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TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: Another big day at the legislature as the legislative session nears the half-way mark and the bill filing deadline. 10 a.m.: The Senate Education Committee considers a bill to take charter school oversight authority away from the state's Department of Public Instruction and loosen requirements on the schools. Noon: House Public Utilities considers bill to stifle the state's consumer advocacy group. 1 p.m.: House Elections Committee will discuss repeal of campaign finance matching money for candidates, a measure included in the governor's budget. The committee sent a notice that the voter ID measure is on hold temporarily so it can consider other legislation, a reversal from what lawmakers planned. At the same time, the Senate Finance Committee will begin talk about taxes with discussion of a bill to reduce the burden on businesses but no votes are expected. 2 p.m.: The Carolina Panthers bill is on the House calendar. The Senate convenes simultaneously with no major bills on the desk.

Today, Gov. Pat McCrory sticks to his comfort zone for another address to another business group, this one is the N.C. Chamber's annual conference in Greensboro. Later in the day, he'll meet privately with the N.C. Sheriff's Association.

GAMBING MONEY PURGE CONTINUES: As the Morning Memo reported Tuesday, McCrory forfeited campaign contributions from a second sweepstakes company executive charged in an gambling ring. And as AP found, the purge is likely to continue: McCrory received another $8,000 in October from John Patrick Fannin and his wife, who live in Little River, South Carolina, according to records reviewed by The Associated Press. Fannin is also among the sweepstakes operators indicted by Florida prosecutors in the Allied Veteran's case. (A McCrory spokeswoman) said McCrory's campaign will review those donations, too.

***Thanks for reading the Dome Morning Memo. Send tips and news to dome@newsobserver.com. Much more N.C. political news and analysis below.***

Raleigh's Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the N.C. Values Coalition, spoke to a rally in Washington, D.C. on Tuesday in an event coinciding with the U.S. Supreme Court taking up the gay marriage debate.

The coalition said it was a crowd of 10,000 on the National Mall for the National March for Marriage. Fitzgerald touted North Carolina's vote last year to amend its constitution to ban same-sex marriage.

"Government recognizes marriage because it is an institution that benefits society in a way that no other relationship does," Fitzgerald reportedly said. "Marriage is rooted in the reality that children need a mother and a father."

ANOTHER GAMBLING BUST WITH N.C. TIES: On the same day Florida prosecutors busted a gambling operation that snared a company with major North Carolina political ties, an Ohio prosecutor leveled a new indictment against another sweepstakes company with Tar Heel ties.

The March 13 superseding indictment updated charges filed in May against VS2 Worldwide Communications, a company that operated illegal Internet sweepstakes gaming software, according to local news reports. The company's owners, Phillip Cornick of New Jersey and Richard Upchurch of Ramseur, face charges in Ohio of money laundering and engaging in a pattern of corrupt activity.

The two men and their wives contributed more than $45,000 to North Carolina political candidates -- including Gov. Pat McCrory -- with more than half coming after their initial May indictments.

HAGAN ONE OF 11 SENATE DEMOCRATS NOT TO ENDORSE GAY MARRIAGE: North Carolina's Kay Hagan remains opposed to gay marriage, even though three prominent Democrats colleagues recently shifted their stances. The U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments Tuesday (California's Proposition 8) and Wednesday (the Defense of Marriage Act, or DOMA) about same-sex marriage.

**More on the VS2's campaign contributions and Hagan's stance on gay marriage below in today's Dome Morning Memo. Sends news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com. Thanks for reading.***

Same-sex marriage supporters will hold vigils across North Carolina and the rest of the country on Tuesday, including a Triangle event in Raleigh. The vigils coincide with the U.S. Supreme Court hearing arguments Tuesday and Wednesday on the constitutionality of the federal Defense of Marriage Act and California’s Prop. 8.

The California proposition amended that state’s constitution to recognize marriage between a man and a woman as the only valid marriage. Voters in North Carolina approved a similar amendment last May.

Tuesday’s event in Raleigh will be a one-hour candlelight vigil in front of the Wake County courthouse on Fayetteville Street, featuring speakers and music. Scheduled speakers include Raleigh City Councilwoman Mary-Ann Baldwin, state Rep. Marcus Brandon, and former Methodist minister Jimmy Creech.

It’s being organized by Equality N.C., which led the fight against the constitutional amendment.

There are opposing opinions on what impact a Supreme Court ruling would have on the law in North Carolina and other states that ban same-sex marriage.

The North Carolina Values Coalition has filed a brief with the U.S. Supreme Court to defend the definition of marriage that voters solidified in the state constitution last year.

The amicus brief was filed as the Supreme Court takes up California’s marriage amendment and the federal Defense of Marriage Act later this year. The brief seeks to defend the state’s right to define marriage as only between a man and a woman.

“A state mandate to affirm same-sex marriage would have an explosive impact on religious persons who could easily treat all individuals with equal respect and dignity but cannot in good conscience endorse or facilitate same-sex marriage,” the brief says in part.

Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the coalition, said in a statement that her organization filed the brief defending North Carolina’s amendment because Attorney General Roy Cooper has not.

The recent Supreme Court ruling on the federal health care law may be driving campaign contributions this campaign season, an analysis from Governing Magazine suggests.

The researchers looked at two states: Indiana and North Carolina. It determined that health care is primed to play a significant role in the state level races, particularly the gubernatorial battle between Republican Pat McCrory and Democrat Walter Dalton.

"According to Governing’s analysis, Dalton has received at least $17,200 post-Supreme Court from contributors with connections to health-care reform (out of $1.7 million for his entire candidacy), while McCrory has garnered $37,254 (out of $3.8 million). These are the early returns since the Court’s decision, and the number for both is likely higher: donations have only been disclosed through June 30. But there was some significant movement in the immediate aftermath of the ruling," wrote the magazine's Dylan Scott.

UPDATED: Pat McCrory is aligning himself with a cadre of conservative Republican governors who are resisting money in President Barack Obama's health care law to expand Medicaid.

The U.S. Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act gave states the option to accept millions in federal aid to expand Medicaid health care coverage in 2014. In North Carolina, where 17 percent of the population is uninsured, the expansion would initially add roughly 525,000 residents to the program. The number grows to 560,000 by 2019 with about 75 percent of those being uninsured.

Through a spokesman, McCrory said he opposes taking the money at this point. "It would be irresponsible for North Carolina to now automatically accept the federal money before knowing the immediate and long term costs of the law and its impact on our already fragile economy and budget," a statement from the Republican's campaign read.

But McCrory later appeared to walk back his statement, telling reporters Wednesday: “I think one of the options might be to turn it down. But I don't think there is enough information about what those ramifications are. We don't the rules and procedures."

Support from key House Democrats for the GOP-authored budget is eroding, putting into question the legislature’s ability to override a veto by Gov. Bev Perdue, if it comes. “They don’t have the votes to override, and they know it,” said Rep. Dewey Hill, a Whiteville Democrat. Hill was one of five House Democrats who helped legislative Republicans enact their own budget last year over Perdue’s objections. Full story here.

Perdue has not said what she will do about the $20.2 billion budget that she says falls short of meeting critical needs. She plans to hold a press conference on the budget at 10 a.m. Friday.

Other political headlines:

--North Carolina risks losing control of the health insurance marketplace it has to establish under the federal law the U.S. Supreme Court upheld Thursday if it hesitates to authorize it much longer. The state is also assessing the financial impact of adding more than half a million people to the Medicaid program as a result of the court’s ruling. 

The U.S. Supreme Court's ruling on the Affordable Care Act expectedly elicited a good bit of reaction from North Carolina politicians. Click below reaction from across the spectrum.

Ahead of the SCOTUS ruling on the Affordable Care Act, Politico checked in with Democrats who served in Congress but lost their seats amid withering criticism about supporting President Barack Obama's health care law. North Carolina's Bob Etheridge said he would still be in Congress if he didn't vote for the bill -- but still stands by his vote.

"Former Rep. Bob Etheridge has little doubt that his health care vote cost him his reelection in 2010. But now, as he tends cattle on his North Carolina farm and awaits an epic Supreme Court ruling on the most consequential legislative vote of his Capitol Hill career, he’s got no regrets: “I wouldn’t have lost if I hadn’t voted for it, but there’s a time when you gotta do the right thing. And I did the right thing.”