07/28/2007

Associated Press

_ NC legislators will vote on budget Saturday, but won't stay late

_ Landfill moratorium revived in late-night committee

_ Senate approves Darfur divestment bill

_ Stem cell research bill gets initial House approval

_ Voluntary public financing for 3 statewide races narrowly approved

_ NC House approves independent panel to recommend legislative salaries

THE BRIEF:

SCHEDULE CHANGES: A rule for operating the state House means neither chamber will burn the midnight oil early Sunday to cast the final votes on the two-year budget. House and Senate Democrats still plan to hold the first of two required votes in unusual Saturday morning sessions. Since constitutional rules require such bills to be voted on twice on different days, the two chambers had scheduled to hold those second votes shortly after 12:01 a.m. Sunday. But House rules bar Sunday sessions, although the rule could be broken with the support of two-thirds of the members. But apparently Democrats were short of votes to Hackney said it appears the "rule will not be waived," meaning the House will vote for the second time on Monday. The Senate also plans for the second vote, but it's also likely to be Monday. Budget negotiators worked Friday proofreading the final spending plan before printing the plan and giving copies to all lawmakers.

MORATORIUM REVIVED: A plan to extend the moratorium on landfill permits in North Carolina skidded off the rails in a House committee but later rode back on again as lawmakers tried to salvage months of negotiation on more comprehensive solid waste legislation. This bill and another one in the Senate are meant to tighten permit, construction and siting requirements for new landfills in the state. They have hit resistance from industry and local government over fees and buffer zones around environmentally sensitive areas. The moratorium extension is supposed to give groups more time to negotiate, but the House environment committee deleted the moratorium extension from the bill at a morning meeting. The committee resumed late Friday night, and a new amendment restoring the moratorium and all mention of fees was approved. The parliamentary maneuver means the measure will now go to the floor and avoid a fight in another committee.

SUDAN INVESTMENTS: The Senate approved a bill directing the state treasurer to divest North Carolina's state pension fund of companies doing business with the government of war-torn Sudan. The measure, passed 43-0, goes back to the House for approval of Senate changes before it heads for Gov. Mike Easley's desk, but it already has the praise of Treasurer Richard Moore, who has already begun divesting the $75 billion fund from companies doing business with the country. Some 400,000 people have been killed and 2 million displaced due to genocidal civil war in the African nation.

STEM CELLS: The House tentatively agreed to setting rules for how research using state dollars can be performed on human embryonic stem cells even though the bill contains no money in which to do it. Following some impassioned speeches on the floor, House members voted 57-51 in favor of encouraging research for cells left over from in-vitro fertilization that would otherwise be discarded. Rep. Jim Gulley, R-Mecklenburg, has Parkinson's disease and is one of the bill's primary sponsors. He said he is opposed to abortion but doesn't see a problem with the research because the embryos are never planted in a womb, the only place they could survive. "I support having medical research for what otherwise would be disposed of as medical waste," Gulley said. Lawmakers rejected an amendment that would have limited the guidelines to adult stem cells. Without the amendment, according to Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, the stem cell research would only "create additional terminations of these living human beings." A final House vote could come Saturday, but it has yet to be considered in the Senate.

DEATH PENALTY: Senate Republicans attempted to use a parliamentary procedure similar to one offered in the House last month to get executions resumed in North Carolina. Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger offered an amendment to a bill regarding the practice of medicine that would prevent the N.C. Medical Board to discipline physicians for assisting at an execution. Executions are effectively on hold in the state as judges hear arguments over lethal injection and the role a doctor may play. The medical board has threatened to punish any doctor who participates in an execution. While the House blocked debate on a similar amendment on the same bill, Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand re-referred the bill to the Senate Health Care Committee, where its future is unclear. Berger said his amendment would create a "valid functioning death penalty in North Carolina to protect the victims of the most violent crimes that occur in the state."

PUBLIC RECORDS: The House agreed unanimously to a public records bill that would ensure that the complete salary package for local and state government employees can be examined. But the bill still exempts public hospitals from disclosing bonuses, incentives and other compensation. The Senate version of the bill didn't exempt the hospitals, but their lobbying group successfully removed them from the House edition. The N.C. Hospital Association says public hospitals need that information to be confidential because they are competing with private hospitals for staff and executives. The bill now returns to the Senate, which must whether to accept the change.

PUBLIC FINANCING: The House narrowly approved the expansion of a voluntary public financing program for three more statewide elected offices. Candidates for state auditor, insurance commissioner and superintendent of public instruction would be allowed to participate in a is similar to one already used for Supreme Court and Court of Appeals candidates. Those Council of State candidates who collect small contributions from at least 750 voters statewide before the primary would be eligible for taxpayer money of at least $300,000 for the general elections. The bill was tentatively by a vote of 53-52 only after House Speaker Joe Hackney broke a tie.

LEGISLATIVE PAY: After more than a decade without giving themselves a pay raise, General Assembly members are considering whether a citizens' panel can help them avoid accusations of self-dealing by raising their own salaries. The House approved a measure by a vote of 100-6 that would create a 21-member commission that would write a report every two years suggesting amounts for salaries, mileage rates and per diem for rank-and-file legislators and their leaders. The recommendations wouldn't take effect unless they were approved by the General Assembly. Rep. Ronnie Sutton, D-Robeson, the bill's primary sponsor, said the commission is "an attempt to remove the politics or at least the perceived politics of paying legislators." Thirteen members would be picked at random, one from each congressional district. The House speaker and Senate leader would appoint the rest. None of the members could be a legislator, lobbyist or state employee. The $13,951 salary received by most members has remained the same since 1995. Mileage reimbursements rates also haven't been raised in over a decade. The bill now goes to the Senate.

FRIDAY'S SCORECARD:

In the House:

_ H205, to repeal part of a provision giving in-state status to out-of-state students on full athletic scholarships to University of North Carolina system schools. Approved 93-13. Next: To the Senate.

_ S1211, to require anyone arrested for impaired driving or for driving while license revoked to be fingerprinted if the person can't be identified with a valid form of identification. Approved first House vote 98-9. Next: Second House vote.

_ H1228, to allow a handful of municipalities to use red light cameras under a new procedure designed to address concerns in a state appellate court ruling. Approved first House vote 74-31. Next: Second House vote.

In the Senate:

_ S646, to provide property tax relief for working waterfront property by basing the tax on present use rather than the property's true value, and establish a committee to coordinate waterfront access. Approved 43-0. Next: To the House.

_ S684, to fund spay-neuter programs with a 20-cent fee added to the cost of rabies vaccination tags. Approved 42-1 on a preliminary vote. Next: Final vote, Saturday.

_ S692, to create a North Carolina Boxing Advisory Commission that would recommend changes to the state Alcohol Law Enforcement Division on the sport. Voted 42-0 to concur with House changes. Next: To Gov. Mike Easley for his signature.

_ S864, to allow the state board that governs chiropractors to punish licensees who demonstrate a lack of good moral character that would have prevented them from receiving a license in the first place. Approved 43-0 on preliminary vote. Next: Final vote, Saturday.

_ H820, to tighten regulations on how North Carolina communities can draw water from neighboring river basins and study how surface water resources are allocated statewide. Approved 38-5. Next: To the House for concurrence.

_ H1148, to require the Department of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention to release the first name, last name initial and photograph of juveniles who escape department custody. Approved 42-0. Next: To the House for concurrence.

_ H1374, to protect borrowers from mortgage fraud by clarifying foreclosure notices and extending the statute of limitations on usury, and to clarify rules on mortgage debt collection and service. Approved 43-0. Next: To the House for concurrence.

In committees:

_ S668, to improve energy and water conservation in state and university buildings by requiring new buildings to be constructed with high-performance standards and retrofitting old state buildings. Favorable report, House Energy and Energy Efficiency Committee. Next: To the full House.

Signed by Gov. Mike Easley into law:

_ H973, to require North Carolina insurance companies to cover mental illnesses in the same way they pay to treat physical afflictions.

_ H986, to incorporate the town of Butner.

AROUND THE STATEHOUSE:

_ Lawmakers and staff were forced to take an unscheduled break as a fire alarm sent people pouring from the Legislative Building. The alarm came as House members were gradually returning to their chamber to continue the session that adjourned briefly so a couple of committees could meet. Statehouse security officers found no evidence of fire, though they couldn't immediately establish what triggered the alarm, and the crowd filed back into the building after several minutes.

ON THE AGENDA:

_ The end is near: The General Assembly is aiming to adjourn for the year by Thursday. Senate leader Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney told their colleagues that they would also shut down most committee work as scheduled Saturday.

OVERHEARD:

"The promise of science should not be limited by our lack of knowledge." — Rep. Lucy Allen, D-Franklin, in opposing an amendment that would have narrowed a stem cell research bill in the House only to cover only adult stem cells. The amendment was defeated.

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By Gary D. Robertson and Margaret Lillard.