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The state Senate has just elected eight members to the UNC Board of Governors.

They are: William M. Kotis, III of Summerfield, a commercial real estate investor and restaurateur with Kotis Properties, Inc.; Scott Lampe of Davidson, vice president and chief financial officer for Hendrick Motorsports; Steven B. Long of Raleigh, a tax attorney and partner with Parker, Poe, Adams & Bernstein; Joan G. MacNeill of Webster, a retired entrepreneur and nurse; Therence O. Pickett of Greensboro, vice president, general counsel and secretary at Volvo Group North America and Mack Trucks, Inc.; Robert Sterling Rippy of Wilmington, the owner and president of Jungle Rapids; Harry Leo Smith, Jr. of Greenville, chief executive officer of Flanders Corporation; John Craig Souza of Raleigh, president and chief executive officer of the N.C. Health Care Facilities Association.

The House is in recess, but a vote count on its slate is under way. So far no current board members have been reappointed; Souza is a former board member and vice chair.

Today's election assures that the UNC system's governing board will be dominated by Republicans.

Republican House Speaker Thom Tillis is the latest Republican to express reservations about a plan to eliminate the state's income taxes.

In an interview with News 14, Tillis said he wants to move on a tax overhaul but "the question is how do you get there and can you possibly in five months unwind 50 years of taxation." On the issue, Tillis put himself "somewhere between where the budget director and where the Senate are in terms of how you do it.

Top Senate Republicans are pushing the plan to abolish the personal and corporate income taxes and increase the state sales tax to 8.05 percent from 4.75 percent. It also includes a 1.05 percent tax on every businesses earnings, with a $500 minimum. But earlier this week Art Pope, the governor's budget director, expressed personal concerns about the plan -- a strong signal that it may not survive in its conceptual form.

Senators Tom Apodaca of Henderson and Ralph Hise of Mitchell have been named co-chairs of the Senate Committee on Pensions & Retirement and Aging.

In naming the two, Senate leader Phil Berger said their assignment was “to ensure North Carolina's pension system protects taxpayers from enormous unfunded liabilities and remains sustainable for current and future retirees.''

Apodaca and Sen. Wesley Meredith co-chaired the committee during the past session.

UPDATED: The state Senate and House on Monday overrode Gov. Bev Perdue's veto of the bill rewriting the Racial Justice Act, meaning it becomes law.

The 31-11 Senate vote came after a 15-minute debate that covered familiar ground. The House later voted 72-48, just enough to meet the three-fifths majority required.

The state Senate is shutting down its policy committees - a signal that the legislative session is winding down. Thursday is the last chance for bills that don't have anything to do with money to get a Senate commitee hearing. "We're wanting to move things along," said Senate leader Phil Berger.

The Senate will be debating its budget next week. Senate Rules Chairman Tom Apodaca filed an adjournment resolution for June 19, sparking speculation. And the House seems to have taken the message seriously. The chamber is speeding through legislation under the impression there's only two weeks to go.

The House voted 96 to 23 on Monday night to block a state gas and diesel fuel tax increase scheduled for Jan. 1, holding the tax until July at its current rate of 35 cents a gallon.

A number of prominent Democrats joined Republicans in supporting the measure, including Reps. Bill Faison and Tricia Cotham, both of which are eyeing higher political office.

A final House vote is expected Tuesday -- but it's likely futile. It's apparently dead-on-arrival in the Senate.

Senate leader Phil Berger expressed concerns about the bill, particularly because it defers decisions about cutting road projects to the executive branch. "I have expressed concerns about ... a bill that does not specify which projects are dealt with," he said.

But more than anything, the Senate likely won't be in town when the bill comes over from the House. The Senate is adjourning at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday to satisfy the adjournment resolution calling for a three-day session, instead of waiting until tomorrow to leave.

The American Conservative Union released its first-ever ratings of N.C. lawmakers Monday, giving high marks to dozens of Republicans.

The ACU is known for its congressional scores but this year the advocacy organization added five battleground states to the report card. The organization's top "Defender of Liberty"award is given to those who earn a 100 percent conservative score based on votes on certain legislation. The second tier of lawmakers receives the "ACU Conservative" award for scores higher than 80 percent.

The bulk of Republicans earned the top award while another dozen were also recognized. (See a chart breaking down the ratings here.)

“In North Carolina, under the leadership of Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger and Speaker Thom Tillis, there are great examples of courageous conservatives in the General Assembly shunning big-government solutions in favor of ambitious conservative reforms that advance prosperity and individual freedom,” said ACU Chairman Al Cardenas in a statement. “It is a testament to true conservatives in both chambers that the state is resisting the liberal leadership of Governor Perdue, going as far as to override her veto on several occasions. “

The rankings take a shot at Democrats who earned "zero ratings," and thus the title "True Liberal of the Tar Heel State." The list includes Triangle area Reps. Joe Hackney, Verla Insko, Paul Luebke and Jennifer Weiss.

It's worth noting that ACU was less discriminate than Civitas Action, which also released lawmaker rankings Monday.

UPDATED: The "glitch" in the GOP-drawn redistricting maps means 475,867 voters were not assigned to a state House, Senate or congressional district, legislative staff revealed Monday, as lawmakers reconvened for a special session to pass legislation to fix the problem.

Upon questioning from Democrats, legislative staff acknowledged that the problem would not have existed if Republicans didn't split precincts when drawing the maps. Republicans didn't dispute the issue, pivoting to label the issue as a computer glitch.

The number of voters affected is likely less than legislative staff suggested because some of the missing areas overlap, but the total number of voters that were double counted couldn't be quantified.

As drawn now, the maps are unconstitutional because the unassigned areas left incongruous districts. Legislation expected to hit the House and Senate floors at 3 p.m. will fix the problem, Republican lawmakers said. From there, the "curative legislation" will be sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, which gave an initial nod to the maps last week.

An official at the State Board of Elections discovered the problem in late October when trying to assign voters to Wake County judicial districts. 

House Democratic leader Joe Hackney argues that the legislature can't just fix the redistricting legislation like an ordinary state law. Because the constitution allows redistricting once a decade after the new census numbers, a judge would need to declare the maps unconstitutional before Republicans can fix the holes.

N.C. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger appeared Thursday afternoon on Fox News -- which took notice of his tongue-in-cheek statement after Gov. Bev Perdue stuck her foot in her mouth.

And he didn't disappoint, dropping this one-liner: "If anything we may need to move up next year's gubernatorial election," said Berger, adding that when your governor you don't make those kind of comments, joking or not.

He continued: "I was willing to give her the benefit of the doubt until the audio tape came out," Berger said. "Listening to the audio tape, it's pretty clear. She was soliciting support for the proposal."

The GOP leader tapped into the steal-democracy spin, saying that Perdue's off-the-cuff remark "basically says that voter's aren't smart enough to figure it out. … I don't see how the solution to our problems is less democracy."

Sarah Palin even mentioned Perdue's gaffe in a Facebook post Wednesday evening, tying her to President Barack Obama and saying that "nothing should surprise concerned Americans anymore."

In 2010, candidates for the General Assembly raised $33 million – with a third coming from political action committees backed by powerful special interests, according to an expansive analysis by the N.C. FreeEnterprise Foundation.

The top three PAC contributors are familiar faces in the halls of the legislature: trial lawyers gave $53,400, doctors gave $355,000 and Progress Energy gave $344,500. (Interesting note: combine Progress and Duke Energy’s PAC contributions and it reaches near $600,000 – good seed money for a merger.)

The giving to lawmakers by trial lawyers and doctors reflected two of the top legislative issues in the 2011 session: medical malpractice and worker’s compensation.