A bill meant to change the way cities and towns annex property owners is headed back to committee.

The bill was drafted in response to long-festering anger over municipalities' ability to annex property owners against their will.

The proposed bill leaves neither municipalities nor annexation opponents happy.

"It must be a pretty good bill if everybody is upset," said Rep. Bruce Goforth, an Ashville Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill.

Good bill or not, Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat and senior budget writer in the House was afraid it would be an expensive bill.

More after the jump.

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SEANC is airing more ads against state legislators.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina is running radio ads against Reps. Ray Rapp of Madison County and Van Braxton of Lenoir County, both Democrats. 

As part of an ongoing campaign, ads criticize the legislators for voting for a bill designed to keep the State Health Plan afloat.

"Legislators need to understand this issue is not going away," said Executive Director Dana Cope in a statement. "We will hold them accountable when they make bad decisions, and SEANC will educate constituents when their legislators decide to put a multi-million dollar nonprofit's interests ahead of North Carolina taxpayers."

Previous ads have targeted Senate Majority Leader Hugh Holliman and Reps. Margaret Dickson, Bruce Goforth and Pryor Gibson. 

SEANC is running ads against two state lawmakers.

The State Employees Association of North Carolina will run radio ads criticizing Democratic Reps. Pryor Gibson of Anson County and Bruce Goforth of Buncombe County.

The ads criticize the legislators' votes for a fix to the State Health Plan that would raise costs for state workers.

"Representative Bruce Goforth voted to raise the cost of health care for the State’s working families, making North Carolina forty-ninth in its employees' family coverage, while the State had a no-bid contract with the non-profit Blue Cross Blue Shield that pays their CEO over 4 million dollars," one ad notes.

The ads are another salvo in an ongoing fight between SEANC, which represents 55,000 state workers, and the legislature during a tight budget year.

Gibson told The Insider that he is married to a state employee and could not understand the logic of the attack.

Legislation to fix for the State Health Plan may not pass by April 1, a deadline legislative leaders was important in order to save roughly $45 million.

A bill that would cost the general fund roughly $660 million to cover a shortfall and pay for premium increases for the 667,000 state employees, teachers and retirees on the plan bogged down in the House Insurance Committee today as members raised questions about the proposal and offered amendments to change it, Dan Kane reports.

Several were upset when a committee chairman, Rep. Bruce Goforth, an Asheville Democrat, initially told them the amendments could not be added because they would require an examination into how they would affect the plan's cost, and there wasn't time to do that.

Goforth later decided to hold a second meeting so that the amendments could be considered. But the second meeting won't take place until March 31, a day before the deadline.

Even then, the bill would need to be heard by a second committee, Appropriations, before it could come to the House floor. And if the bill is amended, it would go back to the Senate for reconsideration.

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* The Greensboro News-Record's Mark Binker cautions casual political fans not to expect too much too soon from the legislature.

* The House selects new Democratic whips: Reps. Larry Bell, Larry Hall, Jean Farmer-Butterfield, Deborah Ross and Bruce Goforth.

* More cutbacks in the field of journalism: UNC-TV will no longer pay political analysts who appear on its "Legislative Week in Review" show.

* Liberal blogger Andrea Verykoukis says the state's anti-sodomy law "has been used to persecute ... certain parties with certain proclivities" for centuries.

Ten state legislators drive more than 500 miles to work.

After Dome learned that Rep. Roger West's 720-mile round trip from Marble to Raleigh is the longest commute, we wondered about the other legislators with long drives:

Sen. John Snow, Murphy, 706 miles
Sen. Joe Sam Queen, Waynesville, 552 miles
Sen. Tom Apodaca, Hendersonville, 550 miles
Sen. Martin Nesbitt, Asheville, 520 miles
Rep. David Guice, Brevard, 582 miles
Rep. Susan Fisher, Asheville, 500 miles
Rep. Bruce Goforth, Asheville, 500 miles
Rep. Carolyn Justus, Hendersonville, 550 miles
Rep. Phil Haire, Sylva, 590 miles

Not surprisingly, all 10 represent the mountains. 

Two more interesting House bills:

H.B. 71: Four-Year Terms, Reps. Bruce Goforth, Harold Brubaker, Becky Carney, Julia Howard

H.B. 72: Four-Year Terms Implementing Statute, Reps. Goforth, Brubaker, Carney, Howard

* Rep. Bruce Goforth writes a bill that would extend legislators' terms from two years to four, says it would cut PAC influence, fundraising.

* U.S. Sen. Richard Burr makes the rounds, appearing on Fox News and WPTF, at press conference and on Senate floor to speak against SCHIP, stimulus package.

* Greensboro News-Record columnist Doug Clark says Senate Republican leader Phil Berger should go over legislators' heads and talk straight to the governor.

* Conservative, gun-owning NRA member Katy Benningfield speaks out against bill allowing hunting on Sundays, cites personal safety while mountain biking.

Gov. Beverly Perdue raised $17.8 million for her campaign.

According to the final campaign finance report filed with the State Board of Elections, Perdue raised $2.4 million from Oct. 19 to the end of the year. 

Her biggest donors that quarter included Pfizer Vice President Marcus Abrams, Brody's owner Hyman Brody, SAS Institute CEO Jim Goodnight, Fortress Investment Group managing director Michael Malone, SMI Motorsports vice president Marcus Smith.

She also received major donations from the Communications Workers of America, Planned Parenthood of Central N.C., the Conservation Council of N.C., the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, and PACs for Pfizer, GE, chiropractors and certified public accountants.

Other donations from the campaigns of state Reps. Jim Harrell and Bruce Goforth and Congressman Heath Shuler, among others.

Perdue also spent $17.7 million on her campaign.

Insurance premiums could rise in North Carolina to pay for storm-damaged beaches.

The N.C. Rate Bureau, an insurance company association that recommends insurance rates to the state commissioner, released a proposed increase on homeowners premiums by an average of 19.5 percent.

The rate jump would be higher on the coast, with potential increases of as much as 50 percent in the Outer Banks and 70 percent in coastal counties.

State Rep. Bruce Goforth, an Asheville Democrat who sits on a legislative committee that heard the proposal, objected to the idea that the rest of the state should pay higher insurance to help the owners of beachfront mansions.

"They've got th emoney to pay for the insurance they should be paying," he said.

Officials with the Rate Bureau said the proposed hikeis needed to stabilize the Beach Plan, a government-created insurance program that is the dominant coastal provider. (N&O)