Raleigh Report – April 4, 2011

• Campaign Finance and Elections Law
• Children and Youth
• Criminal Justice
• Creation Care
• Health and Healthcare
• Human Rights
• Immigration
• Labor
• Miscellaneous Bills
• Update on Bills Introduced Earlier

So Many Bad Bills; So Little Time

The drumbeat of bad bills continues. Among those which have been introduced and have a chance of passage, those which are actually moving in the General Assembly, and those expected to be introduced shortly are bills which would do the following:
• Eliminate public financing of elections in NC
• Reject federal money for high-speed rail
• Refuse to recognize a photo ID card issued by the Mexican government.
• Require a photo ID to vote.
• Give insurers and other business interests control over the implementation of federal healthcare reform in NC, to the exclusion of people whose primary concern is the uninsured.
• Make it easier to get guns and allow people to bring concealed guns into restaurants where alcohol is served.
• Exclude undocumented students from higher education and punish undocumented immigrants in a variety of other ways.
• Permit utilities to cut down trees, burn them to produce electricity, and then call it renewable energy.
• Weaken environmental laws, regulations, and regulatory agency.
• Give carte blanche to big power companies to raise rates without public review in order to build nuclear power plants which banks and other investors are not willing to bankroll.
• Threaten the rights of injured workers to medical care through the Workers’ Compensation system.
• Amend the state constitution to define marriage.

I could go on, and I haven’t even mentioned the budget. Also, I apologize if I’ve not listed your most important issue. Suffice it to say that it’s a tough year for those of us who have advocated for public policy decisions promoting social justice, protecting vulnerable people, and caring for God’s creation. We can’t respond to every bad idea or bad bill. On many of these issues, we feel like we are butting our heads against a wall. Our tendency may be to throw up our hands in despair.

But we must not give up. Consider the following steps:
• Settle on the issues and bills that are most important to you. Don’t let yourself be dragged into doing nothing simply because you can’t do everything.
• Find a group of allies, either in your congregation or through an organization you are in agreement with. You will strengthen your work, and you will not feel so much like the Lone Ranger (or Don Quixote).
• Continue to communicate respectfully with your legislators on your issue(s), even if they are clearly on the other side from you. Be sure to let them know how your faith informs your work on this issue.
• Continue to communicate respectfully with the Governor on your issue(s). On several of these bad bills, her veto pen is our primary hope. Pay attention to vetoes, and encourage your legislators, if they are on your side of the issue, to uphold the Governor’s veto.
• Recognize small steps of improvement in legislation. It may be possible to make some bills a little less bad. That’s not much comfort, but it may be the best we can work for on some issues.
• If a bad bill is going to impact you or your family directly, seek ways to tell your story. A long-time advocate and friend of the Council recently got front-page coverage of what the loss of adult daycare services would mean for her and her elderly mother.
• Remember Dr. King’s profound observation that “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” We have tended to focus on the part about bending toward justice. Today we need to remember that the arc is long. We need look no farther that the struggle for racial justice to remind ourselves not only that the arc is long and but also that it is a series of advances and setback, not a smooth arc.
• And remember the admonition of the Old Testament prophet, speaking for God, that we are to do justice.

Newly Introduced Bills

H 430, Repeal Bilingual Ballot Instruction Statute
Introducer: Rep. Cleveland
Status: House Elections
Current law requires ballots to be printed in English and Spanish in counties and cities where the Hispanic population is more than 6%. H 430 would repeal this requirement.

H 452, Eliminate “Instant Runoff”/Public Financing
Introducer: Rep. Starnes
Status: House Elections
Current law sets up a system of “instant runoff” for elections where a judicial office has become vacant too close to an election to have a primary. Under instant runoff, voters can rank their top three candidates. If no candidate receives a majority (more than 50%) of the “first-place” votes, there is a process for using the second- and third-place votes to determine a winner. H 452 would eliminate instant runoffs and instead give the election to the candidate with a plurality (i.e., more votes than anybody else). In an election with several candidates, the winner could have far fewer than 50% of the votes.

More troubling, H 452 would eliminate public financing of elections in NC. Currently candidates for the Court of Appeals, Supreme Court, Auditor, Insurance Commissioner, and Superintendent of Public Instruction may (they don’t have to) run using public funding and rejecting large contributions from individuals. H 452 would eliminate this effort to reduce the harmful effects of big money on the electoral process and return us to the “good ole days” when attorneys made political contributions to judges before whom they may argue cases and insurance agents and executives made political contributions to the person charged with regulating the insurance industry.

S 411, Vote for the Person, Not the Party Act
Introducers: Sens. Newton, Meredith, and Brown
Status: Senate Judiciary I
S 411 would eliminate straight-party ticket voting in North Carolina.

S 419, Campaign Finance and Regulatory Reforms
Introducer: Sen. Davis
Status: Senate Judiciary I
S 419 repeals public funding for elections in North Carolina. (See H 452, above.) The bill also sets a limit on the amount which can be given to national, state, or local political parties, but that limit is $250,000 per election. “Election” is already defined to mean any general or special election, first or second primary, or run-off election, and “political party” is already defined to make it very difficult for any party other than the Democratic and Republican parties to qualify.

S 389, Transfer Child Nutrition Program to Ag Department
Introducers: Sens. East, Rouzer, and Apodaca
Status: Senate Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources
S 389 would transfer the Child Nutrition Program and Child Nutrition Services (which oversee school lunches, breakfasts, after-school snacks, vending machines, etc.) from the Department of Public Instruction to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services.

S 415, Eliminate Cost of Reduced Price School Meals
Introducer: Sen. Purcell
Status: Senate Appropriations/Base Budget
S 415 would eliminate any cost for reduced price meals for students who quality for them.

H 483, DNA Sample/Additional Felonies
Introducers: Reps. Burr, Prigden, and Ingle
Status: House Judiciary Subcommittee B
H 483 expands the list of criminal offenses for which a DNA sample will be taken upon arrest (not upon conviction). Among the added offenses are assault on handicapped person, patient abuse and neglect, discharging weapons under certain circumstances, common law robbery, dissemination of obscene material to minors, selling or giving weapons to minors, child abuse, abandonment of a child, and trafficking in a controlled substance.

H 399, Cap Motor Fuel Excise Tax Rate
Introducers: Reps. McElraft, Killian, Hager, and Stone
Status: House Finance
Currently the motor fuel tax rate is made up of a fixed 17½¢ per gallon, plus 7% of the wholesale price. H 399 would cap the variable part at 15¢ per gallon. Although this may feel like a welcome respite during this time of rising gas prices, it will reduce revenue to the state and limit the impact of prices in tamping down fuel consumption and the accompanying environmental impacts.

H 422, No High-Speed Rail Money from Federal Government
Introducers: Reps. Killian, Frye, and Shepard
Status: House Transportation
H 422 prohibits North Carolina’s Department of Transportation from applying for, accepting, or spending any money from the federal government for high-speed rail projects unless specifically authorized by the General Assembly. The state is currently applying for money for high-speed rail between Raleigh and Charlotte, a project which would create thousands of new jobs (this legislative session is all about creating jobs, right?) and would reduce the environmental impact of making the trip by car.

H 431, Repeal Senate Bill 3 of the 2007 Session
Introducer: Rep. Cleveland
Status: House Public Utilities
S 3 was compromise legislation worked out after long negotiations involving power companies and environmentalists. It established a “renewable portfolio” standard which requires power companies to generate certain percentages of their electricity from renewable sources and from energy efficiency. While those percentages are not impressively high, S 3 did build in incremental improvements. The law also included construction work in progress (CWIP), permitting power companies to pass along construction costs of new plants to rate payers if approved through a public review process. (We are expecting the introduction of legislation, being referred to as Super CWIP, which would eliminate the public review process and enable big utilities to pass along their construction costs unfettered by pesky regulators or the public. If you have been hearing about Super CWIP, note that that expected new legislation is different from this bill.) In addition, S 3 allowed a tax credit to contributors for 501(c)(3) organizations (churches and other charitable groups) for renewable energy property.
H 431 would repeal all of S 3.

H 455, Outdoor Light Fixtures with State Funds
Introducers: Reps. Fisher, Harrison, and McGrady
Status: House Rules
H 455 requires that all lights installed, replaced, maintained, or operated using state funds must meet certain standards for energy efficiency and light illumination. The bill is designed to save the state money and reduce light pollution and light trespass.

H 495/S 473, The Solar Jobs Bill
Introducers: Reps. Murry, Moffitt, Samuelson, and Crawford; Sens. Apodaca, Stein, and Brunstetter
Status: House Public Utilities; Senate Commerce
H 495/S 473 double the amount of solar energy which the state’s power companies must provide (but only from 0.2% to 0.4%). They also reduce the amount of energy which can come from out-of-state solar facilities. The bills therefore create incentives for the creation of new solar facilities within the state of North Carolina.

S 367, Efficient and Affordable Energy Rates Bill
Introducer: Sen. Kinnaird
Status: Senate Commerce
Identical to H 135. See RR, March 7.

S 388, Transfer Forestry & Forestry Council to Ag Department
Introducers: Sens. East, Rouzer, and Jackson
Status: Senate Agriculture/Environment/Natural Resources
This bill is part of a series of bills that would transfer powers from state agencies headed by appointees of the Governor to the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, whose secretary is elected. S 388 makes the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services responsible for protecting the state’s forests and for maintaining the forests, parks, lakes, and other recreational areas owned by the state. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources is currently responsible for these tasks.

S 428, Study Consolidated Environmental Commission
Introducer: Sen. Clodfelter
Status: Senate Program Evaluation
S 428 creates a commission to study the multiple environmental boards, commissions, and councils that influence environmental policy in North Carolina in order to see if some consolidation of their duties would be possible and efficient. The bill references the North Carolina Utilities Commission as a model for what this consolidated organization could look like.

S 430, LRC/Study Uranium Mining Near Roanoke River
Introducers: Sens. Berger and Jones
Status: Senate Rules
S 430 directs the state’s Legislative Research Commission to study the economic, environmental, agricultural, and health impact of uranium mining near the Lower Roanoke River Basin in Virginia. Virginia’s General Assembly is considering lifting the state’s ban on uranium mining, and this bill directs the commission to study the potential impact of such a move on North Carolina, especially on the Albemarle Sound.

H 446, Labeling Requirements/GMFs & rBGH in Food
Introducer: Rep. Bradley
Status: House Agriculture
H 446 dictates that all food and milk products sold in the state must be clearly labeled if they contain genetically modified food or products from cows that have received growth hormones.

S 418, Health Benefit Exchange Act
Introducers: Sens. McKissick and Purcell
Status: Senate Rules Committee
S 419 would implement federal health care reform through an HBE whose Board of Directors would consist of the Commissioner of Insurance, the director of the Division of Medical Assistance (which oversees Medicaid), and seven at-large members. Each of them must have expertise in at least two of the following areas and, taken together, all of the following areas of expertise must be represented:
(1) Individual health care coverage.
(2) Small employer health care coverage.
(3) Health benefits plan administration.
(4) Health care finance.
(5) Administration of a public or private health care delivery system.
(6) Health plan coverage purchasing.
(7) Development and operation of large-scale information technology systems.
(8) Actuarial science.
(9) Health policy analysis or health law.
(10) Health care quality.
(11) Health economics.

In addition, there would be five advisory committees representing the following:
• Health insurers
• Employers
• Consumers
• Producers and navigators (who would direct consumers to insurance policies)
• Providers
Each advisory committee would elect a member to serve as a non-voting member of the Board of Directors.

H 478/S 452, Nondiscrimination in State/Employment
Introducers: Reps. Luebke, Brandon, Fisher, and Harrison; Sen. Stein
Status: House Rules; Senate Rules
Current state law prohibits state and local governments from discriminating in personnel matters on the basis of race, religion, color, creed, national origin, sex, age, or handicapping condition. H 478/S 452 would add sexual orientation and gender identity to this list.

H 445, Prevent REAL ID Implementation
Introducer: Rep. Bradley
Status: House Judiciary
H 445 blocks the state of North Carolina from adopting the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, primarily due to concerns about privacy and funding. The bill prohibits the state’s Department of Transportation from using radio or microchips in drivers licenses and from storing biometric data (facial features, voice data, iris recognition, and retinal scans). H 445 also limits the information that the Department of Transportation can store or share with other states or commercial entities.

S 386, Repeal G.S. 95-98
Introducer: Sen. Kinnaird
Status: Senate Rules
This bill would repeal North Carolina’s prohibition on contracts between any state or local government entities and labor organizations for collective bargaining.

H 448, Constitutional Tender Act
Introducer: Rep. Bradley
Status: House Commerce and Job Development
H 448 mandates that commodity gold and silver are to be legal state tender, as well as gold coins minted by the U.S., Austrian, British, Canadian, French, Mexican, South African, and Swiss governments and silver coins minted by the U.S. and Canadian governments. Businesses are not required to accept this “state tender,” but the bill does set up an exchange system for trading in this gold and silver for federal money. Vendors could choose to accept only gold and silver coins in lieu of federal or state money. (Interestingly enough, gold coins in Mexico are still known as pesos. H 448 therefore dictates that the state of North Carolina would have to accept a form of pesos as legal tender.)

H 475, English the Official Language
Introducers: Reps. Hastings, Hilton, and Prigden
Status: House Judiciary
H 475 proposes a constitutional amendment that would make English the official language of the state of North Carolina. English is already the official state language under N.C. statute, so it is hard to see why a constitutional amendment is needed.

H 33, now titled Consular Documents Not Acceptable as ID, has been passed by the House and will be sent to the Senate. H 33 has been modified so that it no longer specifies what forms of identification are acceptable for state or local governments to use in establishing someone’s identity or residency in North Carolina. Instead, it specifically prohibits the use of the matricula consular (a photo ID issued by the Mexican Consulate for NC) or similar documents from foreign consulates and embassies.

H 52 and H 74, Castle Doctrine, have both been re-referred to House Judiciary Subcommittee A.

H 111, Handgun Permit Valid in Parks and Restaurants, has been passed by the House and will be sent to the Senate. It was amended to allow local governments to prohibit concealed guns at athletic fields and other similar recreational facilities, the amendment’s supporters noting that tempers can flare where youth sporting events take place.

H 218, Legislative Task Force on Childhood Obesity, has been passed by the House and will be sent to the Senate.

H 334, Report on Fitness Testing in Schools, has been passed by the House and is in Senate Rules.

S 33, Medical Liability Reforms, has been passed by the Senate and is now in the House Select Committee on Tort Reform.

S 109, Spending Cuts for the Current Fiscal Year, has been signed into law by the Governor. This was the replacement bill which was passed after she vetoed S 13.

S 115, NC Health Benefit Exchange Act, has been modified by the Health and Human Services Committee in ways that fail to make it more favorable to consumers, and it is now in Senate Insurance.

The Board would be made up as follows:
• Commissioner of Insurance and Director of the Division of Medical Assistance (which oversees Medicaid) would be ex officio, nonvoting members.
• One provider recommended by the NC Medical Society
• One provider recommended by the NC Hospital Association
• One member representing an insurer, recommended by the NC Association of Health Plans.
• One member representing the insurance industry (but not to be recommended by the state’s largest insurer—Blue Cross Blue Shield of NC — as in the original bill)
• A businessperson recommended by the NC Chamber.
• A small businessperson, recommended by the National Federation of Independent Business.
• Two members of the general public not employed by or affiliated with an insurer or provider and who would be likely to qualify for coverage in the HBE. There is no requirement that either of them be representative of uninsured or underinsured North Carolinians. These members would be named by the Speaker of the House and President Pro Tem of the Senate.
• Three members who do not represent the categories above and who bring technical expertise as specified in the bill or are a health insurance agent.

Continuing problems with this approach to the HBE include:
• While there are guarantees that insurers, providers (hospitals and doctors), large businesses, and small businesses will be represented, there is no guarantee that any member of the Board would have the needs of uninsured and underinsured people as their primary concern.
• The revised bill would set up user fees on some individuals and small businesses purchasing coverage through the exchange.
• The exchange would not be able to serve as a consumer watchdog.

S 248, Update Archaic Disability Terms, has been passed by the Senate and the House and will now go to the Governor for her signature.