Ran Coble says legislative pay affects who serves.

The director of the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research said that the number of retirees in the state legislature has increased in recent years because of the relatively low pay.

In 2000, the nonprofit group studied pay in states with comparable populations, legislative workloads and days in session. That study found that only Texas and Georgia paid as little as North Carolina.

"The legislature's stuck in a pattern right now where they are virtually full-time legislators with part-time pay," he said. 

Legislative sessions last from January to August during long sessions and from May to August in short sessions, and often go longer, Coble noted. Study commissions and oversight committees meet at other times, and calls from constituents never stop.

The center did not make any recommendations, but Coble said the question is up to voters.

"The basic question for citizens is what kind of legislature do you want and what do you want to pay for that?" he said.

Previously: Bill would automatically raise legislative pay; other states pay less. 

The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research has won two awards.

The Raleigh-based nonprofit run by Ran Coble won an award for distinguished research from the Governmental Research Association for its June study of charter schools.

The study found problems with academic performance, racial balance and questionable management. It argued that the state should delay raising the cap of charter schools until the problems are resolved.

The center also won a national award for outstanding policy achievement for an analysis of the high school dropout rate.

The Governmental Research Association is a group of 33 public policy groups in 22 states.

The legislature may be close to wrapping up their work on the state budget, but plenty of work remains to be done.

The Associated Press notes that several big issues remain unresolved as August nears.

The Legislature has little to show so far, still facing decisions that include tightening rules on landfills, tinkering with ethics rules passed last year and providing health coverage for more uninsured citizens.

"They wait until the last minute to do their best work," said Ran Coble, executive director of the nonpartisan North Carolina Center for Public Policy Research. "What they've got to do is not stringing ribbons on small packages. They've got significant policy decisions to make."

Blank bills are dangerous.

So say the folks at the N.C.Center for Public Policy Research, who have issued a study looking at the legislature's increasing use of such bills to make major policy changes.

First, a bit of explanation. A blank bill is one that is introduced with no text. It has a title, but it's often vague.

But such bills, typically late in the session, suddenly turn into major legislation. In past years, the center says, blank bills have ended up revising the state budget, banning video poker and expanding occupancy taxes.

And, the center reports, have been on the rise. There were 380 blank bills in the 1997-98 legislative session. There were 805 in the 2003-04 session.

"The public has a right to know the content of the bills when they are first introduced in the legislature," says Ran Coble, the center's director.

"Blank bills don't give adequate notice to the public of what a legislator is proposing, they're not transparent in their content and purpose, and sometimes they are used to rush passage of significant legislation."

A new report argues that the charter school cap should stay at 100.

The N.C. Center for Public Policy Research looked at the performance of the privately run, publicly funded schools over the past decade.

It found that financial issues troubled some, and overall the schools did not match the racial makeup of their communities.

"Charter schools need to perform well before we expand the experiment," said Ran Coble, the center's director. 

Supporters argue the cap should be lifted because of the thousands of children on waiting lists. (AP)