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.

Judges would be allowed to consider whether racial bias played a role in the decision to seek or impose the death penalty, according to a bill on which the N.C. House voted Tuesday evening after a long and emotionally charged debate.

"This is a fairness bill," said Rep. Larry Womble, the Winston-Salem Democrat who helped champion the bill. "If we're going to kill people, we must be as fair and objective as we can. This allows one more chance for justice to be blind. ... It's not a get-out-of-jail free card for anybody."

Democrats cited studies showing blacks are far more likely to be sentenced to death in North Carolina than whites. Further, a defendant is 3.5 times more likely to face the death penalty when the victim is white than when the victim is black.

Republicans strongly oppose the measure, saying its passage will clog the courts with frivolous appeals, cost millions and impose a de facto moratorium on executions.

"This bill is not really about race," said Rep. Paul Stam of Wake County, the minority leader. "It's about the death penalty."

The N.C. Racial Justice Act passed its second reading in the House 61-55, with every Republican and four Democrats voting no.

A final House vote could come today, and the bill would then return to the Senate, where it may have a difficult time gaining approval and may require a compromise. That's because the House version left out a section of the Senate bill designed to help remove obstacles that have effectively halted executions for two years. Senate leaders said that provision must be included for the Racial Justice Act to pass that chamber. (N&O)

The National NAACP wants the legislature to pass a bill that would let people facing the death penalty argue that race was a significant factor in prosecutors' decision to seek the death penalty or in juries' voting to impose it.

The bill, known as the Racial Justice Act, is being pushed by the state NAACP and other groups, Lynn Bonner reports.

The bill passed the Senate with a provision the death-penalty opponents don't want, one that aims to restart executions after a de facto moratorium of more than two years.

The National NAACP set up an easy way for supporters to send e-mail messages to House Speaker Joe Hackney and Senate leader Marc Basnight asking them to get the bill passed without the Senate addition.

Recent Senate bills of note:

S.B. 461: North Carolina Racial Justice Act, Sen. Floyd McKissick

S.B. 478: Modify School Calendar Law, Sen. Don East

S.B. 491: Expunge Nonviolent Crimes, Sen. Ellie Kinnaird

S.B. 500: Raise Homestead Exclusion Income Limit, Sen. Austin Allran

S.B. 515: Prohibit Penning of Wildlife, Sen. Neal Hunt

S.B. 520: NC to Consider Off Shore Drilling, Sen. James Forrester

S.B. 525: Video Game Producer Tax Credit, Sen. Julia Boseman