SEANC: Ethics allegation troubling

SEANC wants a bill on the State Health Plan reconsidered.

In a letter to Speaker Joe Hackney, State Employees Association of N.C. head Dana Cope wrote that a recent ethics allegation raises questions about the way a recent House bill was handled.

In the letter, Cope alleges that an insurance company lobbied a state legislator to get the bill killed, and that the matter was referred to the State Bureau of Investigation. 

Earlier this month, the Legislative Ethics Committee reported that a lawmaker said he was approached by a lobbyist with an offer to get a constituent's debt forgiven in exchange for killing a bill. 

Though Cope names names, committee members did not identify either the legislator or the lobbyist, and neither they nor Attorney General Roy Cooper's office would confirm if the SBI was investigating.

Cope argued that the allegations over the House bill raise questions about fixes to the State Health Plan signed into law by Gov. Beverly Perdue, since the insurance company was consulted by legislators about the State Health Plan fix.

"It seems inconceivable to me that anyone would have faith in in the vote on that bill after recent events," Cope said in the letter.

He asked for Hackney to order the House to reconsider the State Health Plan bill.