RALEIGH, N.C. — Good morning and welcome to Today @NCCapitol for Thursday, June 13. This is WRAL's roundup of what you need to know about North Carolina state government today.
HOUSE BUDGET: After more than 7 hours of debate, the state House voted Wednesday night to give tentative approval to its $20.6 billion budget proposal.
"We came through a fiscal storm like North Carolina had not faced in a generation," said senior budget writer Nelson Dollar, R-Wake."The waters are beginning to calm and we are beginning to move forward in a bold new way."
Most of Wednesday's debate was taken up by a series of nearly 30 amendments. The most debated of those was an attempt to remove a voucher program from the budget bill. In a highly unusual move, House Speaker Thom Tillis turned over the dais to Rules Chairman Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, so he could argue against the amendment from the floor.
BUDGET TODAY: The state House will come back into session at 9 a.m. today. Tillis told the chamber that no amendments would be accepted today, but lawmakers will be allowed to debate the bill as long as they wish.
SENATE TODAY: The state Senate is scheduled to meet at 11 a.m. today. It is scheduled to take a second vote on revamping the state's gun laws, and could take the first of two votes on the chamber's tax reform bill.
COMMITTEES: No House committees are scheduled to meet today. In the Senate, budget Judiciary committees are scheduled to meet at 10 a.m. Senate Judiciary II may have the most talked about measure of the morning, a bill that would allow law enforcement to freeze the assets of a person charged with scamming seniors.
MCCRORY: As the House debated its budget Wednesday, Gov. Pat McCrory signed off on a number of bills. Among the most notable:
Senate Bill 129 – Limit State Facilities Finance Act Debt: The bill limits the amount of non-voter approved debt the state can take on to 25 percent of North Carolina's total borrowing.
House Bill 146 – Back to Basics: The state board of education will have to ensure handwriting and multiplication tables are taught in early grades.
Senate Bill 234 – Hunter Education/Apprentice Permit: Creates a special permit for those learning to hunt.
House Bill 610 – In-Stand Beer Sales: Allows for beer vendors to sell beer in the stands of stadiums with more than 3,000 seats.
House Bill 10 – Remove Route Restriction for NC 540 Loop: Allows the state to study the Red Route through Garner.
House Bill 142 – Provide Access to Campus Police Records: Ensures better access to the records of campus police agencies.
STORIES: Stories we were following Wednesday included:
MORE ARRESTS: After weeks of Monday protests in which dozens of people were arrested at the General Assembly, a Wednesday afternoon protest ended with only eight people taken away by police.
The "Witness Wednesday" event coincided with the 50th anniversary of the assassination of NAACP activist Medgar Evers outside his Jackson, Miss., home.
From the Associated Press: While a broader coalition of supporters is building around the "Moral Mondays" started by the state chapter of the NAACP, the inspiration behind the protests is a throwback to the biblical message of civil rights leaders fighting segregation in the Jim Crow era. They argue that cutting benefit programs and cutting tax breaks for low- and middle-income families violates Jesus Christ's teaching to care for those with the least. It's running into another school of Christian thought followed by many Southern conservatives: The best way to help the poor is through private charity, providing jobs and promoting self-reliance, rather than government programs.
JUVENILES: A House committee is recommending that 16- and 17-year-olds in trouble with the law for some offenses should be adjudicated in North Carolina's juvenile system, not tried in the regular courts. North Carolina and New York are the only states where 16- and 17-year-olds are automatically prosecuted in adult court.
But those who helped pass the bill said that frivolous appeals could be dismissed. The bill now goes to Gov. Pat McCrory.
NOTED: Other stories of note come from:
News & Record: State funding for bicycle and walking trails is ensnared in an ongoing battle over transportation dollars in Raleigh, and a handful
of Greensboro projects may get caught in the crossfire.
N.C. Health News: The two houses of the General Assembly are differing on how much funding to provide for the N.C. AIDS Drug Assistance Program. At times, there’s been enough to provide medications to treat HIV for people earning as much as $45,000 per year. At other times, the program has been so underfunded that North Carolina had one of the longest waiting lists for AIDS medications in the country.
Charlotte Observer: Duke Energy Carolinas customers would see their bills go up an average of 4.5 percent starting this fall, under a proposed agreement between the company and regulators outlined Wednesday.
Charlotte Business Journal: Six months after leaving office, former Gov. Bev Perdue sounds relieved to be removed from the demands of running North Carolina. She refrained from political analysis during a 10-minute telephone interview Wednesday afternoon.
Stateline: Nowhere has the red/blue divide between the states been more apparent than on contentious social issues such as gun control, abortion, gay marriage, and immigration. With 37 states under one-party control, lawmakers responded aggressively to national events and political developments in Washington.