Rep. Rick Glazier says some special appropriations are healthy.

The Fayetteville Democrat made a distinction between bills requesting specific funds for statewide programs and those that just help someone in their district.

He said it's always worth discussing state programs on education or health programs, for example, saying it "sends a signal" that they are worth discussing later.

But with the state facing a $2 billion or higher shortfall, he said legislators should avoid filing bills to help a constituent.

"I'm not filing any bills that relate to special projects back home," he said. "Those kinds of bills are really inappropriate this year."

So far this session, Glazier has been the primary sponsor on 10 bills that would spend more than $100 million.

The bills would supplement teacher salaries, expand technical education and military business centers at community colleges, fund a teaching center, pay for foreign language pilot schools, expand a positive behavior initiative in state schools and expand the N.C. Science Olympiad statewide.

Two bills would benefit Fayetteville: One to give $1 million to support a defense industry incubator there and another to spend $50,000 to clean up a contaminated site. 

State legislators have now asked for $93.2 million.

Eight more bills filed since Dome last checked have added another $5.3 million for specific programs, even as the state faces a $2 billion shortfall.

The largest request of the most recent batch is for $1.3 million for the N.C. Military Business Center at Fayetteville Technical Community College. The smallest request is for $10,000 to help Rhema Educational Services upgrade a child care facility.

Two bills are companions to $11.8 million already requested for a driving course and other facilities at the N.C. Center for Automotive Research and $575,000 to train teachers to work with children who have cochlear implants.

Other spending bills would fund a business incubator at the Partnership for Defense Innovation, support the N.C. Center for Advancement of Teaching's programs for teachers in their first three years, clean up groundwater contamination at the Texfi site in Fayetteville, and build a senior center in Gates County.

The new bills also call for another $2.3 million to be spent in the 2010-11 budget year, for a total of $10.2 million in future spending requests.