Jessica Jones

Lawmakers have wrapped up crossover week, where bills that don't require tax changes or spending must make it through one chamber or expire. Now they're set to focus on their biggest task- negotiating the state budget. Senate leaders plan to release their budget plan Sunday night.

The anti-tax advocate, Grover Norquist, visited state legislators today to praise their efforts to lower personal and corporate income taxes.

House lawmakers have passed a measure that attempts to ban the application of Islamic Sharia law in North Carolina.

House Bill 695 would prohibit North Carolina courts from applying part or all of any foreign laws that could lead to violations of constitutional rights in domestic and child custody cases. Across the country, some social conservatives have expressed fears about Islamic laws being cited in American courtrooms.

State lawmakers in the House have passed a bill that would prohibit some health plans from offering abortion coverage.

A bill that would abolish regional economic development commissions has tentatively passed the state Senate.

The measure would dissolve all seven of the state's commissions. The Department of Commerce would then send at least one employee to work in one of eight newly created economic zones.

Senate lawmakers have passed a bill that would allow patients to compare prices for medical procedures.
Senate Bill 473 would require hospitals to make the cost of common inpatient and outpatient procedures public.

The State House has passed a bill that would require basic standards of care for commercial dog-breeding operations.

The "puppy mill bill," as it's known, would apply to facilities with more than ten breeding females. Breeders would have to provide food and water, exercise, appropriate housing, vet care, and humane euthanasia if needed.

A bill that would make public educators teach students that abortions can cause preterm births is headed to the state Senate floor.

It’s one of a raft of measures introduced this session aimed at restricting and reducing the number of abortions. Senate Bill 132 would require health instructors teaching students in the seventh grade and older to include information about what the bill calls “preventable causes of preterm birth, including induced abortion.”

Lawmakers in the state Senate have unveiled more details of their proposal to overhaul the state's tax code, though they haven't filed a bill yet. They propose lowering income tax rates significantly over the next three years. They also seek to lower the combined local and state sales tax to 6.5 percent.

State house lawmakers have given tentative approval to a bill that would allow concealed weapons on college campuses, at sporting events and in businesses serving alcohol, among other places.