05/11/2006

Associated Press

Budget critic

Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, told a meeting of the state's chamber of commerce he's worried that Democratic Gov. Mike Easley's budget could spell another budget crisis if approved and the economy heads south. Berger's comments before North Carolina Citizens and Industry represent one of only a few voices expressing concerned about Easley's $18.9 billion spending plan he released Tuesday. Berger said it spends too much of a budget surplus. Legislative leaders are expected to have roughly $2 billion in extra money for the fiscal year starting July 1. Easley's proposal spends heavily on education and construction projects and cuts the state sales tax rate by quarter-cent. Berger said a similar spending spree in the late 1990s — there were also tax cuts around that time and Hurricane Floyd recovery — left the state in a shortfall in 2001 when Easley took office. Easley said Tuesday his budget was fiscally sound and addressed urgent demands to retain public school teachers, improve mental health services and fix aging university buildings neglected during the recession. His top budget adviser, Dan Gerlach, said critics have argued in the past that the governor's spending plan will send the state into the ditch, but North Carolina is one of the strongest economies in the nation.

Budget cap

Republicans gave Gov. Mike Easley's staff grief about whether his $18.9 billion spending plan meets a growth cap the governor said he would follow three years ago. Since then, Easley has said he would increase the dollar amount of the budget annually by no more than a percentage equal to a 10-year average of the state's annual personal income growth. Easley's office says that cap is now 5.6 percent. Gerlach said the budget proposal falls below the cap because it doesn't count money used to repay funds tapped to balance the state budget in recent lean years. The calculation also doesn't count education spending required to meet a court order over low-performing schools. Sen. Fred Smith, R-Johnston, likened Easley's cap to one that Smith joked he would ask his wife to follow, but exempt clothing and jewelry expenses.

Charter schools

Hundreds of charter school administrators, students and their parents came to the Legislative Building to urge lawmakers to change the lottery law to ensure their schools get a piece of construction money. The group North Carolina Students for Equitable Lottery Funding says the law approved last August doesn't guarantee a share of the proceeds will go to the state's 97 charter schools. Group leader Tom Vass says charter school students are like any other students in North Carolina and deserve to benefit from the construction dollars to improve their schools. Usually the state's 97 charter schools receive money from the state on a per-pupil basis just like public schools but aren't provided buildings like traditional schools. Stacy Mroz is a sixth-grader at Metrolina Regional Scholars' Academy in Charlotte. She and her mother, Marci, had to help fix up the academy building due to a lack of funds.

Video poker patter

The Senate Rules Committee quickly and unanimously approved a ban on video poker. The full chamber was scheduled to hear the bill Thursday. If approved, it would be the fifth time the Senate has passed a ban on video poker since 2000. House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, has opposed such bans, arguing it's a legal industry that generates thousands of jobs. He was the Legislature's top recipient of industry contributions during the 2002 and 2004 election cycles. But state and federal investigations into the industry, one involving campaign contributions to Black, may place increasing pressure on the speaker to allow a vote on a ban. "Hopefully they'll take a vote in the House," said Sen. Charles Albertson, D-Duplin, the bill's sponsor. Black backed a bill in 2004 designed to regulate the machines beyond a 2000 law.

Illegal immigration crackdown?

Illegal immigrants would be unable to get some jobs and social services under a bill filed by Sen. Robert Pittenger, R-Mecklenburg. The measure would require that public employers — and businesses contracted by the state — participate in a federal work authorization program to verify that new employees are in the country legally. "Everyone has to be accountable in this system," said Pittenger, adding that all businesses should ultimately come under the law. All individuals would need proof of legal presence in the state to receive social services under the proposal. Immigration has become a hot issue nationwide as Capitol Hill and other states consider how to tighten the country's borders and what to do about the estimated 11 million illegal immigrants now in the United States. Pittenger believes the bill could pick up steam because North Carolina has become a magnet for illegal immigrants.

More bonds?

A joint House-Senate finance committee heard from groups that would like state bonds issued for their projects, with or without a statewide referendum. The panel heard from Deputy State Treasurer Vance Holloman, who reviewed his agency's debt affordability study for North Carolina. It found that North Carolina can take on more than $214 million in new debt annually for the next 10 years and remain financially sound. "The debt currently is at a very manageable level," Holloman said. A state conservation group called Land for Tomorrow told committee members it would like to invest $200 million in land and water conservation bonds for each of the next five years. Billy Ray Hall with the N.C. Rural Economic Development Center also made a pitch for $1 billion in bonds to fund water and sewer improvements statewide. Health and Human Services Secretary Carmen Hooker Odom requested $101 million for a combination public health lab and state medical examiner's office and $308 million to replace new state mental hospitals in Morganton and Goldsboro. The North Carolina Housing Finance Agency wants $450 million annually for its trust fund.

Eminent domain

Republicans have filed bills in both chambers that would attempt to change the North Carolina constitution to limit government power to acquire homes and businesses for private economic projects. A House committee recommended last month that a constitutional amendment — which would have to be approved in a statewide referendum — wasn't necessary and instead urged passage of a bill designed to shore up the state's current eminent domain laws. The issue stems from a U.S. Supreme Court ruling last year that allowed the town of New London, Conn., to take houses on property sought for a hotel and convention center. Bills have been filed by Sens. Jim Forrester of Gaston County, Robert Pittenger of Mecklenburg County and Fred Smith of Johnston County as well as Rep. Mitch Gillespie of McDowell County.

Other bill filings

Other bills filed in the General Assembly first two days of this year's session would:

_ cap the state gas tax. A Republican-backed measure would put the maximum gas tax at 27.1 cents per gallon. A Democratic one would top off the tax at its current rate — 29.9 cents per gallon. Democratic Gov. Mike Easley proposed capping the tax in his budget.

_ strengthen sex offender registration laws and start electronic monitoring for the worst offenders. The bill is sponsored by two Republicans and two Democrats in the Senate. Two separate measures in the House would increase penalties; expand electronic monitoring; and place more limitations on sex offenders, such as where they can live or work.

_ seek to ensure that money in the state's Highway Trust Fund can no longer be transferred to the state's general operating accounts. Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, and Rep. Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, are sponsors of slightly different measures.

_ change the way the state allocates school construction money generated from North Carolina Education Lottery profits. Some complain the formula for construction money rewards counties who keep their property tax rates high. Sens. John Snow, D-Cherokee and Martin Nesbitt, D-Buncombe, have filed a bill that would distribute $170 million in lottery proceeds based on county public school attendance figures.

_ prohibit drivers under 18 with a provisional license from using a cell phone while operating a vehicle.

_ require all net lottery proceeds go exclusively to education. A bill proposed by Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, would place such a restriction in the state constitution. Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange, wants a law that prohibits the General Assembly from supplanting education money.

_ end the "temporary" one-half cent sales tax increase and 8.25 percent individual income tax bracket this year instead of next. The measure was filed by Rep. Hugh Holliman, D-Davidson.

_ cap the share of Medicaid costs paid by each county.

_ repeal a requirement that kindergarten children must take an eye exam before entering school, an item that House Speaker Jim Black helped insert into the budget last year. A judge blocked the state from enforcing the eye exams until at least July 2007 to give the General Assembly more time to debate the issue.

_ two Senate Republicans filed a bill that would ask voters to consider a proposed constitutional amendment banning gay marriage in North Carolina.

ASU victory

The General Assembly passed a resolution honoring Appalachian State University's football team and its NCAA Division I-AA national championship last year. Several Mountaineer players, athletic officials and boosters came to the floor of both the House and Senate for the celebration. ASU had a record of 12-3 last season, capped by a 21-16 victory in the title game over Northern Iowa.

Upcoming

_ The House has scheduled a vote Thursday on whether to confirm former Rep. Bill Culpepper, D-Chowan, to the state Utilities Commission. Culpepper is the former Rules Committee chairman.

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