Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – May 23, 2011
As we arrived for the Monday night session last week in the House of Representatives, we noticed many visitors in the gallery wearing red shirts. We knew from months of experience with the issue of annexation that they were representatives of various groups against forced annexation. They had been present the previous Thursday when we voted on second reading of House Bill 845 – Annexation Reform Act of 2011. Monday was the third reading and final House vote. The bill passed 107 – 9 and will now go to the Senate. There was applause from the gallery after the vote and the Speaker used his gavel to call the House back to order.
A criminal justice bill, House Bill 673 – Street Gang Nuisance Abatement, came before us for two votes on Tuesday and Wednesday. It passed 117 – 0 each time. This bill will declare as a public nuisance a residence or other real property used for gang activity. A street gang that engages in certain gang activities can also be declared a public nuisance, and an individual can be ordered by a court to cease street gang activities.
Two bills affecting voting rights came to the House floor last week. House Bill 514 -Uniform Military and Overseas Voters Act brings North Carolina into line with new federal guidelines that should make it easier for our military stationed overseas to get their ballots in on time. It passed 118 – 0. House Bill 658 – Change Early Voting Period was not received so unanimously, passing by a 60 – 58 margin. This bill shortens the early voting period by a week, from 17 days to 10. While in most elections, very few people vote the first week, the voters are getting more used to the time period. The idea behind the bill was to save money at a rate of $2000 per voting site per day, and to require less money in campaigns. The bill got several hours of heated debate before passing.
Changes to the state health for state employees and retirees have been the subject of several bills, going back and forth from the House to the Senate and the Governor. House Bill 578 – State Health Plan/Additional Changes is the latest. This bill makes the basic 70/30 plan free while the 80/20 plan has a charge to the employee or retiree. It passed 90 – 24 and was sent to the Governor. It is expected she will not veto this version.
As for the budget, the Senate is still working on their version and is expected to have it completed by next week. The bill may be on line for public viewing over the weekend just as the House version was. They are completing their work very quickly. I recall that after I had joined the House on June 18th of 2009, we worked on the budget until early August of that year. After the Senate finishes their budget, we will still have to work out differences between the House and Senate budgets before the final votes.