Gov. Beverly Perdue's budget includes a few projects.

A 118-page summary of the governor's proposed $21 billion budget has a number of specific projects it seeks to fund:

* Fund UNC-Chapel Hill Biomedical Research Center: $10 million.

* Support East Carolina University's Brody School of Medicine program for indigent care in Eastern Carolina: $4 million.

* Set up the Office of Economic Recovery, a short-term agency set up to maximize federal stimulus money: $2.3 million.

* Fund Project C.A.R.E., which helps caregivers of people with dementia: $500,000.

* Begin planning for a foundation that would compensate victims of the state's decades-long eugenics sterilization program: $250,000.

Some of the money has also been requested in special appropriations bills: Project C.A.R.E., the UNC expansion and indigent care at ECU, though legislators sought significantly more money for sterilization compensation.

Three spending bills are among the most popular in the House.

Proposed appropriations bills to teach children about the state's sterilization program, compensate its victims and run a Kids Voting program have more than 30 cosponsors.

That means they have the support of more than a fourth of the 120 members of the House, a good indicator that they'll be seriously considered. 

Whether they will be added to the budget or pass the Senate is another matter. So far, only the Kids Voting bill has a companion in the other chamber, although a separate compensation bill has been filed with a much higher price tag.

The House compensation bill with 31 cosponsors would set aside $18.6 million for victims, while a Senate bill with only one sponsor would set aside $173 million. Of the other popular House bills, Kids Voting would get $300,000, and sterilization education programs would get $36,648.

Another 10 spending bills have more than 20 cosponsors, or more than one-sixth of the House. The median House spending bill has 14 cosponsors, or about one-ninth.

In all, state representatives have filed 42 spending bills so far worth a total of $248.3 million.

State legislators have now asked for $363.2 million.

Eleven more bills filed since Dome last checked have added another $181.3 million in requested spending, even as the state faces a $2 billion shortfall.

The largest request of the most recent batch — or any bill to date — is $173 million for compensation of victims of the state's eugenics program. That's $154 million more than the amount requested in a similar House bill for compensation.

The smallest requests are $50,000 each for the Arthritis Foundation to run programs in Charlotte and Our Children's Place to run a prison mothers program.

Other spending bills would pay for a community college mentoring program for minority males, help run a heart institute at East Carolina University, support the International Home Furnishings Market in High Point, fund programs at the N.C. Arts Council, build a John Coltrane Music Hall in High Point and build a new campus for Stanly Community College.

Another bill is a companion to money already requested for the state Housing Trust Fund.

In all the requests amount to 18 percent of the estimated shortfall.

The bills also call for another $4.9 million to be spent next year, bringing the total to $32.9 million for 2010-11 requests.

Ongoing coverage of spending bills is available here.

State legislators have already asked for $73.8 million.

Seven bills filed on the first two days of the session include spending requests for specific programs, even though the state could be facing a $2 billion shortfall.

The largest request so far is for $44 million to give public school teachers bonuses earned in 2007-08 that were not given out. The smallest is for $25,000 for the Southern Appalachian Historical Association to present the outdoor drama "Horn in the West."

Other spending bills would compensate victims of a state sterilization program, develop a database of those victims, open two family assistance centers for the National Guard, hire social workers for the developmentally disabled, and train teachers to work with preschoolers with cochlear implants.

These kinds of spending bills are typical for the legislature, and many never make it out of committee. In a tight budget year, they will have even less of a chance, however.

Dome will be tracking spending bills over the next few weeks in the spreadsheet below.

A bill filed today would give victims of the state's sterilization program $20,000 each.

The legislation, filed by four House Democrats, would make one-time cash payments to the estimated 2,000 to 2,800 North Carolinians sterilized by a state eugenics program that ran from 1929 through the 1970s.

The total cost could be between $40 and $56 million.

Rep. Larry Womble, a Winston-Salem Democrat and one of the primary sponsors, said that he expects a lot of resistance from legislators worried about the state's potential $2 billion shortfall. But he said compensation is the right thing to do.

"The state committed a wrong against innocent people," he said. "This was worse than Nazi Germany."

A working committee came up with the figure on its own, since it could not find any similar compensation efforts to model. Womble said that he considers it far too low, but it was the best they could do.

"There is no amount of money that can restore their dignity or replace what the state took away from them," he said. "Their bloodline has been cut. They cannot continue their family name because the state did this horrific thing to the insides of their bodies." 

A few more bills have been filed in the House:

H.B. 15: Military Family Assistance Center / Funds, Rep. Cullie Tarleton

H.B. 16: Retired Judge May Perform Marriage, Rep. Russell Tucker

H.B. 17: Asheboro Satellite Annexation, Rep. Harold Brubaker

H.B. 18: Speech Language Pathologist Qualifications, Rep. Bill Faison

H.B. 19: MLK's 80th Birthday / Obama Inauguration, Reps. Larry Womble, Paul Luebke, Jennifer Weiss, Earline Parmon

H.B. 20: Compensate Eugenics Sterilization Survivors, Reps. Womble, Parmon, Ronnie Sutton and Martha Alexander