As expected, the state House on Tuesday passed a bill that would allow people with permits to carry concealed weapons to bring their firearms into bars, restaurants that serve alcohol, college campuses and parks.

Approval of what is likely the major gun bill of the session – by a vote of 78-42 -- came after lengthy debate on Monday and Tuesday. Democrats emphatically complained that the GOP leadership repeatedly thwarted their efforts to amend the bill.

Republicans used a legislative maneuver to table proposed amendments 12 times (once for a Republican amendment). Before Tuesday’s session, Democratic lawmakers called a news conference to complain about the tactic limiting the debate.

Top Senate Republicans detailed a much-anticipated plan Tuesday to overhaul the state’s tax system by cutting personal and corporate income taxes in exchange for a broader sales tax applied to everything from haircuts to car repairs.

Senate leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, said the forthcoming legislation would trim the personal income tax from the highest 7.75 percent rate to 4.5 percent over three years and cut the corporate income tax from the current 6.9 percent to 6 percent.

The combined local and state sales tax would fall from 6.75 percent to 6.5 percent, but it would apply to hundreds of services currently exempted, including prescription drugs. The food tax would increase from the current 2 percent to the full sales tax rate, more than a three-fold increase.

The plan represents a retreat for Senate Republicans who earlier this year announced intentions to eliminate personal and corporate income taxes, a proposal also floated by Gov. Pat McCrory on the campaign trail. And many questions remain because lawmakers have not filed the exact legislation yet. Full story.

The state Senate passed a bill creating a separate regulatory board for charter schools by a vote of 32-17.

The charter school board would be responsible for handing out new charters and shutting down inadequate schools, diluting the State Board of Education's powers. State Board Chairman Bill Cobey opposes the bill and questions its constitutionality.

Sen. Jerry Tillman, an Archdale Republican and the bill's sponsor, said charters give parents choice. "When you have a choice, the free market works," he said.

Democrats said Republicans were over reaching.

"Keep this up and you're going to destroy the very thing you're trying to promote," said Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat.

The bill now moves to the House for consideration.

Foster parents would not be able to smoke in their homes or cars in the presence of infants, under a bill that cleared a committee on Tuesday. Visitors would also be prohibited from smoking in the presence of a baby in foster care.

The state Division of Social Services would be required to enforce the law, banning smoking anywhere in a foster home where nfants are cared for, and from any vehicle if an infant is in it.

HB805 passed the House Health and Human Services Committee. It is sponsored by Rep. Patricia Cotham, a Democrat from Matthews, and Rep. Darren Jackson, a Democrat from Raleigh.

It’s next stop is scheduled to be a House judiciary committee.

Update: An earlier version of this story incorrectly identified Cotham's party affiliation.

Gov. Pat McCrory said Tuesday that his administration plans to support legislation that would make it easier to fire state employees who are not doing their jobs.

McCrory said he would ask for changes in the State Personnel Act, the law that protects state workers from arbitrary and political firings. He said his top managers are seeking more authority to both reward good employees and get rid of poor performers.

“One item we are looking at is the State Personnel Act, legislation that would give us more flexibility to help promote and give incentives to good employees who are doing a good job and at the same time dealing with employees are not doing a good job,'' McCrory told a meeting of the Council of State Tuesday morning.

“I will give you a couple of examples quickly,” McCrory said. “We have one employee who has not come to work in three months, which is not good. They appealed the firing.''

SENATE LEADERS TO PITCH TAX PLAN: The long-awaited plan to overhaul the state's tax system will debut Tuesday. Senate Republicans want to slash the personal income tax from the highest 7.75 percent rate to 4.5 percent over three years and drop the corporate income tax from 6.9 percent to 6 percent.

In a video previewing a 12:30 p.m. announcement, Senate leader Phil Berger called it a $1 billion tax cut -- the largest in state history. The question is how to pay for it and the details are less clear, but Berger said it will involved taxing a range of services from haircuts to auto mechanics. (More details below.)

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: Taxes won't take all the air from the N.C. General Assembly today. In committees, the governor's transportation plan gets a final hearing before going to the full House; a health committee considers a measure to limit what a doctor can do about sexually transmitted diseases, pregnancy and birth control without parental consent; and Senate lawmakers will consider (but not vote on) a proposal to allow armed guards in elementary schools who aren't necessarily law enforcement officers.

The controversial gun bill gets a third reading on the House floor and the Senate will consider a controversial state charter school bill similar to ALEC-sponsored legislation. (More on ALEC below.) Gov. Pat McCrory -- who promised to hold regular media availability -- will not take questions after the Council of State meeting at 9 a.m. today. It is normal practice but McCrory has shunned the media after the meetings just about every time since he took office. He lists no other public events on his calendar today.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo. A big day in North Carolina politics ahead. Get the scoop below. Send news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com.***

Add another name for the potential vacancy in the 12th Congressional District.

George Battle III says he's considering a run for the seat that could be vacated by Democratic Rep. Mel Watt. Watt is President Obama's choice to lead the Housing Finance Agency. "I'm listening to people," Battle says. "I'm flattered folks think enough of me to even mention my name.”

Battle, 40, is the son of Bishop George Battle Jr., a former school board chairman. He's general counsel for Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools. Among other potential candidates in the overwhelmingly Democratic district: state Sen. Malcom Graham of Charlotte and Reps. Rodney Moore of Charlotte, Alma Adams of Greensboro, Marcus Brandon of High Point and Ed Hanes of Winston-Salem. --Jim Morrill, Observer staff writer

Small businesses likes what they see with the new Republican rule in Raleigh.

A new survey found that small business owners believe the business climate in North Carolina has improved during the past year. Last year they gave it a C-plus, ranking its 26th in the nation in business friendliness. This year they give it a B plus ranking it 13th in the country.

That is according to a survey conducted by Thumbtack.com of San Francisco in partnership with the Kauffman Foundation. The foundation polled 7,700 owners across the country, like photographers, plumber and graphic designers.

Some of the changes may be due to more to perception than reality. For example, those polled gave the friendliness of the tax code D- minus last year and B- this year, even though there have been few major changes.

Rev. Mark Harris, the pastor of Charlotte’s First Baptist Church, said Monday he’s listening to those who want him to run for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination next year.

Harris met in Charlotte last week with about 70 people from around 20 North Carolina counties who are trying to draft him to run, the Observer's Jim Morrill reports. “I’m certainly humbled and flattered by the confidence that these folks have expressed,” he said. “It’s a little bit overwhelming to be honest. Right now we’re doing two things. One … doing a lot of listening to people and the second and most importantly to me is just to pray and seek God’s leadership … and see if that’s his plan for me.”

Harris announced that to his congregation at the end of Sunday’s church service, and walked off to a standing ovation. More here.

House Speaker Thom Tillis issued a warning last weekend to his fellow Repubicans about overreaching with their supermajority power.

"I was the GOP minority whip in 2009," he began in a Facebook post. "My job was to get conservative Democrats to help us defeat liberal legislation. The Democratic leaders, heavily influenced by their most liberal members and far-left groups, could not resist the pressure to move too far to fast. They did not compromise and they went too far.

"They got out of step with the citizens of NC and they lost their majority as a result. It was their lack of discipline that laid the groundwork for Republicans to have House/Senate super majorities, a GOP governor, and (lieutenant) governor," he concluded. "Our lack of discipline will lay the groundwork for their ascendency and if they succeed we will only have ourselves to blame."

What generated the post is unclear. A Tillis spokesman declined to elaborate and answer specific questions. "Speaker Tillis was simply recapping what occurred under Democratic leadership before Republicans won a majority in 2010, and pointing out that the Republican majority should learn from the mistakes of Democratic leadership of the past," spokesman Jordan Shaw said Monday.

Republicans are saying that Democratic Chairman Randy Voller did not go far enough in apologizing for his rape comment.

”I'm not sure what's worse – Chairman Voller's statement or his non-apology after the fact,” said Congresswoman Renee Ellmers of Dunn. “The chairman does not have to agree with our policies, but to try to compare policy differences to violent sexual assaults is beyond the pale. Certainly he should have enough respect for women – Democratic and Republican – to know better than to use that kind of inflammatory and offensive language.''

Sherman Lupton, a 30-year Navy veteran, has been named State Part Authority and Global Transpark Director of Logistics. He starts Monday and will be responsible for synchronizing and coordinating activities of the ports and the Transpark. Lupton most recently served as deputy director in the in the Office of Naval Operations Staff. He will make $140,000 per year.

Shelley Blake will be the new agency general counsel. Blake has been in private practice and is an adjunct professor at N.C. Central University School of Law. She starts May 28 and at a salary of $118,000.

MORE ARRESTS EXPECTED AT LEGISLATURE: Activists fighting the Republican legislative agenda say they will return to the Legislative Building on Monday and more plan to be arrested. The civil disobiendence, led by the N.C. NAACP and other groups, is design to raise the public's awareness of the policies GOP-lawmakers are pushing this session. A demonstration a week ago led to 17 arrests.

McCRORY TO TOUT DRILLING IN TEXAS: From AP -- Gov. Pat McCrory is visiting an offshore energy trade conference in Texas to try to help build momentum for drilling off the coast of North Carolina and other states. McCrory says he'll participate Monday in a panel discussion with other governors at the Offshore Technology Conference in Houston. McCrory says the energy industry could create thousands of jobs and reduce America's dependence on foreign oil and generate state revenues.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo. More North Carolina politics below. Send tips and news to dome@newsobserver.com. ***

A new poll shows a majority of North Carolina voters favor the state's current system of publicly financing the campaigns of candidate for state Supreme Court and Court of Appeals.

The survey, finding 68 percent favor the program and 23 percent oppose, comes amid warnings that last year's multi-million-dollar campaign for Supreme Court Justice

Paul Newby's seat threatens to remake the campaign financing landscape. Newby won re-election over appellate Judge Sam Ervin IV, with a huge infusion of outside money.

Statewide judicial candidates can accept public financing if they agree to spending limits and refuse political action committee and special interest money. But with the emergence of "super PACs," which collect and spend money independent of candidates, those limits are meaningless.