Gerry Cohen

Legislature gettin' citified

markjohnson — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 06:43:16 -0400

Wake County likely will gain two seats in the N.C. House of Representatives and a Senate seat after the next census in 2010, according to an analysis by UNC's Program on Public Life, with some help by bill drafting director Gerry Cohen.

Mecklenburg County is the other big winner, adding at least one and, possibly, two new House seats, according to the data. The counties surrounding the two largest urban centers also are poised to pick up at least a portion of a seat and wield more influence in the legislature.

After the census, the legislature redraws its districts. Those districts all must have roughly the same number of residents, so growing urban centers, with their dense population, require more legislative seats to keep the districts equally sized.

Its the metropolitanization of North Carolina.

North Carolina's population is expected to hit 9.6 million in the 2010 census, a 19 percent increase from a decade ago. Wake County, however, is on track to show 50 percent growth. Mecklenburg is expected to show 31 percent.

Legislature bats .223

markjohnson — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 11:30:55 -0400

The legislature passed 618 bills or resolutions this session out of a total 2,767 filed.

That gives the legislature a 22.3 percent rate for this session. The average has been remarkably consistant in recent years, according to statistics posted by legislative bill drafting guru Gerry Cohen.

Over the past five "long" sessions, the sessions that are held in non-election years and that begin in January, lawmakers passed between 17.2 percent of the bills introduced (2007) and this year's high of 22.3 percent.

Another notable tidbit: legislators introduced nearly 900 fewer bills during this long session than during the last: 3,645 bills in 2007 and 2,767 this year.

Perdue's pen is faster

markjohnson — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:39:45 -0400

Gov. Beverly Perdue had signed 102 bills as of Sunday, the 19th day since the legislature adjourned.

At the same point two years ago, fellow Democrat and then-Gov. Mike Easley had signed 75 bills, according to Gerry Cohen, director of legislative bill drafting.

The governor has 30 days after adjournment to sign or veto bills. If she does neither, they become law automatically.

Perdue's percentage is much better than Easley's, but she also started with a stack of bills half the size of what Easley faced at the end of the 2007 session. The legislature holds its "long sessions," which typically start in January, on odd numbered years. The "short," or even year sessions, start in the spring.

Perdue has signed 102 out of 108 bills, or 94 percent of them.

At this point in 2007, Easley had signed 75 out of 208 bills, or 36 percent.

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.

Almost there

markjohnson — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 06:13:44 -0400

The House is scheduled to convene at noon today for the absolute last bits of business for the legislature. The Senate wrapped up last week. The plan is for leaders of the House and Senate to be signing the adjournment paperwork by mid-afternoon.

Gerry Cohen, director of bill drafting and the legislative equivalent of a Jedi Master, has assembled the important numbers.

-- 463 laws enacted as of this morning in the 2009 Regular Session.

-- Six more become law tomorrow (local bills and the appointments bill).

-- 56 bills awaiting Gov. Beverly Perdue's signature, and she will get 53 more Tuesday, for a total of 109 pending.

-- September 10 is the deadline for her to act, the 30th day after adjournment.

-- Potential grand total of 575 laws enacted in 2009, compared with 551 in the 2007 long session. (The legislature alternates between "long" session years that start in January and "short" years that begin in the spring.)

Read Gerry's full post.

When will they quit?

bniolet — Mon, 06 Jul 2009 13:34:50 -0400

So the House and Senate are at loggerheads over the budget and it's unclear when lawmakers will wrap up the session.

It's anyone's guess, but the legislature's bill drafting director Gerry Cohen does offer some historial information on when sessions end help you make your best bet in the office pool.

* 2008: July 18
* 2007: August 2
* 2006: July 28
* 2005: Sept. 2
* 2004: July 18
* 2003: July 20

In 2001, redistricting pushed the session end to Dec. 6.

Correction: The post now states the correct reason why the 2001 session ran until December.

Budget writers may miss deadline

bniolet — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 14:15:01 -0400

Budget writers in the House and Senate may not be done before the fiscal year begins July 1.

Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat and senior budget writer in the House said it's "fairly likely" that lawmakers will miss the deadline and have to adopt a so-called "continuing resolution" which authorizes state government to continue to function in the absence of a budget.

"It looks like the Senate is flagging a lot of stuff that we've been doing," Michaux said, of the budget conference, the meetings in which House and Senate budget writers negotiate a compromise.

Michaux said the continuing resolution would likely authorize state spending at the level of the current year minus a certain percentage to accomodate the steep drop in revenue.

Continuing resolutions, which are technically bills and not resolutions, are nothing new, even in years when the state is enjoying surpluses, said Gerry Cohen, director of the Legislative Drafting Division.

The legislature missed the fiscal year deadline in seven of the last 10 budget cycles.

More after the jump.

Who gets a special license plate?

ryanteaguebeckwith — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 15:06:20 -0400

Who gets a special license plate?

Under state law, statewide elected officials and appointees get special low-numbered license plates for their cars.

The plates break down into several categories, based on their numbers:

1-14: Governor, lieutenant governor, speaker, president pro tem, members of the Council of State

15-23: Members of the governor's Cabinet

24-29: Members of the governor's staff

30-107: Chairs and presidents of various state boards, deputy and assistant state officials

108-200: State board members, commission members and employees not otherwise designated

A separate law grants legislators separate plates with the words "Senate" or "House" and their seat number, and another law grants state judges their own plates. Members of Congress and state Department of Transportation officials also have plates.

Bill drafting director Gerry Cohen said the provisions date back to 1975, although special plates of some sort were given out as early as 1937.

Quick Hits

ryanteaguebeckwith — Tue, 05 May 2009 16:37:05 -0400

* Former Gov. Jim Hunt to be featured speaker at 2009 international biotechnology convention in Atlanta, to address science education in states.

* Former Libertarian gubernatorial candidate Mike Munger moves to Germany for the summer; Angela Merkel to be mocked shortly.

* Bill drafting director Gerry Cohen outlines the rules behind the upcoming crossover week. Get ready for a hectic week everybody.

* Media consultant J. Mills Holloway, who is running for former Sen. Vernon Malone's seat, has a campaign manager: Marjorie Fields Harris.

Ask Dome: Legislative tickets

ryanteaguebeckwith — Fri, 01 May 2009 10:41:47 -0400

Can a legislator get out of a speeding ticket while on their way to the legislature? — Dome comment thread

Not any more. And it's not clear whether they ever could.

A state law dating back to 1787 said that police could not detain legislators who were en route to session:

The members ... shall be protected, excepting cases of crime, from all arrest and imprisonment, or attachment of property, during the time of their going to, coming from, or attending the General Assembly.

Many legislators took the statute to mean that they could not be stopped for speeding if they were on their way to a vote.

But longtime bill drafting director Gerry Cohen says the legal meaning of those words was never clear. He argued that speeding or other driving infractions could be considered "cases of crime" that were not covered.

The law dated to pre-revolutionary days, when the king or the colonial governor would sometimes detain a legislator in order to influence a vote.

At the time, police also had much greater powers to arrest citizens for outstanding debts or to enforce a lien, for example.

After then-Sen. Joe Johnson cited the statute while trying to get out of a driving infraction in Raleigh, the legislature got rid of the provision in 1992.

Got a question? Post it in the comments or e-mail dome@newsobserver.com.