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TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: The action starts early Tuesday and will likely stretch past 10 p.m. again. The House and Senate plan to convene a skeletal session just before 10 a.m. to read in committee reports, then recess until 2 p.m. House Speaker Thom Tillis said the session will go until 5:15 p.m. or so before a dinner recess for committee meetings. The chamber will reconvene at 7 p.m. and go late. The Senate isn't expected to stay as long but its calendar is getting crowded. Gov. Pat McCrory lists no public events.

McCRORY'S OFFICE WON'T RELEASE DAILY SCHEDULE ANYMORE: The governor's Communications Director Kim Genardo is changing the office's policy of releasing a daily calendar. Genardo said if there is no event scheduled, she won't send out a notice stating as much, meaning some days will have no notice to the governor's schedule. McCrory pledged to release a daily schedule during the gubernatorial campaign as he bashed his predecessor, Democratic Gov. Bev Perdue, for taking a "secret" trip to Pennsylvania to study fracking rigs. Republicans jumped on McCrory's Democratic opponent for not pledging to do the same. “Everyone knew where I was as mayor,” McCrory said a year ago. “My records were open."

***A busy week means lots of news below in the Dome Morning Memo. Send more news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com. ****

National Democrats are rallying opposition to a North Carolina bill calling it a "poll tax."

The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee is asking supporters to sign a petition against Senate bill 666, which would prohibit parents from claiming a dependent deduction for children who register to vote elsewhere. The bill is particularly aimed at college students.

The DLCC called it GOP voter suppression and a "student voter tax."


"We still need your help to stop North Carolina Republicans’ outrageous Poll Tax bill," Dave Griggs, the DLCC deputy national field director wrote. "Democrats must mobilize to defeat these voter suppression tactics before it’s too late – please sign our petition standing up for North Carolina voting rights!"

Two new bills filed Thursday would change the way North Carolinians vote.

The state's early voting period would be shortened and Sunday voting eliminated under one bill. The bill from House Majority Leader Edgar Starnes of Caldwell County also would eliminate straight-ticket voting and same-day registration. And it would make non-partisan judicial elections partisan.

The bill could help Republicans.

It would lop a week off the early voting period, which Democrats have used more successfully than Republicans. It would also stop straight-ticket voting. Democrats cast 300,000 more straight tickets than Republicans in 2012. And by ending Sunday voting, it would stop the heavily Democratic "Souls to the Polls" efforts to get voters out after Sunday church services.

A bill introduced by Senate Rules Chairman Tom Apodaca of Hendersonville would eliminate public financing of judicial and other statewide races now eligible for it. --Jim Morrill, Observer staff writer

Pat McCrory's campaign accepted a $4,000 contribution from a nonregistered PAC that appears inappropriate at face value, but may be allowed under a little-known caveat in the state's campaign finance law.

The check came Oct. 20 from the American Federation for Children, a 501(c)4 nonprofit that advocates for school choice, based in Washington with a related PAC under a different name in Indiana. It is not a registered state PAC or federal PAC -- a requirement for a candidates to accept a contribution.

Seeing it, Greg Flynn, a Raleigh campaign finance watchdog, filed a complaint against McCrory's campaign with the N.C. State Board of Elections. But state election officials are leaning toward dismissing the complaint, citing a provision in the law that would seem to allow any non-PAC entities to make direct campaign contributions if they aren't tied too closely with a business.

Under Ch. 163-278.19(f) of state election law appears to allow contributions from entities without a business interest and not established by a business if they don't receive more than 10 percent of their total revenues from corporations.

Document(s):
McCroryAFC.pdf

Dr. Greg Brannon begins his campaign for the U.S. Senate with a two-day tour of eight cities Feb. 27.

Brannon, a Cary obstetrician who opposes abortion rights, hopes to challenge Democratic U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan next year. But there will likely be a tussle for the GOP nomination since every Republican and her brother is thinking about running for that seat. See past Domes for a partial list.

Brannon is one of the first to jump, though. He has a Tea Party-esque website called Founders' Truth. The website on Tuesday was converted to feature Brannon giving a speech launching his campaign.

He begins the tour on the anniversary of the Revolutionary War's Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge, where Patriots defeated the Loyalists.

"Fighting to restore the American Dream in North Carolina will be my job in the U.S. Senate, and that's why I'm kicking off this campaign by talking to voters across the state on this historic date," he said in a statement.

There will be an attempt to make judicial elections partisan again. A pair of Republican senators filed such a bill on Thursday.

SB39 would require state all Supreme Court, Court of Appeals, superior and district court judges to run by party affiliation. That used to be the case until 2002, when the Democratic-controlled General Assembly made them nonpartisan, the rationale being that judges should be elected based solely on qualifications and not politics.

Republicans contended that the real motivation was that voters were electing Republican judges.

Sen. Jerry Tillman of Archdale, a retired school administrator, and Sen. Thom Goolsby of Wilmington, a lawyer, are the co-sponsors.

Spending by third-party groups in North Carolina legislative races appears to have been more even than in the previous election cycle, even as Republicans dominated individual and caucus fundraising, Scott Mooneyham at The Insider reports.

IRS documents and state campaign finance reports seem to indicate that the spending by the two major 527 groups in North Carolina -- Real Jobs NC, which backed Republican candidates, and Common Sense Matters, which backed Democratic candidates, spent similar amounts. Those reports show Real Jobs NC spending $812,605, compared to $773,641 for Common Sense Matters.

As reported in the Dome Morning Memo, a new analysis from state election officials is putting numbers to the potention for voter ID legislation in North Carolina. About 613,000 voters could be affected because they don't have a proper ID, out of 6.5 million registered. Click below for the full memo from the State Board of Elections breaking down the numbers.

Democrats in the state Senate will meet Dec. 20 to pick leaders for their shrinking caucus. Democratic membership in the chamber will slip from 19 to 17 as a result of last month's elections.

Sen. Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat, said he expects to be reelected minority leader next week. "We're going to have a discussion of it," he said. "I think that's the way we're going."

Francis De Luca, a conservative thinker at the Civitias Institute, explores a question on the minds of many in the North Carolina political sphere after Republicans captured the governor's mansion, supermajorities in the state legislature and the likely the lieutenant governor's post.

Will Republicans become a lasting majority? DeLuca writes: "Republican leaders will have to work hard to make the change a lasting one, rather than just another bump in the road for NC Democrats like others over the last 30 years.

... How does this happen? The governor and legislative leaders will have to embrace bold policies that address the problems that have plagued North Carolina fiscally and educationally." Read his full column here.