Legislative Updates

Everyone who read the newspapers and other media outlets last week saw that the biggest topic in Raleigh was Voter ID.  We had public hearings in the House Elections Committee for over four hours on Tuesday.  We also had hearings on Wednesday featuring a panel of experts.  The committee members, including myself, got to ask…

The weather is supposed to warm up in Raleigh, as well as here in Brunswick County.  The political activity in Raleigh is definitely heating up.  Over 150 new bills were filed last week in the House and Senate, and several issues that seemed to be lukewarm started to boil. The week began Monday night with…

This past week was “Education Week” in the General Assembly.  On my way to Raleigh Monday, I was privileged to attend a meeting at River Landing in Wallace called by the Superintendents of Schools of southeastern North Carolina.  We had about ten superintendents and seven legislators in a round table format for us to hear…

Last week in the General Assembly was highlighted by the first State of the State address by Governor Pat McCrory.  On Monday night the Senate and House came together for a joint session to welcome the governor at 7:00 o’clock.  The N.C. Supreme Court justices, the cabinet members, and the Council of State members all…

The second full week of the General Assembly’s 2013 session began quietly last Monday with a no-vote session.  These sessions are lightly attended, but many of us had committee meetings early Tuesday morning and attended anyway. Tuesday morning we began a series of joint budget meetings with House and Senate members meeting together.  Each Tuesday,…

The first full week of business in the General Assembly started Monday night in our 7:00 p.m. House session.  The session stretched to 10:00 p.m. with over two hours of debate on House Bill 4 -UI Fund Solvency & Program Changes, the unemployment insurance bill.  There were six amendments offered and all failed to pass. …

As mentioned last week, we were scheduled to convene at 12:00 noon last Wednesday to being the real work of the 2013 session in the House and Senate.  We did convene on schedule and then adjourned quickly after the introduction of two bills on which we wanted to take immediate action.  They were the Unemployment…

This last week before we go into full session for 2013 could easily be summed up as “the calm before the storm.”  After meeting all month with various groups and individuals, there was a lull early in the week.  However, the e-mails and phone calls requiring answers kept coming.  There was no shortage of advice…

The 2013 session of the NC Legislature is off to a fast start.  After being sworn in on January 9th and planning to reconvene on January 30th, many people may have assumed we have three weeks off.  As it turns out, that’s not exactly the way it works.  This past few weeks has proven that…

The first week in the General Assembly was interesting, predictable, and mostly ceremonial. The returning Representatives and Senators were joined by many new legislators, known informally as freshmen.  In the 120 member House of Representatives we have over 40 freshmen who took the oath of office Wednesday, along with the senior members, to form the…