RALEIGH, N.C.  – Gov. Beverly Perdue is running out of time to decide on bills left on her desk by the North Carolina General Assembly before it left town last month.

The state constitution gives Perdue until midnight Thursday to sign or veto legislation. Those not considered within the 30-day window automatically become law.

Perdue has left to consider five of the 108 bills given to her by the Legislature. One bill would make clear that requests made by General Assembly employees to state agencies are exempt from the public records law.

North Carolina was the last state in the country to give veto power to its governor, acting in 1997. A governor has issued vetoes nine times. The Legislature overrode one of those vetoes.