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Gov. Beverly Perdue has signed 59 of 108 bills on her desk as of this morning.

Perdue has 49 more bills to go, reports Gerry Cohen, the legsislature's bill drafting director on his Drafting Musings blog. The legislature left the pile of bills for Perdue, who by law, has 30 days to sign or veto them. The state has no pocket veto, so if the bills aren't signed by Sept. 11, they become law.

Cohen is keeping a running tab of bills signed. 

The new laws increase state oversight for fireworks display operators, establish tougher rules for using handicapped parking placards, ensure sex offenders can't drive a school bus and allow magistrates to carry a gun in a courthouse.

Still to be signed are bills that would make online bullying a misdemeanor, ban recreational use of an hallicinogenic herb, and ban smoking and cell phones in prisons. 

A fuss over bill titles is festering in the House.

In recent weeks House Democrats have changed the title of three high-profile bills to long, precise descriptions of what the bills would do.

The title change made it nearly impossible for House Republicans to make any substantive changes to the budget or to a bill outlawing school bullying. A proposal to change the state's annexation laws now also features a lengthy title.

The title matters because House rules say amendments from the floor must be "germane." The more detail included in the title, the less a House member can do with an amendment.

House Republicans say the practice violates the spirit of openness promised by House Speaker Joe Hackney. 

"The Speaker has done a good job being fair, but recently the process has become heavy handed," said Rep. Johnathan Rhyne, a Lincolnton Republican. 

The place to change the substance of a bill is in committee, said Rep. Bill Owens, an Elizabeth City Democrat and the House rules chairman. Any bill can be sent back to committee with a simple majority vote.  

"Time for debate on the floor needs to be the principle reason for the bill, not amending the titles to put in things that there's not majority support for," Owens said. 

More after the jump.

NOBODY LIKES NOBODY: The popularity recession has settled in for most N.C. politicians. Gov. Beverly Perdue, with basement-dwelling approval ratings less than six months into her first term, travelled the state to rally support from unimpressed teachers and Democrats. The raspberries are bipartisan: both U.S. Senators Kay Hagan and Richard Burr's numbers are down. President Barack Obama is slipping, and his policies are less popular than the man.

SPARE A FEW THOUSAND DIMES? One state resident isn't worried about layoffs. Jeff Wilson of Kings Mountain took home $29 million, after taxes, when his father gave him a Powerball ticket that hit the jackpot. (Gotta figure Wilson is apologizing for having ignored any past fatherly advice). We get this question a lot, so before you ask, the lottery can't fix the state's budget problems because it raises only a small fraction of the state's education spending and state law mandates lottery profits go to four specific programs.

PLASTICS, PESTERING AND POTTY TIPPING: The legislature has been on an outlawing binge. It has banned plastic bags on the coast, bullying in schools and vandalizing portable toilets.

IN OTHER NEWS: The state got most of its deposit money back for a private jet officials decided not to buy after all. A new film production tax credit would lose money for the state at first. And Obama does still occasionally smoke, but that's not why he signed into law sweeping new regulatory authority over cigarettes.

The House approved by a one-vote margin a bill that would ban bullying against school children for actual or perceived differences including sexual orientation.

The bill passed 58 to 57, and Democrats then voted for a parliamentary maneuver ensuring that none of those voting in favor can change their minds. The result: the bill will be sent to Gov. Beverly Perdue for her signature.

The bill has been bitterly fought. Opponents, particularly Republicans, have said the bill should not name special categories of victims and have said the bill should simply ban all bullying. Supporters, mostly Democrats, have said the bill focuses attention on children who are the most likely targets in schools across the state.

"Don't sit on this floor and talk about how the general policy works to protect children," said Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill. "None of us should be able to look in the mirror with that fable and say that it's true."

On Tuesday, Republicans tried to amend the bill to include punishments for bullies and for teachers and principals who allow it to happen.

"What we need to identify is not categories," said Rep. Nelson Dollar, a Cary Repubilcan. "We need to identify the bullies and address what they're doing, what they're getting away with."

Legislative Republican leaders are preparing for big fights this week over two battleground bills.

The Healthy Youth Act, which allows parents to choose between "abstinence only" and "comprehensive" sex ed programs, is scheduled for a hearing in a Senate committee. The bill previously cleared the House. 

The School Violence Prevention Act, which seeks to stop bullying in schools is set to be heard in House committees. Republicans object to the bill because it defines classes of victims and includes actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

"These bills are part of the radical left's social agenda and show how legislative Democrats have abandoned traditional North Carolina values," Sen. Phil Berger, the Senate minority leader, said.

House minority leader Rep. Paul Stam said Republicans will try to amend the bullying bill so that it states flatly that all bullying is wrong without classes of victims.

House members overwhelmingly backed legislation Thursday that makes it a crime to bully a minor over the Internet.

Rep. Nick Mackey, a Mecklenburg County Democrat and chief sponsor of the bill, said the Internet takes bullying off the school bus and out of the classroom and puts it into the community.

"It allows the bullies to reach the victim anytime," Mackey said. "The victim can't even go home to escape it."

The bill, which passed by a 112 to 4 vote, would make it a class 1 misdemeanor to, among other violations, torment a minor in an Internet chat room or post an altered image of a minor on the Internet with the intent to embarrass or intimidate them.

The bill passed without any of the divisive debate that accompanied a broader bill in the Senate that requires schools to institute anti-bullying policies. That legislation drew heat because it identifies various characteristics, including sexual orientation, about which a student may be bullied.

Mackey's bill, on the other hand, refers to all minors.

Could a bill banning bullying against gays and lesbians lead to same-sex marriage?

Yes, according to two N.C. Roman Catholic bishops who have urged their followers in two mass emails this past week to oppose Senate Bill 526, otherwise known as the School Violence Protection Act, Yonat Shimron reports.

While the two bishops say they oppose bullying period, they cannot support a bill that singles out "gender identity and sexual orientation."

Msgr. Michael Clay, the legislative lobbyist for the Diocese of Raleigh, said three states — Iowa, California and Connecticut — have used similar anti-gay bullying laws as part of their "findings of fact," in building a case for same-sex marriage.

"It could be a precursor of actions by our legislature and/or our courts to mandate same-sex marriage," said Clay. "It's more than speculative. This is a result that happens."

Clay said both Bishop Michael F. Burbidge of Raleigh and Bishop Peter J. Jugis of Charlotte believe bullying is wrong and would gladly support a bill without the offending language.

"We're urging people to support the bill and take out the differentiating language," he said.

Other groups, including the Christian Action League and the N.C. Family Policy Council, also oppose the bill, saying it would introduce special legal protections for gays and lesbians.

Update: But not all religious groups agreed with what they said was an exaggerated emphasis on same-sex marriage.

"This is not a theoretical political issue," said the Rev. Jack McKinney, co-pastor of Pullen Memorial Baptist Church. "This is about real kids suffering real pain and too many of them hurting themselves. For it to be used as a political football is a tragedy."

Carin Savel thinks Facebook is just another media outlet.

The legislative assistant joined a social networking group called Prevent School Violence North Carolina, which is advocating for an anti-bullying bill sponsored by her boss, Democratic Rep. Rick Glazier of Fayetteville.

She's since used the group to spread updates on the bill's passage through various committees and links to editorials about it.

"It's just getting the information out there," she said. "If people are sitting on Facebook and that's their only means of communication — which for some people it is — they get a chance to learn about the bill."

The group currently has 466 members, but Savel said she did not judge its success based on that number. She said many of those members have hundreds more friends, so when they comment on a item it gets further exposure.

She said Facebook is a very effective public relations tool.

"In the old days, you sent out a press release, and the general public would only see what the newspapers chose to write about," she said. "This way they get to hear it from the horse's mouth."

Rep. Susan Fisher thinks a good title can't hurt.

In 2007, the Asheville Democrat pushed a bill to move North Carolina schools to comprehensive sex education, away from abstinence-only.

It's title: "Modify School Health Education Program."

The bill went down to defeat, but Fisher kept at it. She wrote a new bill that would allow parents to opt out of the classes and gave it a new title: "The Healthy Youth Act."

Though the new title is more vague, Fisher said it's not misleading.

"It wasn't to hide its purpose, it was really to emphasize its purpose," she said.

Over the years, she says she's learned to be skeptical of positive-sounding bill titles. She took issue with this title: "No Bullying Anyone at Public Schools."

"On its face, that sounds very all-inclusive," she said. "But if you read further into the bill, you will find that it skirts an issue or two."

The bill is a Republican alternative to Fisher's "School Violence Protection Act," which calls for students to be protected against bullying or harassing because of real or perceived sexual orientation. The GOP bill makes no mention of sexual orientation.

Voters support an anti-bullying bill but oppose mandated sick days, a poll shows.

The survey by Democratic firm Public Policy Polling found that 69 percent of likely voters supported a bill that would "require schools to protect children from bullying, including harassment based on their race, sexual orientation, and other categories."

Thirty-nine percent opposed the bill as described.

A similar survey by Public Policy Polling last year found 72 percent in support of the measure.

The poll also found that 65 percent of likely voters did not think the state should mandate paid sick leave, as has been proposed in a second bill. Only 35 percent supported it.

"North Carolinians think that benefits should be determined by employers and employees on a case by case basis," said company president Dean Debnam.

The automated survey of 1,000 North Carolina voters was conducted March 12-15. It has a margin of error of plus orminus 3.1 percentage points.