The House voted in favor of a bill that would allow death row inmates to challenge their sentence as racially motivated.

Opponents criticized the bill saying it would allow a flood of unnecessary and frivolous challenges from every inmate.

"We're fixing to put another road block in the path of those who believe in capital punishment," said Rep. Leo Daughtry, a Johnston County Republican.

Supporters say the bill is necessary to ensure that the penalty is carried out fairly. Rep. Grier Martin, a Raleigh Democrat, said support for the bill and support for capital punishment are not contradictory because both are about justice.

"It is not a paradox," Martin said. "In fact it is entirely consistent with that same sense of justice."

The bill now returns to the Senate.

The House gave preliminary approval to a bill that would give home builders a temporary reprieve from property taxes on unsold homes.

The bill allows builders to defer for up to three years the portion of property tax generated by building a new home. The builder would still have to continue to pay tax on the value of the land. The increased property taxes generated by improving the land with a home would be due when the home is sold.

The bill only applies to homes that have never been occupied. All taxes would be due in 2013.

The bill is meant to provide "temporary relief for a segment of North Carolina's economy that we all know has been hit hard," said Rep. Margaret Highsmith Dickson, a Fayetteville Democrat and co-sponsor of the bill.

Rep. Leo Daughtry, a Johnston County Republican, said his county officials told him the bill would delay payment of $1 million in taxes.

"My county commissioners asked me to give y'all a message and that is it's good to be generous and help your fellow man," Daughtry said. "They want you to do it with your own money."

The bill passed a key House vote 106-8. It needs another vote in the chamber before it can go to the Senate.

Update: The House took its final vote on the bill, which will now head to the Senate. 

In the section of the House budget proposal covering justice and public safety spending just one item represents increased spending: a plan to split the 11th prosecutorial district, which covers Harnett, Johnston and Lee counties.

The proposal would spend $164,459 in the 2010-2011 fiscal year to add a new district attorney and two staff positions to serve Harnett and Lee counties, Dan Kane reports. Johnston would become its own prosecutorial district, which is where the current district attorney resides.

Given the tough fiscal times, you'd think the proposal would need solid support and justification. But it doesn't have it.

The state Administrative Office of the Courts hasn't requested it, nor has a state judicial council that looks into staffing needs. The Johnston County Bar Association adamantly opposes it. Minutes reflect that the association shot the proposal down by a 24 to 2 vote, calling it "fiscally irresponsible."

"Isn't that ridiculous, in this time when people are losing jobs and everything's being cut back, to spend money in that way?" said Robert Denning, a Johnston County defense attorney and bar member.

More after the jump.

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Gov. Beverly Perdue said she trusts her son.

Asked about Garrett Perdue's recent attendance at the "Rush the Growler" event in Raleigh, the governor said she does not think he is lobbying, according to a story on WRAL:

"I'm not aware of the specific events, but Garrett assures me he's not lobbying in Raleigh, and I take his word for it," she said in a statement.

Garrett Perdue declined to comment, but Womble Carlyle spokesman Russell Thomas said he wasn't lobbying and attended the event solely because he knew others there.

"Garrett attended a social event – nothing more, nothing less," Thomas said.

State Rep. Leo Daughtry, a Johnston County Republican, told the station that Garrett Perdue's attendance was not "good judgment." 

A few notable House bills filed:

H.B. 132: Jury Duty Tax Deduction, Rep. Timothy Spear

H.B. 133: Prudent Management of Institutional Funds, Rep. Deborah Ross

H.B. 134: Assault State or Local Officer or Employee, Rep. Russell Tucker

H.B. 135: Broadband Service Providers, Reps. Bill Faison, Joe Tolson, Phil Haire and Thom Tillis

H.B. 137: Capital Procedure / Severe Mental Disability, Reps. Verla Insko, Pricey Harrison, Larry Womble and Paul Luebke

H.B. 149: Require Arts Educ. Credit for Graduation, Reps. Becky Carney, Rick Glazier, Alma Adams and Linda Johnson

H.B. 154: Appoint State Superintendent, Rep. Leo Daughtry

H.B. 155: Appoint State School Superintendent, Reps. Haire, Harold Brubaker, Johnson and Marvin Lucas

The first salvo has been fired in the superintendent fight.

Rep. Leo Daughtry, a Smithfield Republican, filed a bill today that would call for the state schools superintendent to be appointed by the governor.

The proposed constitutional amendment would have to be put to a statewide vote, which Daughtry proposes for the Nov. 3, 2010 ballot.

If the amendment passed, there would be no superintendent election in 2012, when June Atkinson's current term ends.

"I think we need to have a debate on the issue," he said. "From my experience, I've always heard that the governor runs as the education governor. We really need to go ahead and decide how we're going to handle this awkward issue."

He said he was not concerned that the move would strengthen Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue. Instead, he argued it would make Perdue and her successors more accountable.

Daughtry said he does not know what the bill's chances are in the House, but he hoped to spark a debate about this option.

Previously: Atkinson calls for legislature to resolve dispute

Who's in the Tobacco Growers' Caucus?

After Dome noted which legislators represented major cigarette manufacturing employers in North Carolina, a reader noted that others represent tobacco growers.

According to records at the N.C. Department of Agriculture, 11 counties each produced more than $20 million worth of tobacco in 2007: Sampson, Johnston, Wilson, Wayne, Nash, Pitt, Lenoir, Harnett, Greene, Edgecombe and Duplin.

That means the following members represent growers:

In the House: Reps. Larry Bell, James Langdon, Leo Daughtry, Jean Farmer-Butterfield, Joe Tolson, Van Braxton, Efton Sager, Lucy Allen, Angela Bryant, Randy Stewart, Marian McLawhorn, Edith Warren, Arthur Williams, William Wainwright, David Lewis, Jimmy Love, and Russell Tucker.

In the Senate: Sens. Charlie Albertson, David Rouzer, A.B. Swindell, Don Davis, Clark Jenkins, and Harris Blake.

During a 2007 House vote, Reps. Bell, Farmer-Butterfield, Allen, Bryant, Wainwright, Love, and Tucker voted for a smoking ban, while Langdon, Daughtry, Tolson, Braxton, McLawhorn, Warren, Williams, and Lewis voted against it.

Sager and Stewart were not in the House at the time.

The SEIU PAC spent $410,569 on North Carolina races in 2008.

The political action committee of the Service Employees International Union, which is affiliated with the State Employees Association of North Carolina, spent $323,069 on independent expenditures, including mailers and phone banks, and gave $83,500 to candidates, according to campaign finance reports.

The biggest expense was $147,279 spent on mailers opposing Republican gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory. The union did not spend on any other statewide races.

The group also spent $100,568 on unsuccessful candidate Chuck Stone, who came in fourth out of five Democratic primary candidates for Democratic Sen. John Kerr's seat in May.

And it spent $40,510 opposing Republican Rep. Curtis Blackwood and supporting a primary challenger and $34,711 on opposing incumbent Republican Rep. Leo Daughtry and supporting a Democratic challenger.

Among direct contributions, the union gave to 33 Democratic candidates and three Republicans and donated another $4,000 to the N.C. Democratic Party.

SEIU donated to a dozen Democratic incumbents who were unopposed in either the primary or general elections, including $4,000 apiece to Senate president Marc Basnight and House Speaker Joe Hackney.

More after the jump.

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The main part of the chapel where Jesse Helms' funeral will be held is already full.

The Hayes Barton Baptist Church has opened an overflow room to accommodate the hundreds who have already shown up or are expected at the funeral this afternoon.

Among those who have arrived: U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole and her husband, Bob; Sen. Richard Burr and Sen. Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat.

There are also a number of former Helms' employees, including Bill Berryhill, the first executive director of the Congressional Club and a onetime aide. Also spotted: state Rep. Leo Daughtry and Republican consultant Jack Hawke. 

And there are people with other connections to Helms, such as Bill Eller, a Durham resident whose dad worked as Helms' 1972 Iredell County campaign manager.  

The services begin at 2 p.m. 

Fred Smith held his 89th barbecue Monday night in Smithfield.

The Republican gubernatorial candidate addressed a crowd of more than 380 during the campaign stop in Johnston County, which was catered by White Swan, a local restaurant.

Rudy Renfer, chairman of the Johnston County Republican Party, kicked off the event by urging everyone to vote in the primary on May 6.

Following a prayer, Johnston County Commissioner Cookie Pope led the crowd in the Pledge of Allegiance. Smith's wife, Ginny, then sang the national anthem.

After the jump, more scenes from the barbecue.

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