interest you.)

Gripe, gripe, gripe. I know. I could actually be working for a living. So I'm off for an iced tea and an attitude adjustment. See you back here in a bit.

There was a steady drizzle falling on my way to the legislative building this morning. At the same time, the sprinklers at the old capitol building were running full out.

I'm sure there was a good reason for that; I'm just not totally sure what it is.

I've been thinking that a lot over the past few days. Committees meetings and other schedules here in Capital City have been getting juggled so that the folks trying to come up with a budget compromise between the House and Senate can work.

And of course, folks are all a twitter up here with the vague possibility that the impasse could get bad enough to shut down the state government.

How would that happen? Easy.

The current budget year ends at the stroke of midnight June 30/July 1. Any prospect for finishing the new budget on time is pretty much down the tubes at this point. That leaves the two houses to pass a continuing resolution, which would keep things funded at the same rate as the current fiscal year.

The problem: the House and Senate negotiators have different visions of what should be in the CR. The big sticking point seems to be whether to make the so-called "temporary" 1/2 cent sales tax permanent - as the Senate wishes - or whether just to extend it another two years - as the House wishes. The House hopes that half cent will go away one day.

If that quarrel blows up a there's no agreement, then the governor technically has no real authority to run the government and no money to do it with.

Of course, the really important stuff - like the Highway Patrol - wouldn't really shut down and the General Assembly members are likely to get their stuff together in time to avert any such foolishness.

Which would just leave them to negotiate the real budget. The big question remains how long that process will drag on.

Update: Via our friends at AP: "State government is not going to shut down," said House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg. "We will work out differences."

So, one day before the state's ability to spend and, in some cases, raise money expired there is a continuing resolution on the table. The honorables have agreed to keep things running until July 20. I guess we CAN keep the lights on the prisoners locked up.

The agreement is stunning in that there is nothing new or creative about it. Nothing. This is the same agreement that folks were talking about days ago. So why all the drama? You can bet it has something to do with politics.

Sales taxes remain at 7 percent throughout most of the state and the agreement doesn't tinker with the income tax, leaving that until the main budget deal gets worked out.

Just so you won't be totally bored, here's your fun fact of the day: North Carolina now has the lowest per-pack cigarette tax in the nation. At 5-cents per pack, we're 2-cents lower than South Carolina. Of course, the honorables plan on using a cigarette tax hike to help fund their budget, whenever they get around to writing a final version.

The honorables have high-tailed it out of town for the most part, now that they've given themselves until July 20 to get a budget done.

There were skeleton sessions in both the House and Senate today (Friday)but no votes taken. Those sparsely-staffed sessions were held so the honorables don't have to hold their usual Monday night session on July 4 but can come back to town on Tuesday.

Everybody have a good Fourth of July and we'll see you back here next week.

Update: In case you were wondering, this sort of nonsense is what the continuing resolution avoids.

Good Tuesday morning. The honorables are all back at work this morning. While they try to sort out the state budget, some other work is getting done as well.

Case in point, the Pop the Cap bill passed out of the Senate Commerce today. (Click here for a prior story on this topic.)

North Carolina's current law now only allows 6 percent alcohol in malt beverages. The bill would raise that cap to 15 percent. It has already passed the House and is now headed to vote on the Senate floor.

The bill is being pushed by craft brewers, who say they want the freedom to brew specialty beers that need more than 6 percent alcohol to turn out right.

Among the Commerce Committee members voting for the bill this morning was Sen. Katie Dorsett, a Greensboro Democrat.

"I'm not a beer drinker at all," Dorsett said. Dorsett said she only has heard one person opposed to it.

That person is Rev. Mark Creech, the executive director of the Christian Action League.

Creech argues against the bill on several grounds. He says it will undermine the state's ABC system, lead to underage drinking and drunk driving and catch uninformed drinkers unaware. He also said that higher-proof beers might run counter to the wishes of some communities that voted to allow beer sales under the lower proof standards.

One of his more potent arguments, I think, is that it will open the state up to Malt Liquors, which are generally marketed in low income neighborhoods as a quick and cheep way to get drunk. That argument, though, doesn't seem to gaining any traction. The counter to the malt liquor argument, by the way, is that people who would be inclined to drink just to get drunk are already finding ways to do that so this bill has not effect. I'll let you folks sort out which one might be right.

Expect to see this bill on the Senate floor later this week.

The bill that would allow Greensboro to determine how much, if any, smoking to allow in the Coliseum passed the House Health Committee today. That means it's onto a floor vote, probably later this week.

The bill only affects Greensboro, since Charlotte is already able to ban smoking from their buildings.

City Attorney Linda Miles, who spoke for Greensboro before the committee, told the honorables that the city didn't plan to ban smoking entirely. But for big events, she said, they would establish an outside smoking area.

From this morning's paper: