The House passed a bill to allow habitual drunk drivers to get their licenses restored if they had a clean record after 10 years.

State Rep. Ronnie Sutton, a Robeson County Democrat, said he filed House Bill 1185 to help people who "screwed up their life early" if they can show they have reformed.

Currently, North Carolinians convicted of being habitual drunk drivers have their licenses revoked for life.

The bill would allow people to petition to get their licenses restored after a decade if they had not had a drinking- or driving-related offenses since. It would allow the state Division of Motor Vehicles to put conditions on their license.

"This is something to allow a person who has had a real problem to straighten their lives out and hopefully find themselves on the straight and narrow," he said.

Rep. Edgar Starnes, a Caldwell County Republican, said the bill sends the "wrong message."

"Drunk driving is still a serious problem," he said. "This statute was enacted beccause we have to recognize that there are some people in this state who have no business with a license. A driving license is a privilege."

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Recent House bills of note:

H.B. 414: Judicial Appointment/Voter Retention, Rep. Johnathan Rhyne

H.B. 421: Use of Deadly Force/SBI Investigations, Rep. Kelly Alexander

H.B. 427: Counties May Fund Charter Schools, Reps. Tim Moore, George Cleveland, Larry Brown and William Current

H.B. 430: Voter Identification, Reps. Moore, Current, Paul Stam and Ric Killian

H.B. 431: Abortion-Parental Consent Notarized, Reps. Mark Hilton and Pat McElraft

H.B. 432: Conscience Protection/Health Care Providers, Rep. Hilton

Recent House bills of note:

H.B. 338: Stimulus Funds/Contractors Must Use E-Verify, Rep. Pat McElraft

H.B. 339: Taxpayer Transparency Act, Reps. McElraft, Pat Hurley, Curtis Blackwood and Hugh Blackwell

H.B. 344: Employers Must Use E-Verify Program, Reps. Wil Neumann and George Cleveland

H.B. 351: Party Change During Early Voting, Rep. Cary Allred

H.B. 361: Defense of Marriage, Reps. David Lewis, James Crawford, Pearl Burris-Floyd and Dewey Hill

H.B. 362: Access to Higher Education, Rep. Pricey Harrison, Paul Luebke, Rick Glazier and Verla Insko

State Rep. Pat McElraft is trying to get a DMV examiner reinstated.

The Emerald Isle Republican said in a statement Wednesday that she talked to officials with the N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles to try to persuade them to rehire Jeffrey Brown, Dan Kane reports.

Brown, 34, is the former examiner who said he was fired after raising questions about illegal immigrants obtaining drivers licenses. He is suing to get his job back.

McElraft, whose district includes Brown's home, said she thinks he was fired for bringing the illegal immigrant issue to his supervisors' attentions.

"Mr. Brown is exactly the kind of person that the North Carolina Whistleblower Act was implemented to protect," McElraft said. "I tried to get the DMV on numerous occasions to do the right thing for Mr. Brown before this lawsuit was filed. The DMV declined to make things right.

"It is unfortunate that Jeff must go to court to fix what the DMV management structure should have fixed long before things got to this point."

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A House bill would make it a felony to intentionally starve an animal.

Rep. Pat McElraft, an Emerald Isle Republican, said the bill was inspired by a case in Carteret County a year ago in which a family left three dogs behind when it moved out of a house. Two of the dogs died of starvation by the time police were called a month later.

"They had no excuse for this," she said.

McElraft said the district attorney could only charge the family members with a misdemeanor. The bill would add starvation and dehydration to the list of felony animal cruelty charges.

The bill passed unanimously and now heads to the Senate.