04/22/2009

Associated Press

HEADLINES:

_ Senate tax plan would lower rates, tax repairs, eliminate privilege licenses

_ NC health plan for state workers to slow provider payments

_ NC House panel agrees to change 2004 school calendar law to give districts more leeway

_ NC House approves plan to expand cities able to test taxpayer financing for local candidates

_ NC House backs allowing local referenda to raise sales taxes for expanded mass transit systems

_ Senate committee considers expanding prison building smoking ban to outside prison grounds

_ A quick lunch? House wants to know whether meal breaks at school are adequate

THE BRIEF:

TAX OVERHAUL: Senate Democrats were set to consider a plan that would change the state's tax system by reducing overall rates but add taxes to many services for the first time. The Senate Finance Committee was to receive a proposal Wednesday that would lower the sales tax rate most people pay from 6.75 percent to 6 percent. A document highlighting the potential changes was obtained by The Associated Press. Corporate and individual income tax rates also would be lowered, but more businesses would have to pay franchise taxes.

LOW CASH: The administrator of the State Health Plan said payments to doctors and hospitals will slow dramatically after this week as the plan tries conserving its dwindling cash. Executive administrator Jack Walker said dramatic delays will result unless state legislators approve a cash infusion this week. Legislators and Gov. Beverly Perdue agree that the health plan for 667,000 state employees, teachers, retirees and their dependents should receive $250 million to keep paying bills through the end of the budget year in June. But a bailout costing taxpayers about $730 million through mid-2011 has been debated for weeks.

BACK TO SCHOOL: A House committee agreed that local boards of education should have more say in deciding what the first day of school will be each year. The House education panel backed allowing districts to start classes as early as the second Monday in August. The current law requires schools in all 115 districts to begin no sooner than Aug. 25 and end by June 10, with some exceptions. Bill supporters say the 2004 law setting the start and end date hasn't worked and interferes with student performance. A parent group and the state's tourism industry oppose the changes, saying traditional summer vacations would be again eroded by districts that could start as early as Aug. 8.

TAXPAYER HELP: The House voted 60-56 to let cities choose whether to use taxpayer money in some local elections. Changes adopted on Tuesday limited the experiment running through 2016 to cities larger than 50,000 residents. Cities must seek permission from the State Board of Elections to test using tax money for local candidates. The bill next moves to the Senate.

TAX TO RIDE: The House voted 77-40 to tentatively approve legislation allowing voters in Forsyth, Guilford, Wake, Durham and Orange counties to decide whether to increase local sales taxes by half a cent and car registration fees by up to $2. The money would go toward improving mass transit systems. Mecklenburg County used similar financing to develop its popular light rail line. The state's 94 other counties could raise sales taxes by a quarter-cent for transit projects. A final House vote could come as early as Wednesday. If the plan gets approval, it would go next to the Senate.

PERMANENT SMOKING BREAK: The current smoking ban inside North Carolina prison buildings would be expanded to include outside prison grounds in a bill considered by a Senate judiciary committee. Sen. Charlie Albertson, D-Duplin, said widening the smoking ban would help prisoners break an addictive habit and reduce health care costs for inmates and correctional officers. The Legislature approved in 2005 an indoor smoking ban at the state's 76 prisons. The Correction Department already has pilot programs for a complete smoking ban at five prisons. The bill was delayed while Sen. Dan Clodfelter, D-Mecklenburg, drew up an amendment to exempt guests who may lose their visiting privileges if they smoke in a parking lot. The bill also would make it a felony if someone attempts to smuggle a mobile phone into a prison.

QUICK BITES: House members concerned that public school students have to eat and run to class want the State Board of Education to investigate lunch periods and whether they should be longer. The House Education Committee approved a bill that would order the board to study the issue and report back to a legislative oversight committee by this fall. Rep. Doug Yongue, D-Scotland, a primary bill sponsor, said that children who eat fast are able to eat more before they're full, which in turn could lead to more obesity among children. A Department of Public Instruction official said a 2006 survey found that the average lunch period ranged from 17 to 24 minutes, with high schools having the shortest breaks.

TUESDAY'S SCORECARD:

In the Senate:

_ Elected Linwood Powell, 75, of Fayetteville, and James Woody Jr., 72, of Roxboro, to the state Board of Community Colleges. Powell was an administrator at Fayetteville Technical Community College for 19 years and has been on the state board since 2003. Woody is an environmental manager at Chandler Concrete Co.

In the House:

_ Elected Samuel Powell, 56, of Burlington, and K. Ray Bailey, 67, of Fairview, to the state Board of Community Colleges. Powell runs his own commercial real estate development company and is chairman of the Alamance Community College board of trustees. Bailey was president of Asheville-Buncombe Technical Community College until 2007 and was elected a Buncombe County commissioner in November.

In committees:

_ The House Environment and Natural Resources Committee debated a proposed state law that would block utilities from buying coal extracted by blowing the tops off Appalachian mountains may be done for this year. Advocates said North Carolina's coal-fired generating plants are the second-largest user of coal produced in a way that destroys forests and wildlife, and fouls waterways below. Coal buyers for Progress Energy and Duke Energy said other sources of coal are more expensive. Opposition prompted the bill's sponsor, Rep. Pricey Harrison, D-Guilford, to say she would urge legislators to sign a letter to Congress and the Obama administration asking that all environmental rules controlling the practice be enforced.

Introduced in the House:

_ H1529, to appropriate $15 million for dropout prevention grants for the 2009-10 school year. Sponsor: Rep. Earline Parmon, D-Forsyth.

_ H1530, to set out how counties can rescind an advance general reappraisal of property before the reappraisal is completed. Sponsor: Rep. Nelson Cole, D-Rockinghan.

AROUND THE STATEHOUSE:

_ Gov. Beverly Perdue said small businesses are responsible for half of North Carolina's jobs and need help from government to reform health care for workers. Perdue spoke to the state chapter of the National Federation of Independent Business meeting in Raleigh. Perdue said small business owners increasingly find health insurance too expensive to provide their employees. She said the only way to significantly combat rising costs is for the federal government to reform the health care financing system. Perdue said she'll continue pushing for health reform at the national level.

ON THE AGENDA:

_ The Senate Health Care Committee is scheduled to take up a public smoking bill. It will be the first time senators publicly indicate their interest in legislation that would ban secondhand smoke from restaurants and other businesses where minors are present, but allow it in freestanding bars. The measure cleared the House but its revisions have raised opposition from the state's restaurant trade group, which says eateries will lose alcohol sales if freestanding bars can cater to smokers.

QUOTABLE:

"I don't know where the Republicans will meet, but in Robeson County they usually meet at the men's room at the bus station." Sen. David Weinstein, D-Robeson. Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, had just teased Weinstein by inviting him to join the GOP caucus, which Berger said would convene in their normal meeting room.

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By Gary D. Robertson and Emery P. Dalesio.