The House and Senate approved a $19 billion spending plan Wednesday that cuts state spending and raises nearly $1 billion in new taxes.

The votes Wednesday were not much different than the ones taken the day before. The Senate approved the budget 27-18 without any debate. The House approved the bill 66 to 51 after some debate.

"How will the citizens of North Carolina see us?" asked Rep. Cullie Tarleton, a Blowing Rock Democrat. "Will we be seen as a body of individuals who generally care about education?...Or will we be seen as obstructionists?"

Sen. Phil Berger, an Eden Republican and the chamber's minority leader, called on Gov. Beverly Perdue to veto the budget since it raises taxes and makes cuts to education.

"Governor Beverly Perdue promised not to raise taxes during this recession and promised to protect our children's education," Berger said. "The budget making its way to Governor Perdue’s desk could cause as many as 5,000 teachers to lose their jobs."

The budget does require local school officials to decide on how to cut $225 million in education spending. Superintendents say that will likely lead to a loss of teacher jobs.

Perdue is expected to sign the budget into law.

House Speaker Joe Hackney said this morning that the House likely has the votes to pass the budget, but he added that he is willing to give people time to examine it and make a final decision.

"We believe that we will have the votes to pass the bill," he said. "There are people obviously still reading the details of the bill, and we will be talking to people throughout the day."

The bill needs the support a majority of members to pass, and three Democrats are out of town this week. When the House passed the last version of the budget earlier this year by a vote of 64-53, two Democrats, Rep. R. Van Braxton of Kinston and Rep. Cullie Tarleton of Blowing Rock, voted against it.

Hackney said the undecided votes this time around probably could be counted on one hand, and he would know by the time the bill comes to the floor where everybody stands.

"We'll know that by the end of the day, and we'll make an intelligent decision about whether to go ahead today or not."

Correction: Post updates to state it takes a majority to pass a budget. 

An effort to exempt hookah bars from the new statewide ban on smoking in bars and restaurants appears to be dead for this year.

James Romoser reports in the Winston-Salem Journal that Rep. Cullie Tarleton is dropping his bill to exempt hookah bars from the ban, which goes into effect in January.

Tarleton pulled the bill after hookah bar owners objected to amendements to the bill that they said would put unfair restrictions on them.

The numbers of votes and voters provide a little background behind the two House Democrats who voted against the tax-raising House budget last week.

Rep. R. Van Braxton, a Kinston Insurance agent, won by one of the narrowest victories in the House last fall, 51.6 percent to 48.4 percent, against former Rep. Stephen Laroque, a Republican. Democrats outnumber Republicans by nearly two to one in the district, but they don't vote that way. The district crosses three counties -- Greene, Wayne and Lenoir -- that were all won by U.S. Sen. John McCain.

Rep. Cullie Tarleton, a retired broadcaster from Blowing Rock, represents a district with more Republican registered voters than Democrats. He won by a solid margin in the fall, 51.7 percent to 44.3 percent, but he was undoubtedly helped by a Libertarian candidate who took 4 percent of the vote. 

The House approved a budget early Saturday morning. 

The $18.6 billion budget proposal balances a deep drop in revenue through cuts, taxes and federal stimulus dollars.

The state constitution requires that two budget votes be taken on separate days. House Democratic leaders said they wanted to approve the budget this week to leave time to negotiate with the Senate and Gov. Beverly Perdue before the fiscal year begins July 1. So the House voted for the budget 64 to 54 at 11:30 p.m. Friday. 

At 12:08 a.m. Saturday members approved the budget 64 to 53, sending the bill to the Senate. The vote was mostly along party lines.

"House Democrats responded honestly, forthrightly and without demagoguery to do the extremely difficult job of balancing our state's budget," House Speaker Joe Hackney said in a statement. "Our Republican counterparts stood on the sidelines and refused to cut spending or raise revenue; they just said no to every option."

Republicans criticized the specific budget cuts Democratic budget writers proposed as well as $780 million in new taxes.

"This budget will delay our economic recovery," said Rep. Thom Tillis, a Cornelius Republican.

Two Democrats, Rep. R. Van Braxton of Kinston and Rep. Cullie Tarleton of Blowing Rock, voted against the budget.

The Conservation Council of N.C. recognized seven state politicians for environmental work.

For its annual "Green Tie" awards, the Raleigh-based nonprofit honored Attorney General Roy Cooper, state Sen. Ellie Kinnaird and state Reps. Angela Bryant, Ruth Samuelson, Cullie Tarleton, Jennifer Weiss and Paul Luebke.

Cooper was praised for having a team of lawyers fight the Tennessee Valley Authority over air pollution.

Bryant, Samuelson and Tarleton were recognized for their support for a smoking ban and bills on energy efficiency and water conservation.

Weiss and Kinnaird were singled out as representative and senator of the year.

Luebke received the "Defender of the Environment" award, the highest award given this year. 

"At the Legislature, it was a short time ago very few people talked about the need to protect the environment and public health," said board president Nina Szlosberg.

She said business and environmental groups now work together.

The House rejected a bill encouraging grocery stores to provide sanitizing wipes to customers to clean shopping cart handles.

Rep. Ed Jones, a Greensboro Democrat, said he filed the bill after learning that researchers determined shopping carts provided some of the most exposure to germs and were most risky for children under the age of six.

The legislation would have encouraged retailers to provide the wipes and instructed local health departments to promote their use.

The bill quickly drew derisive comments from House Republicans.

Rep. George Cleveland, a Jacksonville Republican, said the bill represented the "nanny state having fun."

"I think we're going to lead our society to the point where we're going to be so sterile, we'll all just have to live in a bubble," he said. "When I grew up, I think the saying was you had to eat a peck of dirt or you wouldn't be a healthy kid, and I believe that."

More after the jump.

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Chiropractors and physical therapists would get a boost from a bill that cleared a House committee Thursday.

The bill would require health insurance companies covering some 2 million people in the state to offer a lower co-pay for chiropractors and physical and occupational therapists.

The bill, sponsored by Rep. Cullie Tarleton, started out as a do-over for a requirement that patients could see chiropractors and pay the same co-payment they are charged for seeing a family doctor.

That benefit was inserted into the budget by former House Speaker Jim Black four years ago. It helped land him in prison when three chiropractors admitted to giving him cash payments while pushing their legislative agenda. It was later rescinded.

Tarleton said the benefit was rescinded because of the circumstances surrounding it, not because it wasn't good policy.

"This is a really a patient's bill, plain and simple," said Tarleton, a Blowing Rock Democrat.

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Rep. Cullie Tarleton said restaurant owners are in favor of the ban.

Speaking on the House floor, the Watauga County Democrat said that he has a friend who owns a restaurant and bar in Blowing Rock who calls once or twice a week asking about the proposed smoking ban.

He said that, statistically speaking, four North Carolinians died today because of second-hand smoke.

He also quoted a letter from Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League of North Carolina. 

Some recent House bills of note:

H.B. 593: Change School Starting Date, Reps. Paul Luebke, Martha Alexander, Bob England and Ray Rapp

H.B. 611: Check-Off Donation: Breast Cancer Screening, Reps. Nelson Dollar, Carolyn Justice, Lucy Allen and England

H.B. 614: Absentee Voting Improvements, Reps. Grier Martin, Rick Glazier, Marian McLawhorn and Rapp

H.B. 626: Restraining of Dogs, Reps. Douglas Yongue, Susan Fisher, Danny McComas and Justin Burr

H.B. 630: Capitalize National Guard in Statutes, Reps. Martin, Cullie Tarleton and Ric Killian

H.B. 644: Misdemeanor/Not Produce Public Records, Reps. George Cleveland and Burr