Legislative Update from Rep. Frank Iler – March 25, 2013
Last Monday, the legislature, both the House and Senate, met in the old Capitol building, two blocks from the legislative building. The occasion was the tenth anniversary of the recovery of North Carolina’s copy of the original Bill of Rights. Most people don’t know that North Carolina refused to ratify the U.S. Constitution until the Bill of Rights was included. George Washington sent a copy of the proposed Bill of Rights to each of the thirteen colonies for their ratification, or approval. North Carolina’s copy was housed in the old Capitol building until the civil war, when one of Sherman’s Union soldiers, camped on the Capitol grounds, stole it and took it home. After being hidden, there were several attempts to sell it over the years. On March 18, 2003, as it was being offered for sale in Philadelphia, North Carolina’s Bill of Rights was seized by federal authorities in a joint federal and state operation. So, Monday night was the tenth anniversary of the recovery of our copy of the Bill of Rights. It is now housed in the NC Museum of History and is valued at around $30 million.
Our other House sessions were taken up with bills concerning habitual DWI penalties, tanning bed regulations, local zoning issues, home schooling definitions, charter school enrollment policies, substitute teacher pay, and many others. They were not highly controversial, and most passed the House with over 100 votes of the 120 members. The zoning bill had the most debate, but passed by 98 – 18 with a bi-partisan vote.
Wednesday we voted for the UNC Board of Governors. There was much debate about the process, but the vote to select 8 from a group of 14 candidates went smoothly. However, it was discovered when the journal was reviewed for accuracy that a miscount had occurred. On Thursday it was necessary to reconsider the vote, recount, and confirm the new totals, which changed the eighth position. It was an unfortunate error, but the process allowed for it to be corrected in a timely manner.
Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were filled with committee meetings. In my case this included Education, Transportation, Environment, and several Appropriations meetings. In the Transportation Committee, which I chair, we have considered two very controversial bills. One deals with motorcycle helmets, and the other with school bus speed limits. We have discussed them thoroughly, but have not yet passed them out of committee.
Early Thursday we were called to a Joint Appropriations Committee meeting with the House and Senate members meeting together to hear a presentation of Governor McCrory’s budget. For two hours we heard an outline of what he is proposing. It contains expenditures of approximately $20.6 billion per year for the next two years, July 1, 2013 – June 30, 2015. It has no new taxes, raises teacher pay, state employee pay, and retiree cost of living adjustment (COLA) by 1%, and requires all departments to seek efficiencies in cost of 3 to 5%.
The budget is a work in progress. It will be analyzed, changed, and rewritten by the Senate first, and then the House. The process could take up to two months, so there may be many adjustments before the final budget bill is agreed to by the House and Senate and sent to the Governor for his signature.