How bipartisan has Sen. Kay Hagan been?

From 1999 to 2008, the Greensboro Democrat was the primary sponsor of 143 bills. Of them, 63 had no cosponsors, 36 had only Democratic cosponsors and 44 had Republican cosponsors.

Overall, her 366 cosponsors included 286 Democrats and 80 Republicans, for about a four-to-one ratio. She became more bipartisan during her time in the legislature, however, going from about a nine-to-one ratio of D-to-R cosponsors in the 1999-2000 session to about two-to-one in the current session.

The most frequent GOP cosponsors were Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Cabarrus County, who signed on to 14 bills; Sen. Stan Bingham of neighboring Davidson County, who signed on to 13; and Sen. Robert Shaw of Greensboro, who signed on to 10.

Sens. Hamilton Horton of Forsyth County and Richard Stevens of Wake County each cosponsored five bills; Sens. Virginia Foxx of Watauga County and John Garwood of Wilkes County, four; and Peter Brunstetter of Forsyth County and Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger of Rockingham County, three.

Sens. James Forrester, Jim Jacumin, Jerry Tillman, Austin Allran and Harry Brown cosponsored two apiece, while Sens. Don East, Andrew Brock, Eddie Goodall, Harris Blake, Kenneth Moore, Fred Smith and Tom Apodaca each cosponsored one.

Previously: Hagan's Republican cosponsors in 1999-2000, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2005-06 and 2007-08 sessions.

State Sen. Kay Hagan was hardly bipartisan in her first term.

With the Democratic Senate nominee touting her bipartisanship in the legislature, Dome has been taking a closer look at the number of Republicans who signed on to her bills.

In the 1999-2000 session, the Greensboro Democrat was the primary sponsor of 16 bills. Of them, six had no cosponsors, six had only Democratic cosponsors and four had Republican cosponsors.

Overall, her 59 cosponsors included 53 Democrats and six Republicans, or about a nine-to-one ratio. 

A bill to create "Kids First" license plates had three Republican cosponsors: Fletcher Hartsell, Robert G. Shaw and Kenneth Moore.

Shaw also cosponsored a bill to add a science building at UNC-Greensboro. Sen. John Garwood also cosponsored bills revising laws on wills and irrevocable trusts.

How bipartisan has Kay Hagan been?

At a debate in Atlantic Beach today, the Democratic Senate nominee said that she had worked with Republicans in her time in the state legislature.

"I've gotten results here in North Carolina by working across party lines, by ending the partisan bickering," she said.

Afterward, Greensboro News & Record reporter Mark Binker asked Hagan about the Senate Democratic leadership's recent decision to cut off debate on the state budget before Republicans could offer their comments.

"The budget was an opportunity that people had a lot of time to make changes, to make recommendations in subcommittees, and I just don't think there was a lot of participation at the time when a lot of changes could take place," she said.

Hagan said she has worked closely with Republican Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Cabarrus County on judicial issues and layoffs in Kannapolis and Sen. Jim Jacumin of Burke County on "furniture-related issues."

She said she also had a good relationship with Republican Sen. Stan Bingham of Davidson County. 

State Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary was one of three Republicans to support the Senate's $21.4 billion state budget proposal.

He said he disliked the way Democrats shut off debate on the legislation, but he voted for it because it contains no tax increases and the growth in spending over the current year — 3.4 percent — is less than that of inflation and population growth combined, Dan Kane reports.

"It's a conservative budget in terms of spending and it does a lot for education," Stevens said.

He also cited $50 million in tax relief, though the budget bill does not specify where that will happen. The Senate decided to pass several tax breaks in individual bills that may end up being incorporated into the final budget.

He said he was also pleased with the number of construction projects that the budget bill provides for the UNC system and for Wake County. They include $109 million for a new library at N.C. State University's Centennial Campus and another $5 million toward the N.C. Museum of Art's $72 million expansion.

Stevens is a former Wake County manager and a former chairman of the UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees. The other Republican senators supporting the budget proposal are Stan Bingham of Davidson County and Fletcher Hartsell of Concord.

A legislative office created to examine the benefit of public programs was ready to give its report  Thursday on the state's mental health services.

Anyone could tell from the title "Compromised controls and lack of focus hampered implementation of enhanced mental health services" it wasn't full of compliments, Lynn Bonner reports.

The report got cut from the agenda about a week before the Joint Oversight Program Evaluation Committee met.

A News & Observer investigation this year found that the state has wasted at least $400 million on a service one on of the enhanced programs, called community support. The federal government is holding on to $175 million in payments to the state because of suspected abuses in the program.

A chairman of the committee, Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Concord, said the report was taken off the agenda because the committee didn't have time to talk about it. The mental health report was the only item removed from the revised agenda distributed in advance of the meeting.

Hartsell said the committee would get the mental health report back on its agenda. "End of session, probably," he said.

The State Employees Assocation of N.C. announced its endorsements in legislative primary races.

The group, which represents 55,000 state workers, endorsed 13 candidates for the state House and 12 candidates for state Senate through its political action committee.

Seven of the candidates are Republicans: Rep. Jeff Barnhart; House candidates George Shaeffer, Sidney Sandy, Nalin Mehta and Shirley Randleman; and Sens. Fletcher Hartsell and Jim Jacumin.

In two cases, it endorsed candidates running against each other: state Sen. Vern Malone and rival Ann Akland; and Senate candidates Jack Nichols and Josh Stein.

In the House, the PAC also endorsed Reps. Angela Bryant, Edith Warren and Drew Saunders and candidates Robert Richardson, Greg Taylor, Charles Graham, Betty Mangum and Ric Marshall.

In the Senate, it endorsed Sens. Floyd McKissick, Ellie Kinnaird, Katie Dorsett and Steve Goss and candidates Shelly Willingham and Chuck Stone.

"We're happy to be able to support candidates who care about quality public services and the employees who work so hard to make this state one of the best places to live," said PAC chairwoman Paula Schubert in a statement.

Four lawmakers are drafting a bill to provide full scholarships to the children of police and firefighters who are killed in the line of duty.

The lawmakers, all Republicans, are Sen. Richard Stevens of Cary, Sen. Fletcher Hartsell of Concord, Rep. Charles Thomas of Asheville and Rep. Thom Tillis of Huntersville plan to introduce bills in the house and senate in when the General Assembly reconvenes in May.

The scholarships would apply to state public universities or community colleges.

The Civitas Institute says it has no ties to an ethics complaint.

Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, a Concord Republican, told the Charlotte Observer that he believed a complaint filed by a group of Cabarrus County residents was encouraged by the conservative nonprofit.

But in a post on the Red Clay Citizen blog, Chris Hayes said that while it had heard about a potential complaint, it did not know any of the participants before or afterward.

The Civitas Institute, nor any of its employees, had anything to do with the filing of the ethics complaint and did not encourage its filing.

The complaint says that Hartsell helped shepherd a bill through the legislature that will help one of his former law clients. Hartsell did not vote on the bill, citing a potential conflict of interest, but he did help guide it through committee.

Two senators who broke party lines on the budget cited their local economy.

Sen. John Snow, a Murphy Democrat, said he could not support the budget written by his fellow party members because it gave counties the option of levying a transfer tax on real estate sales.

Snow said that home builders and Realtors are supporting the economy of his mountain district right now because of second-homes, retirees and new families. He pledged in his 2004 campaign that he would not support impact fees or transfer taxes.

"More than anything else, it was just a matter of keeping my word," he said.

Sen. Fletcher Hartsell, a Concord Republican, said he supported the Democrat-crafted budget because it included funding for a new research center in Kannapolis.

He said that his district has been hit hard by the closure of the Pillowtex plant in 2003 and the loss of jobs at a Philip Morris plant earlier this year. He thinks the research center, which will focus on biotechnology, will help turn things around.

"In my judgment, it is an essential aspect of the redevelopment of the local economy," he said.

State Rep. Paul Stam said today that he’ll continue to offer amendments to a bill on North Carolina’s end-of-life documents when the legislation hits the House floor, possibly as soon as Thursday.

Stam, an Apex Republican, and legislators including Rep. Verla Insko, a Chapel Hill Democrat, succeeded Tuesday in adding amendments to the bill during a committee meeting, reports Thomas Goldsmith.

"The theme of all these amendments is to let the patient and family have as much control as possible,” he said.

More after the jump.

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