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Work has begun in earnest at the General Assembly, with a host of new bills being introduced, committee meetings taking place, and some bills actually moving through the legislative process. This issue of Raleigh Report will be given over entirely to a summary of several of these new bills. They are arranged by category.

CAMPAIGN AND ELECTION LAWS

S 353, Presidential Electors by District, would eliminate the winner-take-all nature of the state’s electoral votes for President. Under S 353, two electors would be chosen based on the statewide vote for President. The others would be elected from each congressional district, based on the vote in that district. (Introduced by Sen. Doug Berger; assigned to Senate Judiciary I Comm.)

S 418, Chapel Hill Campaign Finance Options, would permit the town of Chapel Hill to use public funds for campaigns for town offices. (Introduced by Sen. Kinnaird; assigned to Senate Judiciary I Comm)

H 465, Carrboro Campaign Regulation, would permit the town of Carrboro to limit the amount of contributions that can be made to campaigns for town office. (Introduced by Rep. Insko; not yet assigned to committee.)

CHILDREN AND FAMILIES

S 250/H 320, T.E.A.C.H. Funds, would allocate $1.3 million in FY ’07-’08 to provide child care workers with higher education through the community college system and the UNC system. (Introduced by Sen. Purcell and Reps. Insko, Tolson, England and McLawhorn; assigned to Senate and House Appropriations Comms.)

S 251/H 365, Smart Start Funds, would allocate $44.7 million for FY ’07-’08 for statewide early childhood initiatives. (Introduced by Sen. Purcell and Rep. Alexander; assigned to Senate and House Appropriations.)

CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND DEATH PENALTY

S 311, Increase Penalty/Felon with Firearm. Current law makes it illegal for a convicted felon to possess a firearm. S 311 would increase the level of punishment by one step (from Class G felony to Class F). (Introduced by Sen. Phil Berger; assigned to Senate Judiciary I Committee.)

S 348/H 468, Expansion of Drug/Alcohol Treatment/Funds, would allocate $240,000 in each year of the biennium to increase the capacity of the prison system to treat male inmates with chemical dependency. (Introduced by Sen. Weinstein and Rep. Sutton; S 348 assigned to Senate Appropriations, H 468 not yet assigned.)

H 314, Waive Community College Tuition for Ex-Offenders. Current law waives tuition for juvenile offenders and prison inmates during their time of commitment/incarceration. H 314 would extend the tuition waiver for the first three years after their release. (Introduced by Reps. Womble, Parmon, Jones; assigned to House Education Comm.)

H 341, Proportionality Review. The law requires the state Supreme Court, in reviewing death penalty cases, to consider other similar cases to determine if the penalty is disproportionate. H 341 would require that review to include factually similar murder cases with a death sentence and with a life sentence. (Introduced by Reps. Glazier, Wainwright, Earle, Parmon; assigned to House Judiciary I Comm.)

H 442, Execution/Physician Assistance Authorized, is identical to S 114. See Raleigh Report, February 19. (Introduced by Reps. Moore, Hilton, Current, and Stam; not yet assigned to a committee.)

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

S 229, Murder/Violation of Protective Order, would give a life sentence without parole to someone who is under a domestic violence protective order and then murders the person protected by the order. (Introduced by Sen. Boseman; assigned to Senate Judiciary I Comm.)

EDUCATION

S 329, At-Risk African-American Students Research Consortium, would allocate $500,000 to create a research program at Fayetteville State University. It would study drop-out rates, suspension rates, graduation rates, assignment policies, and college-attendance rates of African Americans and other racial and ethnic groups. (Introduced by Sen. Shaw; assigned to Senate Education Comm.)

S 469, Additional Resources/Low-Performing Schools, would allocate $100 million from lottery revenues to provide additional resources to the 19 low-performing high schools from the Leandro case. (Introduced by Sen. Shaw; not yet assigned to a committee.)

H 252/H 416, Remove Cap on the Number of Charter Schools. The current cap is 100 charter schools statewide, with no more than 5 per school district. (Introduced by Reps. Allred and Hilton and Aliva; assigned to House Education Comm.)

H 421, Tax Fairness in Education, would give a tax credit of up to $1,250 per child per semester for children who are in private schools or home schools. The bill would also authorize counties to pay parents and guardians up to $500 per child per year for education in nonpublic schools. (Introduced by Reps. Stam and McComas; assigned to House Education Comm.)

H 430, Tax Credit—Nonpublic School Student, would give tax credits equal to 1) $200 per month per student who is home schooled, 2) the amount given for charter school construction by the parents of children in charter schools, or 3) tuition paid for students in private schools, up to 50% of what the school district spends per student in the public schools. The credit would be available only for children living in school districts where attendance has increased by at least 20% over a ten-year period. (Introduced by Rep. Blackwood; assigned to House Education Comm.)

H 452, Dropout Study, would establish a study committee on high school dropout rates, raising the compulsory attendance age, and lowering dropout rates. (Introduced by Reps. Parmon and Wright; not yet assigned to a committee.)

ENVIRONMENT

S 215, Litter Reduction Act of 2007, would reduce litter and encourage recycling by establishing a deposit system for beverage bottles and cans. The program would be run by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources. All beverage containers would have a refund value of 10¢. Any category of container which does not have a return rate of 75% would have an increased refund rate. Consumers could get their refund back by taking their containers to certified redemption centers or nonprofit drop-off programs. Curbside pickup programs would get the deposit refund, not the consumer. Money paid in for deposits and not paid back out in refunds (i.e., deposits on containers that are not recycled) would be used by DENR for litter programs, to encourage recycling, as incentive payments for redemption centers in underserved areas, and for education about littering. (Introduced by Sen. Doug Berger; assigned to Senate Commerce Comm.)

H 275, Extend Moratorium on Swine Farms, would extend to 2010 the current ban on construction or expansion of hog farms and hog waste lagoons. (Introduced by Rep. Hill; assigned to House Agriculture Comm.)

H 329, Advance Hydrogen Economy, is a House resolution encouraging the state to support the development of hydrogen as a fuel source. (Introduced by Reps. Ray, Howard, and Steen; assigned to House Rules Comm.)

H 332, Funds/Farmland Preservation Trust Fund, would allocate $10 million to acquire agricultural conservation easement or for the preservation of farmland. (Introduced by Rep. Harrison; assigned to House Appropriations Comm.)

GUN VIOLENCE

H 310, No Seizure of Lawful Firearms in Emergency, would prohibit the seizure of lawfully possessed firearms and ammunition in a declared state of emergency or during riots or civil disorders. In addition, it would allow a person to carry firearms and ammunition off his/her property during in a declared state of emergency, something currently prohibited by the law. (Introduced by Reps. Cleveland, Hilton, Moore; assigned to House Judiciary II Comm.)

HEALTH CARE

S 213, Phase Out Medicaid County Share. Similar to H 57. See Raleigh Report, Feb. 5. (Introduced by Sen. Brock; assigned to House Appropriations Comm.)

S 243, DHHS/Office of Men’s Health, would establish such an office. (Introduced by Sen. Forrester; assigned to Senate Health Care Comm.)

S 249, Public Health Funds/Aid to Counties. Similar to H 125. See Raleigh Report, February 19. (Introduced by Sen. Purcell; assigned to Senate Appropriations Comm.)

S 305/H 256, Funds/Breast & Cervical Cancer Control Program, allocate $2.2 million in FY ’07-’08 to provide screenings for an additional 8,000 women. (Introduced by Sen. Purcell and Rep. Coleman; assigned to Senate Appropriations Comm. and House Health Comm.)

S 321, Repeal Prior Act/Chiropractor Payments. The basis for former Speaker Black’s federal guilty plea was accepting money from three chiropractors at the same time he was inserting a provision in the law which requires insurers to treat chiropractors as primary care physicians for purposes of co-payments. S 321 would repeal that provision. (Introduced by Sen. Foriest; assigned to Senate Commerce Comm.)

S 401/H 362, Funds for Women’s Health Services, would allocate $460,000 in each year of the biennium for family planning for women not covered by insurance or Medicaid. (Introduced by Sen. Purcell and Rep. Insko; assigned to House Appropriations Comm.)

H 259, Prohibit Smoking in Public Places and Places of Employment. Exceptions would include:

· Private residences, unless used for child or adult care services.

· Retail tobacco shops

· Tobacco manufacturing or processing facilities

· Smoking rooms in a hotel or other lodging, with a maximum of 20% of the rooms so designated

· Private clubs

· Bars and other age-restricted alcohol sales places

· Facilities conducting research on smoking, to the extent necessary for the research.

(Introduced by Rep. Holliman; assigned to House Judiciary I Comm.)

H 265, Establish High-Risk Pool. Similar to S 163 and S 177. See Raleigh Report, Feb. 19. H 265 would set high-risk pool rates at 175% of the individual standard rates, and it would permit someone who has insurance coverage but at a rate higher than the pool rate to shift to pool coverage. (Introduced by Rep. Insko; assigned to House Health Comm.)

H 322, Funds for Healthy Start Foundation, is identical to S 129. See Raleigh Report, Feb. 19. (Introduced by Rep. Insko; assigned to House Appropriations Comm.)

Several bills have been introduced by Rep. Wright to allocate funds for various health-related needs. All except H 335 and 336 are in House Appropriations. Those two have gone first to House Health. The bills include:

H 334, Funds for Infant Mortality Prevention. $300,000, to reduce the number of preterm births.

H 335, Health Disparities Initiatives. $3 million in each year of the biennium. This program works to close the gap in the health status of African Americans, Latinos, and American Indians as compared to Caucasians in the areas of infant mortality, HIV/AIDS and sexually transmitted infections, cancer, diabetes, homicides, and motor vehicle deaths.

H 336, Funds for Interpreter Services. $5 million in each year of the biennium to hire interpreters for local health departments, to hire bilingual staff, or to train interpreters.

H 337, Medicaid Reimbursement Levels/Dentists, would reimburse dentists at the same reimbursement rate applied to providers of medical services.

H 338, Funds for SIDS Efforts. $300,000 for each year of the biennium to strengthen efforts to reduce Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and for a safe-sleep campaign.

H 339, Funds for Diabetes Education. $165,000 for each year of the biennium.

H 340, Funds for Diabetes Prevention. $1 million in each year of the biennium, with an emphasis on populations especially affected by diabetes.

H 347, Local Government Regulation of Smoking, is identical to S 124. See Raleigh Report, February 19. (Introduced by Reps. Alexander and Glazier; assigned to House Judiciary I.)

H 400, Funds for Harm Reduction Programs, would allocate $550,000 for each year of the biennium for three harm reduction programs as part of a comprehensive Hepatitis C and HIV disease prevention program. Provided services would include access to sterile syringes and referrals for housing and medical care. (Introduced by Reps. Wright, Harrison, Adams, Fisher; assigned to House Appropriations Comm.)

H 451, Joint Study Complementary/Alternative Medicine, would establish a study commission to look at types of complementary and alternative health care available in NC, ways to facilitate access, and whether mandatory licensure is needed. (Introduced by Rep. Parmon; not yet assigned to a committee.)

HOUSING

S 334, Fair Housing Act Amendment. Current law prohibits discrimination in housing based on race, color, religion, sex, national origin, handicapping condition or familial status. S 334 would add receipt of housing assistance to the list. (Introduced by Sen. Kinnaird; assigned to Senate Commerce Comm.)

S 459, Housing Trust Fund Appropriation, is identical to H 182. See Raleigh Report, February 19. (Introduced by Sen. Hoyle; not yet assigned to a committee.)

HUMAN RIGHTS

H 291, Sudan (Darfur) Divestment Act, sets up a process which could lead to divestment of the state’s investments in companies doing business in Sudan. The bill begins with an impressive list of findings that what is going on in the Darfur region of Sudan is genocide. (Introduced by Rep. Luebke; assigned to House Finance Comm.)

H 296, Sterilization Compensation, would allocate almost $173 million to make $50,000 payments to each person who was sterilized through the state’s eugenic sterilization program, which operated from 1929 to 1975. The bill also calls for a study of the cost of providing health care, counseling, and educational assistance to those who were sterilized. (Introduced by Reps. Womble, Parmon, Jones, & Adams; assigned to House Appropriations Comm.)

H 298, State Contracts/Slavery Profits, would require any company contracting with the state to search their records and disclose any evidence of participating in or profiting from slavery. (Introduced by Rep. Womble; assigned to House Commerce Comm.)

IMMIGRATION

S 298, Require Passport for Drivers License, would require a noncitizen to show a passport from his/her home country and proof that s/he is in the US legally in order to get a driver’s license. Current law requires someone to have a valid visa issued by the US government. Documents issued by other countries which could be used to show residency are already not acceptable for getting a driver’s license. (Introduced by Sen. Pittenger; assigned to Senate Transportation Comm.)

S 405, Reduce Number of Illegal Aliens in Jails, would require jailors to identify detainees that are undocumented immigrants and request that the federal government take them into custody. It would also require the governor to “demand” that the federal government designated facilities for their detention and “demand” that the federal government reimburse the state if such facilities are not available. (Introduced by Sen. Blake; assigned to Senate Judiciary I Comm.)

H 308, State Contracts/Illegal Immigrants, would prohibit the state from contracting with anyone for construction services, repair work, or purchases if that contractor knowingly employs undocumented immigrants. Contractors would be required to verify their employees’ legal status or authorization to work in the US and certify to the state that they had done so. A companion bill, H 309, would require similar certification of contracted employees of state or local governments. (Introduced by Rep. Cleveland; assigned to Senate Judiciary II Comm.)

H 409, No In-State Tuition if Unlawfully in US, spells out that in-state tuition is not available to students in the UNC system or the community colleges unless they are in the country with legal status. (Introduced by Rep. Cleveland; assigned to House Education Comm.)

H 422, Ensure Compliance with Real ID Act of 2005, would require a noncitizen to present a valid passport and documentation showing legal presence in the US to get a driver’s license. (Introduced by Rep. Boylan; assigned to House Homeland Security Comm.)

LONG-TERM CARE

S 355, Reenact and Expand Long-Term Care Credit. Similar to H 144, with the increase in maximum credit but not in the percentage of premiums which can be claimed. (Introduced by Sen. Boseman; assigned to Senate Finance.)

LOTTERY

H 342, Lottery School Capital Fund Formula, is identical to S 2. See Raleigh Report, Feb. 5. (Introduced by Rep. Allred; assigned to House Rules Comm.)

H 437, Tax on Lottery Winnings/Community College Equipment, would require that the income tax withheld by the Lottery Commission for certain big winners be used for community college equipment. (Introduced by Reps. Yongue, Tolson, Jeffus; assigned to House Appropriations Comm.)

H 461, Lottery Advertising Compliance Act, would prohibit lottery advertising connected to high school or collegiate sports. (Introduced by Reps. Folwell, Harrison, Hurley, and Pierce; not yet assigned to a committee.)

PEOPLE WITH SPECIAL NEEDS

S 248, Funds for Special Olympics, is identical to H 241. See Raleigh Report, Feb. 19. (Introduced by Sen. Purcell; assigned to Senate Appropriations Comm.)

H 388, Tax Credit for Children with Special Needs, would give a refundable tax credit of up to $3,000 for children with special needs who receive special education and related services outside the regular classroom. It also authorizes counties to appropriate up to $500 per child to persons who would be eligible for this education tax credit. (Introduced by Reps. Glazier, Lucas, Stam, and Wiley; assigned to House Education Comm.)

TAXES

S 357, Corporate Income Tax Exemption, would grant a exemption to corporation with no more than $200,000 of state income. Corporations with no more than $100,000 in net income could exempt $25,000 from income taxation. Those with incomes between $100,000 and $200,000 could exempt $12,500. (Introduced by Sen. Smith; assigned to Senate Finance Comm.)

MISCELLANEOUS

S 306, Food Bank Funds, would allocate $1 million to six food banks. (Introduced by Sen. Purcell; assigned to Senate Appropriations Comm.)

S 312, Session Limits, would amend the state constitution to limit the length of legislative sessions to 90 calendar days in odd-numbered years (the long session) and 45 days in even-numbered years (the short session). A session could be extended one time, by ten days, if both houses agree. The bill would also permit a one- or two-day organizational meeting that would not count against the 90-day limit. (Introduced by Sen. Phil Berger; assigned to Senate Ways & Means Comm.)

S 444, Alternate Budget Origination. It is customary for the state’s budget to be introduced by the House and Senate in alternating bienniums. S 444 would codify this custom. (Introduced by Sen. Rand; assigned to Senate State & Local Govt. Comm.)

H 253, Ban Mobile Phone Use on School Buses. Identical to H 183. See Raleigh Report, Feb. 19. (Introduced by Reps. Lucas, Carney, Bell, Coates; assigned to House Education Comm.)