Although the House on Friday passed the 2019-20 budget off to the Senate earlier than usual, most folks expect the budget process to be a drawn-out affair.
The $23.9 billion spending plan doesn't include Medicaid expansion, a top priority for Gov. Roy Cooper, who could veto it and set up an impasse with Republican lawmakers, who no longer hold veto-proof majorities in the House or the Senate.
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The House also passed a measure that would prohibit telemarketers from using fake numbers to get people to answer the phone or respond to a text.
Meanwhile, a House committee scaled back a distracted driving bill. The measure initially targeted cellphone use by driving, but language barring eating or putting on makeup while behind the wheel was later added. Concerns about how that would affect people who grabbed a ham biscuit or a cup of coffee at a drive-thru led the House Judiciary committee to pull that language back out and send it on for more work.
Finally, the proposed repeal of the state's motorcycle helmet requirement for riders over 21 continues to have a strange legislative ride. After it was voted down in the House Transportation committee, it was brought back two weeks later and squeaked through. After the House Health committee gave it an unfavorable report this week, leadership sent it back to the committee with a promise that the bill wouldn't move again in the session if members would remove the unfavorable report as a sign of respect to bill sponsor Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston.