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Advocates of fracking in North Carolina have fashioned identical bills in the state House and Senate, introduced Thursday, in hopes of minimizing squabbles and building support this summer to legalize the controversial method of extracting natural gas.

Sen. Bob Rucho has paired up with Rep. Mitch Gillespie of McDowell and Burke counties and other fracking supporters in the state House, who will be urging quick action on an identical piece of legislation among their members. Rucho touted the pair of fracking bills as “the very finest regulation, bar none, in the country.”

General Assembly members took the unusual step Wednesday of voting to subpoena the head of North Carolina's unemployment benefits office to appear before a committee - an action that chills relations with the agency as the state decides how to pay down $2.6 billion in debt to the federal government.

The Legislature's Revenue Laws Study Committee voted unanimously to subpoena Assistant Commerce Secretary Lynn Holmes for its Jan 4 meeting. House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger had already signed a letter authorizing the committee to issue the subpoena if a majority of the panel voted for it.

The panel had said at least a week and a half ago that it wanted to hear from Holmes about her plans to reform what was previously called the Employment Security Commission, according to Committee co-chairman Sen. Bob Rucho. Holmes had a personal conflict and couldn't attend, Commerce Department spokesman Tim Crowley said.

"The severity of this issue requires (Holmes') attention," Rucho, R-Mecklenburg, said in an interview. "She should have been here to provide information to us on her plan to solve this problem." Read more here.