RALEIGH, N.C.  – The chief advocate for compensation to North Carolina residents sterilized against their will by the state says he’s fighting to get it approved this year.

A House judiciary committee approved a bill Tuesday that would provide $20,000 to any person sterilized by the state between 1929 and 1975. The measure seeks $18 million to pay claims.

The state’s eugenics program sterilized 7,600 people considered at the time as mentally disabled or genetically inferior. The state has apologized for the program.

Rep. Larry Womble of Forsyth County is a primary sponsor. He says a third of the victims are still alive, so time is running out.

The budget proposals of Gov. Beverly Perdue and the Senate offered startup money for compensation but nothing for claims.