House passes digital learning, child abuse penalties and building code bills

The House sent Gov. Pat McCrory a bill to require teachers to receive more training in "digital learning." Lawmakers sent the Senate bills dealing with state building codes and child abuse penalties.

Posted 6:35 p.m. Mar 12, 2013 — Updated 12:06 a.m. Mar 13, 2013

Mark Binker

RALEIGH, N.C. — In addition to honoring the Girl Scouts, the state House passed three bills Tuesday.

Teacher Technology Training

Teachers would get training on how to use digital technology in the classroom under a measure the House gave final approval to Tuesday. Such training would be incorporated in existing teacher training programs. The bill now goes to Gov. Pat McCrory for his signature.

Building Codes

Local governments would be limited in their ability to adopt new building code regulations under a bill that cleared the House Tuesday. The final vote was 99-18.

The same measure would also slow updates to the statewide building code.

House lawmakers turned back an amendment by Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, that would have allowed for more frequent updates. McGrady said the bill, as currently written, would give North Carolina the longest building code update cycle in the nation.

"My intent here, frankly, is to not have North Carolina as an outlier," McGrady said.

That drew a rebuke from the bill's sponsor, Rep. Mike Hager, R-Rutherford.

"We are outliers in the United States. We are the fifth-highest unemployment," Hager said, adding that frequent building code updates hurt the construction industry. "Every time we look at this code, it increases the cost of building a house."

McGrady's amendment failed 44-77.

The measure now goes to the Senate.

Child Abuse Penalties

The House unanimously approved a bill that increases the penalties for child abuse. The same measure also provides for additional tracking of people brought to court for such abuse cases.

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