crossover

Quick Hits

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 18 May 2009 10:07:11 -0400

* An anti-torture coalition is seeking to disbar Davidson College graduate William J. Haynes II, among others, for Bush-administration memos.

* The anonymous backer of a "Draft Coop" blog tries to determine who he should support now that Attorney General Roy Cooper is out of the Senate race.

* Between opening day and the crossover deadline, 303 Senate bills and 424 House bills passed, including substanial numbers during crossover week itself.

* It will be tricky for Democrats to replace U.S. Attorney George Holding in the middle of an investigation into former Gov. Mike Easley.

What the House has passed

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 15 May 2009 10:09:00 -0400

What did the House pass by crossover?

Here are some of the more interesting bills that made it past the upper chamber before the deadline to be considered by the Senate:

H.B. 9: Bans texting while driving.

H.B. 88: Allows parents to choose comprehensive sex ed for their children.

H.B. 813: Allows people to collect money from negligence lawsuits even if they are somewhat at fault as well.

H.B. 961: Bans campaign contributions from officers of companies that have state contracts.

H.B. 1185: Allows habitual drunk drivers to get their licenses restored after 10 years with some conditions.

More after the jump.

Dome Memo: Over and out?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 15 May 2009 09:39:48 -0400

CROSSOVER OVER: The legislature went into a lightning round this week. To meet the deadline required for a bill to pass either the House or the Senate, lawmakers voted on hundreds of bills and dozens of amendments. Tempers occasionally flared, as when Sen. David Hoyle begged a bill sponsor to end debate and "put us out of our misery."

EASLEY'S NOT OVER: Mike Easley may no longer be governor, but he's still in the news. A series of stories in the N&O revealed that he took flights on private jets that were not reported, that his family drove cars that belonged to a car dealership for months and that a Highway Patrolman mysteriously visited his home recently. More news is likely to come.

COOP'S JUST STARTING: Attorney General Roy Cooper dropped by the White House Monday. Long thought to be a potential candidate for U.S. Senate in 2010, he is thought to have been lobbied by President Obama to run. But the official reason for the visit was to watch the president shake hands with the championship UNC-Chapel Hill basketball team.

IN OTHER NEWS: Former Carolina Panthers safety Mike Minter may run against Democratic Rep. Larry Kissell next year. Following in Rep. Heath Shuler's cleats? .... Gov. Beverly Perdue has said she will sign a smoking ban on restaurants and public places. Has Tobacco Road reached a dead end? ... Senate leader Marc Basnight celebrated his 62nd birthday this week, but he's not sure which day. As it turns out, his birth certificate may have the wrong date. Do the conspiracy theorists know about this? ... Former Raleigh Mayor Tom Fetzer has snagged a number of high-profile endorsements in the race for N.C. Republican Party chair.

House: no Web bullying

markjohnson — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:24:26 -0400

House members overwhelmingly backed legislation Thursday that makes it a crime to bully a minor over the Internet.

Rep. Nick Mackey, a Mecklenburg County Democrat and chief sponsor of the bill, said the Internet takes bullying off the school bus and out of the classroom and puts it into the community.

"It allows the bullies to reach the victim anytime," Mackey said. "The victim can't even go home to escape it."

The bill, which passed by a 112 to 4 vote, would make it a class 1 misdemeanor to, among other violations, torment a minor in an Internet chat room or post an altered image of a minor on the Internet with the intent to embarrass or intimidate them.

The bill passed without any of the divisive debate that accompanied a broader bill in the Senate that requires schools to institute anti-bullying policies. That legislation drew heat because it identifies various characteristics, including sexual orientation, about which a student may be bullied.

Mackey's bill, on the other hand, refers to all minors.

House meets crossover deadline

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 14 May 2009 17:40:03 -0400

The House has met its crossover deadline.

Around 5:30 p.m., the House passed the last of its bills before the deadline to be considered by the Senate this year.

House declares two more months

bniolet — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:24:33 -0400

The House declared two "awareness" months.

March would be deep vein thrombosis month and June would be cancer screening month, Rep. Ty Harrell, a Wake Democrat, explained to House members.

House Speaker Joe Hackney then asked Harrell if he wanted to mention both months.

"You did? I wasn't paying attention?" Hackney said.

We know the feeling, Mr. Speaker.

Bill would allow licenses restored

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 14 May 2009 14:03:20 -0400

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."

More after the jump.

Senate meets its crossover deadline

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:34:28 -0400

The Senate finished its business shortly after noon.

After voting on a bill to allow mayors to officiate at weddings, Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton ended the day's session,

"Members, congratulations, you just got through crossover," he said to applause from the senators.

Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand thanked senators for working hard.

"Ladies and gentleman, it's 12:15 on crossover deadline," he said. "I think we've set a modern day record."

He said previous crossovers have been a "terrible time."

Bill would allow mayors to officiate

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:27:06 -0400

A bill would allow mayors to officiate at weddings.

Senate Bill 992 was sponsored by freshman Democratic Sen. Don Davis, the former mayor of Snow Hill, N.C.

The Senate had little debate on the issue, though Sen. Jim Forrester said that he had hoped to add an amendment that would have put a constitutional ban on gay marriage up for a statewide referendum.

Forrester filed a separate bill on the gay-marriage ban that Senate leadership essentially killed by leaving it in committee.

"If we don't get it in the constitution, I'm afraid it's going to happen to us just like Vermont," he said.

The bill passed 35-9 and now heads to the House.

Several other bills this session have also sought to expand who can perform weddings. One already signed into law by Gov. Beverly Perdue, allows Superior Court judges to officiate.

Another bill stuck in a House committee would have allowed any judge, while a third would allow retired judges. A Senate bill to allow any judge passed and is now before a House committee.

Hoyle: Put us out of our misery

ryanteaguebeckwith — Thu, 14 May 2009 12:00:37 -0400

The strain of crossover week is hitting the Senate.

After a lengthy debate on an amendment to bill to change how antique cars are titled, Sen. David Hoyle raised for a question for sponsor Sen. Fletcher Hartsell.

"Senator Hartsell, would you put us all of out our misery as a bill sponsor and let's call to a question on the amendment?" he said. "This bill's got to go to the House. It's got a long way to go. I've got a long way to go today.

"Would you please put us out of our misery, call the question, let us vote and get on with it? Is that asking too much?"

Hartsell agreed.

"I have some problem with that, but I will shut up," he said.

The amendment passed 31-14 and the bill was then unanimously passed. It now heads to the House.