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The restaurant association will fight the House's smoking ban bill.

The association had previously agreed to remain neutral, provided the ban applied equally to bars and restaurants. The bill that cleared the House Wednesday night excluded most bars from the smoking ban.

"It's pretty clear. We now strongly oppose the bill," said Paul Stone, president and CEO of the North Carolina Restaurant and Lodging Association. "It creates a significant amount of unfairness. There are plenty of family friendly places that also have active bars later at night."

The association's lack of opposition was key because it helped refute a key argument against the ban — that restaurants would lose business if diners could not smoke. 

The association helped kill a similar bill last year. 

"We perfer actually that nothing is passed. Even if the Senate passes something without that amendment, then it goes into conference and it's really hard to know how it's going to turn out," Stone said. 

Stone said that the state has 16,000 restaurants and 8,000 of them serve alcohol. 

DEPRESSING STIMULANT: Gov. Beverly Perdue said the federal stimulus package is still about $150 million short. She plans to use $780 million from the feds to patch the state's $2 billion budget hole, with longtime go-to guy Dempsey Benton overseeing the state's spending. Still, she's going to have to dig a little deeper.

HEALTH PLAN BAILOUT?: Smoking and overeating could get more expensive for state employees. A proposal to keep the state health plan solvent would force smokers and the obese to enroll in the costliest coverage option. Pass the Nicorette and hold the donuts, please.

BAD NEWS FOR STUDENTS: The escheats fund sounds like something that would get you kicked out of school. But it actually helps students go — for now. State Treasurer Janet Cowell warned that the little-known fund for forgotten insurance policies and utility deposits is running dry, which could mean cuts to college scholarships it pays for.

CARD CHECK ... PLEASE? U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan may now have to pay her union dues. Although known as a pro-business Democrat in the legislature, she won labor's backing to the tune of $200,000 last year after pledging to support a "card check" bill that would make unionization easier. Now her vote in Congress could prove crucial to the bill's chances.

IN OTHER NEWS: Perdue's son, Garrett, joins Raleigh law firm as a lobbyist. Womble, Carlyle, Sandridge, Rice and Perdue? Nah, too long. ... The head of the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association says it will not oppose a smoking ban as written. Look for tobacco lobbyists to try to change the ban's wording. ... Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton didn't get his extra $63 a day for acting as governor while Perdue was on vacation, according to the state controller. No word on whether he turned down tips too.

The N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association will not oppose -- and could actively support -- a ban on smoking in restaurants and workplaces.

That position undermines potential opposition by legislators who argue that a ban could hurt the restaurant business.

Paul Stone, the association's president, said that 80 percent of the group's members in a recent poll said they want the organization to either actively support or at least not oppose the ban proposed in the legislature. That number changes, though, if lawmakers start carving out exceptions for private clubs or other types of businesses, creating what Stone called an unlevel playing field in competing for customers.

"If they turn around and put (an exception) in," Stone said, "we'll be in the same position as two years ago."

That was when the association, which represents 3,000 restaurants and hotels, initially backed a similar bill but dropped its support after exemptions were added for private clubs. The bill failed in the House by six votes. 

The Durham meals tax is back.

In a hastily-called meeting, the Senate Finance committee approved a proposal allowing Durham to impose a 1 percent tax on restaurant meals.

Sen. Floyd McKissick, a Durham Democrat, had been struggling to find enough votes to get the bill, which the state restaurant trade association opposed, out of committee and to a full Senate vote.

The committee had voted to kill the bill about an hour earlier, but McKissick found a senator who opposed it the first time to ask for a new vote.

The proposed Durham meal tax died before noon Wednesday in a quick committee vote on the Senate floor.

Sen. Floyd McKissick, a Durham Democrat, told committee members they would not be voting to impose a tax. But in a voice vote, the noes easily overwhelmed the ayes.

Durham wanted permission to hold a vote on a 1 percent tax on prepared meals. The N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association opposed it. The bill barely got out of the House and barring some parliamentary miracle, is dead for the year.  

For the second time in two days, state Sen. Floyd McKissick asked the chamber's Finance Committee to skip debate on a proposed bill that would allow Durham to vote on a 1 percent tax on restaurant meals.

If the bill passes, it's going to be close, McKissick said. Likely bill supporters have not attended committee meetings this week, he said, so he asked to pull it.

"It's a tough one," McKissick said. "A lot depends on who's in town, who's out of town, that kind of stuff," he said.

He said he's ask for an unscheduled committee meeting on the Senate floor to get a vote.

The N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association is fighting the bill, and it bearly got out of the House.

McKissick, a Durham Democrat, said a tax vote is tough this election year, with members facing competitive races worrying that their 'aye' votes will be characterized as votes for tax increases.

U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Dole was one of several North Carolina lawmakers who didn't attend President Bush's final State of the Union address.

Rep. Sue Myrick, a Republican from Charlotte, said she had attended every other one since being elected, but opted to watch this one from her Washington home.

"She just wanted to go home and watch it on television, and the view is actually better on television than on the House floor," her spokesman, Andy Polk, said Tuesday.

Rep. Walter Jones, a Farmville Republican, watched it on television as well.

Democratic Reps. Brad Miller of Raleigh and David Price of Chapel Hill didn't attend either. Miller was ill and Price's wife was retiring from the nonprofit she runs.

Dole's office said she missed the State of the Union for the first time since being elected. She had agreed to speak at the N.C. Restaurant and Lodging Association's annual dinner in Chapel Hill before the date of the speech was announced.

"It's one of the largest associations in the state and Senator Dole wanted to keep her commitment to them," said Dole spokeswoman Amy Auth.