Monday at the North Carolina General Assembly
By The Associated Press

HEADLINES:

- Senate gives final OK smoking ban for restaurants, bars -compromise may be next
- House gives initial approval on making minor map changes toboundaries in 2 counties
- NC House agrees that parent should be cited if parent leaveschild unattended in car
- Senate plan wouldn’t allow NC gasoline tax to drop this summeras projected
- NC Senate votes for tax cut for property-heavy companies tolure possible $1B investment
- NC House committee clears bill to allow earlier public schoolstart date over tourism industry
- NC House committee approves more gradual, less costly steps toclean Jordan Lake water supply
- NC House panel approves expanding six-month lobbying wait totop assistants in state agencies
- NC House panel sidetracks bill allowing dozen cities to endnewspaper public hearing notices

THE BRIEF:

GETTING CLOSER: The state Senate’s final approval to a smoking ban in nearly all restaurants and bars is building momentum to restrict secondhand smoke in the country’s largest tobacco-growing state. The Senate voted 30-18 in favor of the measure that next returns to the state House, which passed a broader version last month and where bills that made similar attacks on secondhand smoking have died twice since 2005. Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson, the bill’s primary sponsor, said he believes House members will support a ban of some kind, whether it be the Senate version or a negotiated compromise.

REDISTRICTING: Two House districts would be changed to comply with a U.S. Supreme Court decision according to a new map for two coastal counties approved overwhelmingly in the House. The House voted 116-1 to shift precincts between districts represented by Reps. Sandra Spaulding Hughes, D-New Hanover, and Carolyn Justice, R-Pender. A final House vote could come Tuesday. The bill is then likely to clear the Senate with ease, then head to the U.S. Justice Department for approval. The Legislature had to redraw districts after the nation’s highest court in March upheld a state Supreme Court ruling that determined Hughes’ district was unlawful due to racial gerrymandering. The decision related to the Voting Rights Act.

UNATTENDED CHILDREN: A parent who leaves a child under age 9 unattended in a car could get cited by police in a bill approved overwhelmigly by the House. The parent would be given a warning on a first offense in the bill but a repeat offense would be punishable by a misdemeanor. The violator could complete an education program. A crime has occurred if conditions would cause a person to believe a child’s safety is at risk. The child also has to be out of the parent’s line of sight. Rep. Alice Underhill. D-Craven, the bill sponsor, said the bill is designed to create awareness about the dangers of leaving children alone. The bill goes to the Senate.

TAX HELD UP: Supporters of a plan that would prevent the state’s gas tax from falling two cents a gallon July 1 would generate tens of millions of dollars in needed funds for road building. Senators voted 27-19 to replace the current cap on the gas tax at 29.9 cents per gallon with a minimum rate of the same amount through mid-2011. Without the change, the tax is predicted to fall to 27.9 cents this summer because of lower gas prices. The change could generate another $68 million for roads because the tax would be higher than what’s projected. The measure was given initial Senate approval last week and now goes to the House.

BIG BUSINESS: North Carolina lawmakers have approved changing how the state’s corporate income tax is calculated for big companies, hoping the revision will attract a business considering a $1 billion investment. The Senate voted 36-10 to approve changing tax laws in ways that affect only a handful of multi-state companies. There was no discussion of the unidentified investor, which senators said was likely a high-tech company. The measure next heads to the state House. North Carolina calculates corporate taxes for companies that operate in many U.S. locations by considering how much of its property, payroll, and sales are in the state. The change would help companies that invest heavily in land and equipment, but have relatively fewer sales.

SUMMER SCHOOL: Legislation that would let North Carolina schools start the academic year two weeks earlier each August cleared a state House committee. The House Commerce Committee voted 14-10 to recommend the proposal to the full House, where a vote is likely this week. The bill would allow public schools to open as early as Aug. 8. A 2004 law requires most schools to begin no earlier than Aug. 25 and end by June 10. The tourism industry is fighting the change because it would cut into traditional summer vacations. Education groups think earlier start dates would allow for exams before the Christmas vacation. The measure faces a Thursday deadline to pass the House or face a challenge to be considered in the next two years.

JORDAN RULES: A North Carolina House committee has set up a vote on legislation that postpones cleanup of a key water supply forcities from Durham to Greensboro but also doesn’t cost hundreds of
millions of dollars. A House judiciary committee approved a bill
overruling measures to clean up Jordan Lake that the state
Environmental Management Commission approved last year. The
committee instead approved a compromise between developers and
environmentalists that looks for lower-cost ways of reducing
stormwater runoff into the lake. Opponents wanted to avoid forcing
cities from making shopping centers and office parks reduce or
filter the pollution carried by rainwater. The bill next moves to a
vote in the full House this week.

LIMITING LOBBYING: A legislative panel thinks top assistants in
state agencies and leaders of North Carolina’s universities and
community colleges should have to wait six months before lobbying
their former employers. A House judiciary committee backed a
measure expanding the six-month waiting period before these
insiders could become paid lobbyists. The law now covers
legislators, statewide elected officials and agency heads appointed
by the governor. The proposed expansion also would include state
employees who lobby lawmakers for government agencies. Supporters
say a waiting period limits people with inside knowledge about
government operations, contracting and hiring decisions from using
that data for high-paying interest groups.

NEWSPAPER NOTICE: North Carolina lawmakers sidetracked a
proposal that would have allowed cities to announce public hearings
on their own web sites instead of advertising in a local newspaper.
A House judiciary committee rejected legislation that would have
allowed an experiment in a dozen cities, mostly in Wake and
Carteret counties. Advocates for North Carolina’s cities earlier
wanted to allow municipal governments statewide to halt spending on
the newspaper advertisements. Newspaper publishers argued that
would leave many people in the dark about upcoming plans. The
committee ultimately approved allowing only the Raleigh suburb of
Clayton the right to try electronic notices of upcoming public
hearings instead of newspaper notices.

MONDAY’S SCORECARD:

In the House:
- H266, to require the Department of Justice’s criminal
statistics division to collect and publish data on deaths resulted
by police officers using deadly force. The U.S. Bureau of Justice
Statistics said from 2003 to 2005 there were 58 arrest-related
deaths in North Carolina, legislative researchers said. Approved
115-2. Next: To the Senate.
- H439, to require the State Health Plan to pay directly for
city or county ambulance services or the city or county ambulance
driver as a way to reduce local financial losses from unreimbursed
payments. Approved 117-0. Next: To the Senate.
- H672, to require local management entities for mental health,
developmental disabilities and substance abuse services to report
twice a year if they choose to use single stream funding. Approved
117-0. Next: To the Senate.
- H722, would requires that glass tubes, which could be used as
crack pipes, and cigar splitters, which can be used to cut a cigar
so that it could be filled with marijuana, must be kept behind the
counter of retail stores that sell them. Approved 113-0. Next: To
the Senate.
- H787, to increase the criminal penalty for erasing a gun’s
serial number from a misdemeanor to a felony. Approved 112-0. Next:
To the Senate.

In the Senate:
- S143, to allow child support payments to continue until the
child is 21 if the child is attending college. Approved 37-11.
Next: To the Senate.
- S634, to impose penalties of between $5,000 and $15,000 for
falsely advertising a live musical act under the name of a
recording act with which it shares no members or legal rights to
the name. Sen. David Weinstein, D-Robeson, said unscrupulous
promoters were advertising acts like the Coasters and the Drifters
when none of the original members were appearing. Approved 48-0.
Next: To the House.
- S797, to require justices or judges who disqualify themselves
from a case to explain the reason in writing. Approved 48-0. Next:
To the House.
- S1004, to direct the Revenue Laws Study Committee to study
broadband and other communication services operated by local
governments and how they compete or complement commercial
providers. Approved 48-0. Next: To the House.

In the committees:
- H1022, to limit payments for an injured worker receiving
temporary total disability benefits to the greater of 300 weeks or
when the workers is eligible for full Social Security benefits.
Recommended for approval, House Insurance Committee. Next: House
Judiciary II Committee.
- H1485, to change the process by which insurers can recover
overpayments from doctors or hospitals. Recommended for approval,
House Insurance Committee. Next: House Judiciary II Committee.

AROUND THE STATEHOUSE:

The House and Senate entered their floor sessions earlier than
usual Monday night to take up dozens of bills, many sponsored by
lawmakers seeking to beat the Legislature’s self-imposed crossover
deadline and keep their bills alive through next year. The House
had 34 bills on its calendar, while the Senate had 42 to consider.
The House convened at 5 p.m. and the Senate followed at 6 p.m. The
House also held several unusual Monday afternoon committee meetings
to shuffle bills along.

ON THE AGENDA:

The Senate Judiciary I Committee said nearly 50 bills could be
considered Tuesday as legislators scramble to get bills heard and
sent to the floor. But it’s unlikely the panel will get through all
of them. The topics that could be considered in the committee
include attempts to end the Sunday hunting ban, to create a process
by which death-row inmates can get their punishment vacated if they
prove race played a significant factor in the case, and to expunge
a non-violent felony from a person’s record.

QUOTABLE:

“This is crossover week. There’s going to be some long
sessions.” – Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton, who presides over the Senate,
in urging senators to vote electronically from their desks instead
of raising their hands this week to help the chamber completed the
daily calendar in an efficient fashion.