“However, in spite of added expense and bureaucracy, the Republican bill (NC Health Care for Working Families) has the best chance of achieving a bipartisan compromise — if Republican majorities in our state Senate and House will move it through the legislative process.”
The North Carolina General Assembly has begun its end-of-session wrestling to reconcile Gov. Pat McCrory’s $20.6 billion budget for fiscal year 2013-2014 and the Senate’s own $20.58 plan and priorities. Meanwhile, some of the nearly 600 bills still alive after crossover are filtering through Statehouse committees.
Rich Ducker calls Senate Bill 612 “a real Christmas tree of a bill – all sorts of things hung on it.” But the biggest issue, says the public law and government specialist, may be a “sleeper issue to some people.” And that’s language that could prevent local environmental ordinances that are any more stringent than state law—something that would likely do away with Buncombe County’s steep-slope ordinance and other regionally specific rules.
According to a March 14 list compiled by Guns & Ammo magazine, North Carolina ranks 17th in the “Best States for Gun Owners in 2013.” That’s higher than neighbors Tennessee (23) and Virginia (24) but beneath South Carolina (14) and Georgia (13). New legislation currently before the General Assembly, however, could nudge the state out of the middle of that pack.
Citizen access to the legislative process in the state has taken a solid step forward via new features on the N.C. General Assembly website, and Buncombe County legislators are taking solid steps forward in the Statehouse itself. Meanwhile, in recent legislative action, Doc Watson and Ruth and Billy Graham are proposed for native accolades.
The N.C. General Assembly has stirred up some high-profile controversies during the first few weeks of its 2013-2014 long session. Meanwhile, with much less fanfare, several important bipartisan bills also found their way forward in the opening weeks. One is an ambitious attempt to establish a Public Infrastructure Oversight Commission.
Released mid-evening, July 12, the new House districts proposed by GOP-led N.C. Redistricting Committee isolate Asheville as its own district, which could pit the two local Democrat delegates — Rep. Susan Fisher (currently representing District 114) and Rep. Patsy Keever (currently representing the 115th) — against each other and make it easier for a Republican to win the 115th. Under the proposal, the new District 115 would omit Asheville and be made up mostly of east Buncombe County. The new 116th House District, currently represented by Republican Tim Moffitt, would cover the entire western half of Buncombe County.
While the all-important $19.7 billion state budget labored its way through the General Assembly en route to Gov. Bev Perdue’s historic June 12 veto (the first time a North Carolina governor has ever rejected a budget), legislators also pushed a number of other bills along the Statehouse corridors toward the June 9 crossover deadline (after […]
The new Republican majority in the state Legislature came ready to play on Jan. 26, the first day of the 2011 session, immediately introducing bills to forbid contraints on “health care freedom” and to amend the state constitution to prohibit the use of eminent domain for economic development. Sen. Tom Apodaca of Hendersonville, representing the […]
The North Carolina General Assembly continued to claim the spotlight last week as Republicans took control of both the House and Senate for the first time in more than a century. In a series of articles, the Asheville Citizen-Times reported "Statehouse Power Shift to Usher in Changes." Republicans "appear poised to lift the cap on […]
New faces in leadership positions and new initiatives on the legislative agenda were the highlights of the N.C. General Assembly’s first week of the 2011-12 session. Involuntary annexation, a federal health care rebuff, and use of eminent domain were among the first bills out of the gate.
The new Republican majority in the North Carolina General Assembly came ready to play on the first day of the 2011 session yesterday, Jan. 26, with WNC legislators in the starting lineup. Sen. Tom Apodaca (R) of Hendersonville even changed the traditional rules of the game.
