The new state Senate majority leader is in a key position to advance ethics reforms this year.

State Sen. Martin Nesbitt, an Asheville Democrat, is not only the majority leader. He is chairman of a committee where three ethics bills are awaiting action, the Asheville Citizen-Times reports.

Advocates for the proposals hope he makes them more of a priority than they were this year, when the committee he chairs didn't vote on any of three ethics bills that landed there.

"Nobody's holding those bills," said Nesbitt, of Asheville, who said they would get hearings next year.

"We just ran out of time."

The bills cleared the house last year. They would require state employees to wait before becoming lobbyists, ban office holders from awarding contracts to big campaign contributors and require political appointees to disclose fundraising activity.

What did the House pass by crossover?

Here are some of the more interesting bills that made it past the upper chamber before the deadline to be considered by the Senate:

H.B. 9: Bans texting while driving.

H.B. 88: Allows parents to choose comprehensive sex ed for their children.

H.B. 813: Allows people to collect money from negligence lawsuits even if they are somewhat at fault as well.

H.B. 961: Bans campaign contributions from officers of companies that have state contracts.

H.B. 1185: Allows habitual drunk drivers to get their licenses restored after 10 years with some conditions.

More after the jump.

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The House voted for a bill that seeks to stop pay-to-play in state government.

The bill says that if a company does work for a state agency, an elected head of that agency cannot take campaign contributions from that company's officers while that contract is active. 

Rep. Rick Glazier, a Fayetteville Democrat, said the bill is based on pay-to-play statutes in other states.

Rep. Phillip Haire, a Sylva Democrat, said he was worried that officials could unknowingly accept such a contribution.

"I think the recipient of the money is being put in a terrible situation with this language," Haire said.