Sen. Floyd McKissick may want to brush up on Senate rules.
The Durham Democrat, who has been in the Senate since 2007, missed a crucial opportunity to object to a motion to send his bill back to a committee during debate this morning.
McKissick's bill would allow counties to provide health insurance to former employees. But Senate Majority Leader Tony Rand objected, saying it could allow former county commissioners to get insurance benefits for too long.
During discussion of the bill, a number of senators raised questions about what kinds of employees would be affected, including part-time or short-time workers.
Sen. Bob Atwater offered an amendment that would require counties to establish a policy before extending benefits.
Rand, an old hand at parliamentary procedure, then moved to re-refer the bill to the committee on pensions and retirement so the amendment could be considered there.
More after the jump.
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McKissick asked for a point of clarification. With the crossover deadline looming this week, he wondered if sending it to committee would be "tantamount to killing it." (Short answer: Yes.)
But he failed to object to the motion, so Lt. Gov. Walter Dalton said the bill was now officially in committee and could not be discussed again today.
Rand and McKissick went back and forth on the issue until Dalton interrupted.
"Gentlemen, wait just a second," he said, testily. "Let's get the procedure right. There was a motion. I asked if there was an objection. I asked twice if there was an objection. There was no objection. I said so ordered."
"It's a mother-may-I here," he said. "You can't just leave me out. I asked twice."
Atwater and Sen. Martin Nesbitt objected, saying the bill should get a chance to be heard.
"I respectfully understand how you're presiding over this matter, but this would be a precedent that would not be very healthy," he told Dalton.
Rand then caved, moving to bring the bill back from committee and urging his colleagues to vote against the bill anyway.
The Senate voted 33-14 to allow the bill to be heard later today.
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