- N.C. House budget rollout delayed
- Jessica Lunsford's father wants stronger N.C. child molester laws
- House, Senate choose appointees to community college board
- Bill widening anti-tobacco policies in public schools approved by House committee
THE BRIEF:
BUDGET DELAYED: House Democratic leaders say the budget won't roll out as early as they had hoped. They had wanted to bring out the House's spending plan for the next two years Monday. Now House Speaker Joe Hackney said that won't happen in part because Democrats didn't want to rush and they would like another update on state tax figures after the April filing deadline. The senior budget-writer, Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham, said it's unclear whether they'll vote on a budget later next week or the following week. The House and Senate are working to finalize and vote on a final budget before the current fiscal year ends June 30.
FATHER'S MISSION: The father of a 9-year-old girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in Florida urged lawmakers in North Carolina - the state of her birth - to approve tougher penalties for child molesters. Mark Lunsford, whose daughter Jessica was born during the two decades he lived in Gaston County, urged support of a bill that would lengthen minimum prison sentences and require child molesters be electronically monitored for life after serving their sentences. "The system has failed me and our children, not just in Florida but across the country," said Lunsford, who has lobbied for similar laws in about 20 states.
COLLEGE CHIEFS: G. Thomas Houlihan of Oxford, senior education adviser to former Gov. James Hunt Jr., was chosen by the House to serve on the 21-member State Board of Community Colleges. Current board member Gordon "Buddy" Greenwood of Asheville was unanimously chosen by the Senate to serve another term. The Senate considered no other candidates but Greenwood, president of the Bank of Asheville, while the House chose Houlihan - a longtime educator, school administrator and consultant - from a slate of three.
TOBACCO-FREE SCHOOLS: A House committee approved a bill requiring all public school districts to adopt policies banning the use of any tobacco products by anyone at any public school building or campus. The bill also would ban tobacco use at off-campus school-sponsored events, even by parents while in the presence of students or teachers. The current law already directed local school boards to adopt no-smoking policies but largely in buildings where students used. Eighty-four of the 115 districts already have adopted a 100 percent tobacco-free school policy. Leanne Winner, a lobbyist for the N.C. School Boards Association, said her group had concerns with the bill because it removes any flexibility to make exceptions for certain school employees who wish to smoke away from children.
WEDNESDAY'S SCORECARD:
In the House:
- H105, to increase penalties for some types of grave desecration, and H107, to clarify laws and legal definitions relating to abandoned cemeteries. Passed 115-0 and 116-0 respectively. Next: To the Senate.
In the Senate:
- H406, to adopt the Ayden Collard Festival the state's official collard festival. Approved 47-1. Next: To Gov. Mike Easley's desk.
- S1058, to ban the obtaining, selling or soliciting of someone's phone records from a phone company without the person's consent. Approved 48-0. Next: To the House.
In the committees:
- H1562, to make it a misdemeanor for a parent to leave 8 years old or less unattended in car when the engine is running or condition are present to risk the child's health or safety. Recommended by House Children, Youth and Families Committee. Next: To the Judiciary III Committee.
AROUND THE STATEHOUSE:
- Representatives of groups interested in protecting North Carolina's natural resources visited lawmakers on a day of intensive lobbying organized by Land for Tomorrow. The coalition of nature, hiking, park and other groups and local governments wants the General Assembly to provide $1 billion over five years in bond funding for conservation projects.
ON THE AGENDA:
Thursday: A Senate committee is due to look at a bill that would amend several sections of the law to clarify public access to state personnel records. The measure, sponsored by longtime open government proponent Sen. David Hoyle, D-Gaston, aims to negate the impact of an August 2005 ruling by the state Court of Appeals. The court said The Charlotte Observer could not demand information about bonuses and other non-salary compensation paid to some employees of Carolinas Healthcare System.
OVERHEARD:
"We put people in prison for back child support and we release those that harm our children. It's confusing to me. It's baffling and it's wrong." - Mark Lunsford, the father of Jessica Lunsford, the 9-year-old Florida girl who was kidnapped, raped and murdered in 2005. Lunsford was at the Legislative Building pushing for a law that would require minimum 25-year sentences for sex offenders who hurt children.
