House votes to regulate beach bingo, require two working tail lights on most vehicles

Members of the state House voted to pass several noncontroversial items Wednesday in an effort to clear their calendar to work on the state budget all day Thursday and most of next week.

Posted 8:03 p.m. May 13, 2015 — Updated 8:22 p.m. May 13, 2015

Mark Binker

RALEIGH, N.C. — Members of the state House voted to pass several noncontroversial items Wednesday in an effort to clear their calendar to work on the state budget all day Thursday and most of next week.

Following are some of the items they passed:

Linda Morrison Combs was confirmed to continue her service as state controller. Her office controls the flow of money through state bank accounts and helps enforce fiscal policy in the state. Although she is appointed by the governor, lawmakers must confirm her 7-year term in office. Her confirmation now goes to the Senate.
House Bill 292 would require that beach bingo operations, which are not supposed to award prizes over $10, obtain licenses from the state. The bill now goes to the governor.
A bill that would require two working tail lights on cars and trucks heads back to the Senate for final approval. While most people think this is the law now and they would have trouble passing inspection without two working lights, it is apparently ambiguous in the law whether a police officer could stop someone for having just one tail light working. The issue was at the center of a case that went to the U.S. Supreme Court about whether a police search of a North Carolina driver with one tail light out was legal. This bill would clarify the issue.

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