The legislature honored the state's long-serving Insurance Commissioner, the late Jim Long.

"We'll miss him dearly, but the people and citizens of North Carolina will miss him more," said House Majority Leader Rep. Hugh Holliman.

"Our state has some of the lowest insurance rates in the nation thanks to the work that he did," said Rep. Alice Bordsen, a Mebane Democrat.

Long died at 68, shortly after he retired.