North Carolina's new budget may be late - more than a month after the new fiscal year began - but at least it's not last.

In voting this week to approve the budget, North Carolina lawmakers managed to finish their budget work before their counterparts in Connecticut and Pennsylvania, according to a spokeswoman for the National Conference of State Legislatures.

As a result, Connecticut is facing the prospect of having its bond rating downgraded, and Pennsylvania is resorting to a partial budget so that state employees can be paid.

Speaker Joe Hackney has racked up the frequent flyer miles this week as he scrambles between his speaker duties and his role as presdent of the National Conference of State Legislatures.

On Tuesday, Hackney appeared with Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, who spoke to the NCSL conference about education.

"We’ve been in an economic crisis for a year or so," Gates said. "We’ve been in an education crisis for decades. Our performance at every level is dropping against the rest of the world. It’s a reflection of weak system run by old beliefs and bad habits."

Previously: State Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer slammed Hackney for his participation in the conference.

Last week House Speaker Joe Hackney defended his plans to spend some of the week at the National Conference of State Legislatures summit in Philadelphia.

Hackney was one of 10 lawmakers, all Democrats, from the state to register for the summit. Four legislative staff members were registered to go, according to the legislature's controller's office. The state would pay registration, $499 to $625, depending on when the attendee registered. Members were to pay their other expenses.

But on Monday, many on the list to go were not in Philadelphia. Like Hackney, members may move back and forth or just go later in the week, officials said.

The members signed up to go are:

Senate: Dan Blue (D-Raleigh), Charlie Dannelly (D-Charlotte), Katie Dorsett (D-Greensboro), Tony Foriest (D-Graham), Ed Jones (D-Halifax County).

House: Rick Glazier (D-Fayetteville), Hackney (D-Orange County), Phillip Haire (D-Sylva), Larry Hall (D-Durham), Bill Owens (D-Elizabeth City) 

Previously: Expenses minimal for NCSL trip to New Orleans. 

State Republican Party chairman Tom Fetzer picked at Democratic House Speaker Joe Hackney on Thursday, and the speaker shrugged off the criticism.

Fetzer said that Hackney was blowing off a state budget that is two weeks late for a "fun-filled week" at a conference in Philadephia.

"We’ve all heard of Nero fiddling while Rome burned. Speaker Hackney will be dancing in the streets of Philadelphia while North Carolina’s citizens struggle to make ends meet during the toughest financial crisis of their lives," Fetzer said.

"That's not right," Hackney said of Fetzer's claim that Hackney would be gone all week.

Hackney is president of the National Conference of State Legislatures, an organization, he noted, was an important voice in shaping the federal stimulus bill. He is scheduled to speak on a panel Sunday about the stimulus law. He said he planned to return to North Carolina either for Monday night's House session or Tuesday morning.

He said he expected to go back and forth at no cost to the state as events in the legislative building dictate.

"I have no plans to be there all week," Hackney said.

Correction: Post now accurately states when Hackney is scheduled to speak.

Five states have already furloughed workers.

A recent survey by the National Conference of State Legislatures found that seven states are considering furloughs, one state has approved rules for them and five states have already done so.

After the jump, the states.

   Comments (0)

Speaker Joe Hackney talked about spending the stimulus money at the White House today.

At a three-hour event with members of the Cabinet and, later, President Obama, the Chapel Hill Democrat spoke briefly about the federal economic recovery package.

A major issue was how to get around the governor. Governors in 11 states — including South Carolina and Alaska, but not North Carolina — have not yet accepted all of the stimulus spending. 

But Hackney said the legislatures have the power of the purse in most of those states.

"There's a lot of concern from some states about what to do if the governor does not want to cooperate," he said. "We talked about how to make sure the legislature has its say about that and draws down the money anyway." 

Hackney also thanked Obama for predicting that UNC-Chapel Hill would win the NCAA men's basketball tournament. Obama, in turn, noted Hackney's Carolina blue tie.

The speaker has been in Washington since Wednesday for a twice-yearly meeting of the National Conference of State Legislatures. He is serving as president of the group this year.

For the record, Darius Rucker does not recommend acai berries.

The lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish was recently featured in a series of Web ads in which a woman claimed to have lost weight by eating the berries at his recommendation. Before and after photos allegedly showed her weight loss.

Gus Gusler, a Raleigh attorney who represents Rucker, tracked down the advertisers and e-mailed them a cease-and-desist letter. The ads were taken down within 15 minutes.

"Darius has never used it. He knew nothing about it. He didn't know the girl in the picture," Gusler said. "But they were trying to use his name."

Because the ad was online, Gusler was able to cite other state laws prohibiting the use of a person's image without their consent to sell a product, but North Carolina does not have a so-called "right of publicity."

Two bills filed in recent weeks would create such a law. Nineteen other states, including California, Florida and New York, have an existing law, while 11 states recognize the right under common law, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures.

North Carolina legislators' salaries are far below their counterparts.

A comparison of base salaries in the 23 state legislatures that the National Conference of State Legislatures considers comparable to North Carolina shows their pay is at the bottom.

State lawmakers here have a base salary of $13,951 per year. Only Nebraska ($12,000), South Carolina ($10,400) and Texas ($7,200) give less, while Alabama and Kentucky do not have an annual salary.

The median is $24,012, the amount Alaska pays. The highest is $48,708 in Hawaii.

The NCSL divides legislatures into three categories based on the time they spend on the job, their staff size and their pay.

North Carolina falls into the middle category, where legislators spend more than two-thirds of their time on political work and have a medium-sized staff, but do not make enough to be full-time politicians.

California's full-time legislators are the highest-paid, with $116,208 as a base salary. South Dakota legislators have the lowest pay, at $12,000 over a two-year term, although 11 other states pay only by the day or week.

At least 14 states have regulated Salvia.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 11 states have made Salvia divinorum a Schedule I drug, typically reserved for hard drugs such as cocaine and heroin.

They are: Delaware, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, Mississippi, Missouri, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina and Virginia.

In addition, Louisiana and Tennessee have banned the ingestion of salvia for hallucinogenic purposes, but still allow the plant to be grown. California has made it a misdemeanor to sell it to someone under 18.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration lists Salvia as a "drug of concern" and is conducting an analysis of its risks, but there are currently no federal laws restricting it.

Matthew Gever, an NCSL policy associate, said the state laws have been boosted by concerns over YouTube videos posted by teen-agers and college students showing them using the drug.

"It's been under the radar until the last few years," he said.

Correction: An earlier version of this post misstated the California law.

Previously: N.C. bill would outlaw salvia