Scores of new laws take effect Thursday and time is almost up for fans of novelty cigarette lighters.

One of the new laws bans the sale of cigarette lighters designed to look like toys. 

Other laws taking effect Oct. 1 would allow local governments to halt the opening of new liquor stores, toughen the process for proving scrap metal isn't stolen and exclude installing a replacement water heater from building permitting requirements.

Gov. Beverly Perdue signed another batch of bills Friday afternoon leaving five remaining unsigned bills on her desk.

The six remaining are:

HB 104: Clarifies which documents produced by lawmakers are exempt from the public records law. Would make requests by lawmakers sent to state agencies exempt from the public records law.

HB 945: The Studies Act of 2009 catalogues a host of items and issues to be studied while the legislature is out of session.

HB 1166: Insurance Law Changes. Makes several changes including a new requirement that to get a license, insurance agents must submit fingerprints for a criminal background check.

SB 947: Provides more opportunity for a homeowner to halt foreclosure if he or she can demonstrate they can pay what is owed.

HB 836: Makes technical corrections to the state budget.

HB 1329: Consolidates various state stautes regulating criminal record expunctions. 

Among the 40-plus Perdue signed Friday are:

SB 167: Prohibits tobacco products and cell phones in prisons. Makes it a crime to provide tobacco or cell phones to inmates.

HB 667: Allows wineries to sell wine during business hours.

SB 138: Bans the recreational use of salvia divinorum, an hallucinogenic herb. Still allows the mint-like plant to be used in landscaping.

SB 786: Authorizes capital projects on University of North Carolina system campuses. The projects have a funding stream to repay debt for the projects. List includes $21.8 million for a parking deck at N.C. State University, a $10 million renovation of the Carolina Inn at UNC-Chapel Hill, $35 million for a Partnership, Outreach and Research for Accelerated Learning Building at UNC-Charlotte.

SB 464: Requires statistics on race to be kept to help identify and prevent racial profiling by law enforcement. Also requires that a law enforcement officer ensure a child is in safe hands if the child's parent gets arrested. The last provision would have prevented a case last year in which three children were stranded on Interstate 85 in the middle of the night for eight hours when a sheriff's deputy arrested the children's mother, an illegal immigrant.

Correction: Perdue had six bills to sign, not five as we previously reported. Dome regrets the oversight. 

Gov. Beverly Perdue has signed 59 of 108 bills on her desk as of this morning.

Perdue has 49 more bills to go, reports Gerry Cohen, the legsislature's bill drafting director on his Drafting Musings blog. The legislature left the pile of bills for Perdue, who by law, has 30 days to sign or veto them. The state has no pocket veto, so if the bills aren't signed by Sept. 11, they become law.

Cohen is keeping a running tab of bills signed. 

The new laws increase state oversight for fireworks display operators, establish tougher rules for using handicapped parking placards, ensure sex offenders can't drive a school bus and allow magistrates to carry a gun in a courthouse.

Still to be signed are bills that would make online bullying a misdemeanor, ban recreational use of an hallicinogenic herb, and ban smoking and cell phones in prisons. 

After wrangling over hair-braiding, some spending corrections and a handful of last-minute bills, the Senate adjourned Friday afternoon about 4 p.m.

The Senate won't technically be done until Tuesday, but the chamber plans no business as the House winds down its work early next week.

"I will say to the members of the Senate, a job was done. How well, you be the judge," Senate leader Marc Basnight said as he brought the seven-month session to a close.

Basnight said he expects the Senate to take up an annexation reform bill next year as well as a plan to change the state's tax structure. Basnight said the tax reform could be dealt with in a special session this fall, although the House and Gov. Beverly Perdue would have to agree to that.

Update: Perdue was not enthusiastic about a special session. "After this session, I'm just ready for them to go home," she said today.

The House worked into late Thursday night to ensure it could send a bunch of bills to the Senate for its Friday morning session.

The plan, Speaker Joe Hackney said, is to finish up the session Monday night or Tuesday morning. The Senate doesn't plan to take any votes after Friday.

Don't forget to leave your thoughts on important bills and notable lawmakers to help us with our end-of-session coverage. 

The Senate won't stick around.

House Democrats and Republicans have agreed that they need a little bit of next week to wrap the session up in an orderly fashion.

The Senate isn't waiting for that. House Speaker Joe Hackney told his members Thursday that if they have any bills that need to go to the Senate they need to go right away.

"I suggest to you that any bill that requires further action in the Senate we make a priority because they indicate that they will not be voting after tomorrow," Hackney said.

The legislative session is drawing to a close, and we here at Dome are preparing for our end-of-session coverage.

We want your help. Specifically, we wonder which legislators you think had stellar sessions and which legislators didn't shine so bright.

We would prefer you provide the basis for your argument. Was there a particular bill they championed? A troublesome vote they made? Examples of leadership, or lack of leadership?

And we're still interested in your thoughts from an earlier post on what the most important bills were this session.

As Wednesday evening dragged on at the legislature, one of the hottest items of debate was when to end the session.

House Democrats and Republicans generally agreed that it would be best to bring the session in for a soft landing next week. Senators were ready to brew some coffee and work long hours throughout the weekend.

"We need to go home," said Sen. David Hoyle, a Gaston County Democrat, echoing an earlier sentiment from Sen. Phil Berger, the chamber's Republican leader.

The senate Democrats plan to meet Wednesday to decide when to go home.

The legislative session is drawing to a close and we here at Dome are preparing for our end-of-session coverage.

We want your input. Thousands of bills have been filed this session and there's no way we could cover them all. We can think of the obvious biggies: the budget, smoking ban, beach plan, etc.

Help us think of some we might have missed. What were the most important bills this year? Which bills were the biggest waste of time?

Can you think of some notable bills that we media types overlooked? Which ones should have gone somewhere but didn't? Which bills were watered down too much?

We'll ask for some other input in the next few days, but for now, fill the comment thread with your thoughts and suggestions on the bills filed this session.