sex offenders

Perdue's puts pen to work; 49 bills left

bniolet — Fri, 28 Aug 2009 08:55:41 -0400

Gov. Beverly Perdue has signed 59 of 108 bills on her desk as of this morning.

Perdue has 49 more bills to go, reports Gerry Cohen, the legsislature's bill drafting director on his Drafting Musings blog. The legislature left the pile of bills for Perdue, who by law, has 30 days to sign or veto them. The state has no pocket veto, so if the bills aren't signed by Sept. 11, they become law.

Cohen is keeping a running tab of bills signed.

The new laws increase state oversight for fireworks display operators, establish tougher rules for using handicapped parking placards, ensure sex offenders can't drive a school bus and allow magistrates to carry a gun in a courthouse.

Still to be signed are bills that would make online bullying a misdemeanor, ban recreational use of an hallicinogenic herb, and ban smoking and cell phones in prisons.

Perdue has some signing to do

bniolet — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 14:46:41 -0400

Gov. Beverly Perdue's desk must look a little something like Dome's cluttered and paper-filled workstation.

The legislature wrapped up its session earlier this month leaving 108 bills for Perdue to sign into law. She has 30 days after the end of the session to sign the bills and as of Sunday, day 12, she has signed none, according to Gerry Cohen, the legislature's bill drafting director.

The bills cover a host of subjects: from licensing requirements for hair braiding, to a bill that would prohibit a sex offender from getting a license to drive a school bus to a bill banning a hallucinogenic herb. Cohen has posted a list of the bills on his Drafting Musings blog.

Perdue could sign the bills into law. She could veto them. If she doesn't act within 30 days, all the bills become law, according to Cohen because North Carolina has no pocket veto.

Update: Chrissy Pearson, a spokeswoman for Perdue, said the governor is reviewing the bills with her staff.

"We don't have a decision made on all of them yet as to whether she will sign them," Pearson said.

Perdue is likely to sign bills as they are reviewed, rather than all at once, so Dome's image of the governor running through a box of pens in a sign-a-thon isn't likely to come true.

Utilities not ready to run on animal waste

bniolet — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 06:55:23 -0400

North Carolina's electricity providers say poop-to-power isn't ready for prime time.

Progress Energy, Duke Energy and other providers have asked state regulators to delay and modify a 2007 state law that requires them to generate a minimum amount of energy from pig or chicken waste. The law, designed to promote renewable energy and efficiency, requires utilities to begin getting some energy from pig and chicken litter by 2012.

The utilities have been seeking proposals for waste-to-energy projects, but say they've gotten only limited and expensive bids. (N&O)

* The White House has indicated that it could accept a nonprofit health-care cooperative as an alternative to a new government insurance plan, originally favored by President Barack Obama. But the cooperative idea is so ill-defined that no one knows exactly what it would look like or how effectively it would compete with commercial insurers. (NYT)

* A Chatham County man and convicted sex offender is challenging a state law that took effect in December that forbids registered sex offenders from being within 300 feet of a school, playground, day care or children's museum.

James Nichols, 31, served six years in prison for indecent liberties with a teenage girl and attempted second-degree rape. A Chatham County sheriff's deputy arrested him in March for going to church because the church runs a day care. Nichols had disclosed his crimes to his pastor. (N&O)

Bill: Make name changes harder

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 11:29:56 -0400

A bill would make it harder for prisoners to change their names.

Rep. Ray Warren, an Alexander County Democrat, said he filed the bill after hearing from several Superior Court clerks about problems with inmates changing their names.

"It creates a problem with tracking, with paperwork and with record-keeping," he said. "This bill is meant to curtail that somewhat."

The bill would not ban name changes outright, but it would "reverse the burden of proof" from the clerk to the prisoner, Warren said. Prisoners who wanted to change their name for religious reasons, for example, could still do so if they showed a good reason.

He said the problem is particularly pronounced in counties with large prisons.

Three of Warren's co-sponsors, Reps. Pat Hurley, Shirley Randleman and Timothy Spear, are former Superior Court clerks.

Under state law, sex offenders are already barred from changing their names.

Sex offenders

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 16:32:19 -0400

2,116

— Number of registered sex offenders in North Carolina who were on MySpace, according to a subpoena requested by Attorney General Roy Cooper.

Cooper: 2,116 sex offenders online

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 10:53:38 -0400

More than 2,100 registered N.C. sex offenders were on MySpace.

Attorney General Roy Cooper announced today that the social networking site turned over the names, IP and e-mail addresses of 2,116 convicted sex offenders in response to a subpoena.

"It's no secret that child predators are on these web sites," he said in a statement. "Turning over information about these predators to law enforcement helps, but MySpace, Facebook and other social networks need to do much more to protect kids online."

After a public tussle with Cooper in 2007, MySpace released the names of 245 registered sex offenders it found on its Web site. At the time, some tech observers questioned why Cooper did not just issue a subpoena.

In keeping with a gentler approach of recent months, Cooper struck a more conciliatory tone today, noting that MySpace was the first social networking site to develop technology to find and remove sex offenders.

Since Dec. 1, it has been against state law for sex offenders to belong to sites where children are also members. Cooper is forwarding the information to local sheriffs, the State Bureau of Investigation's Computer Crimes Unit and probation officers.

Cooper to speak on social networking

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 02 Mar 2009 13:00:23 -0500

Roy Cooper is in Washington today.

The state attorney general will speak at the spring session of the National Association of Attorneys General at the Fairmont Hotel.

He'll be joined in a discussion on legal issues surrounding social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook.

He'll be joined by attorneys general Bill McCollum of Florida and Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut.

Spokeswoman Noelle Talley said that Cooper was scheduled to arrive in Washington Sunday night, before several inches of snow hit the capital.

Cooper has long sparred with social networking sites over parental consent and the presence of sex offenders online.

More Senate bills

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 25 Feb 2009 10:45:00 -0500

More Senate bills of note:

S.B. 266: No Sex Offenders on Juries, Sen. Tony Rand

S.B. 272: Defense of Marriage, Sen. James Forrester

S.B. 290: No Federal Stimulus Money for Illegal Aliens, Sen. Forrester

S.B. 305: Incentives for Energy Conservation, Sen. Dan Clodfelter

S.B. 307: Regulate Ownership & Use of Certain Reptiles, Sen. Ed Jones

Bill would add teachers to registry

ryanteaguebeckwith — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 10:39:02 -0500

A bill would add having sex with students to the state's sex offender registry.

The legislation filed this week by Rep. Bruce Goforth, an Asheville Democrat, would add taking indecent liberties with a student to the list of offenses that classify someone as a sex offender.

School employees who were convicted of that crime would be placed on the statewide sex offender registry.

People on the registry must file their current address, workplace and school on a registry that is publicly available on the Internet.

Goforth said the change was requested by school administrators who want to discourage misconduct and learn about potential employees.

"It would make people aware that they had a sex offense, so it would be up to them whether to hire that person to teach again," he said.

Under state law, teachers, administrators, student teachers and coaches, among others, can be convicted of a taking indecent liberties if they commit "lewd or lascivious acts" with students at their school. The crime is a felony.

House, Senate discuss sex offenders bill

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:36:42 -0400

The state House and Senate need to work out their differences on a proposed law that would make it a low-grade felony for registered sex offenders to use social networking web sites.

Sen. Walter Dalton, a Rutherfordton Democrat who is running for lieutenant governor, said the House deleted provisions that should have been included, such as making it a felony to lie to an SBI agent and making in-person solicitation of minors and online solicitation separate offenses.

Noelle Talley, a spokeswoman for the state Attorney General's office said they want those provisions added back to the bill, Lynn Bonner reports.

State Attorney General Roy Cooper started pushing for the law last year. Back then, the proposal included a requirement to have social networking sites obtain parental consent before they allowed children to join.

Since then, MySpace and Facebook came to agreements with state attorneys general to add safeguards to protect minors from sexual predators.

Many sections of the original bill, including the provision that would have required parental consent for a child to join a social networking site, have been removed.