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Monday: 3...2...1...wait
posted at 2008-07-15 03:01 | Last modified 2008-07-15 08:24
One more time
Legislators passed another mini-continuing resolution tonight. The first one expires tomorrow, and as of tonight, the Governor hasn’t yet signed the budget. Easley's budget advisor Dan Gerlach says, “We’re pondering.”
House Senior Budget chair Mickey Michaux says there’s more to the delay than gubernatorial cogitation. He says Easley wants money moved around to provide more support for More at Four and Learn & Earn.
The only way to accomplish that at this stage (short of a veto, of course) is via another piece or two of legislation. Michaux’s comments on that are here.
Listen Now!
This could really throw the schedule out of whack. Chances are any such bill(s) would be five-day – if not by statute, then by objection to third reading. Which means if lawmakers don’t get the bill(s) read in by Tuesday, it could be early Sunday before they wrap things up.
So why not delay sine die to next week? Because quite a few folks will be headed down to New Orleans for the annual NCSL convention. Chief among them is Speaker Joe Hackney, who’s set to be sworn in as the group’s president. Sometimes regrets just won’t cut it.
Big Trucks
S1695, the bill allowing 53-foot trucks on most NC roads, easily passed its first House vote tonight. Transportation Chair Nelson Cole told the House 53 feet is the current standard in the trucking industry. The larger trucks are already allowed on some roads within 3 miles of an interstate. And the DOT would get to declare roads off-limits to the big trucks.
But Jackson Dem Phil Haire pointed out language in the bill that makes it time-consuming and expensive for the DOT to rule out roads. That exchange between Haire and Cole is here.
Listen Now!
I still can’t quite fathom why the DOT should be required to explain every decision under this bill to lawmakers, anyway. Surely it couldn’t have anything to do with the political clout of the trucking industry.
Drought Management
Don’t ask me to enumerate them, though. The sponsors weren’t required to explain most of the amendments, so if you didn’t have a copy (and only members did), you couldn't really tell what "lines 6 through 11" would do. To top it all off, most of the votes were by voice, so there’s no way to tell who voted how on what. (Ah, transparency.)
The big points of debate were over the requirement for separate water lines for irrigation (deleted), and the addition of the Farm Bureau to the Drought Management Council.
The latter’s supposed to be an objective, technical body that decides when a given area is in drought. Opponents said the Farm Bureau has too much stake in the decision to be allowed to help make it. Supporters (who won this one, too) said that was exactly the point – the Bureau’s too important to NC agriculture NOT to have a vote on the matter.
The final vote on it is Tuesday. Expect more amendments.
Video Poker
S180 is off to conference committee. Sen. Majority Leader Tony Rand says he got an email from AG Roy Cooper’s office, asking for a crack at the bill before it goes to the Governor. Seems there're a few more loopholes the AG wants to close. Rand’s comments are here.
Listen Now!
Big Boats
H2167 didn’t fare as well as the big truck bill. It was unceremoniously hauled off tonight's calendar and rescheduled for tomorrow. Maybe the veto threat worked.
Ethics Changes
H2542 was sent back to committee for an extensive makeover that includes a slightly gentler re-definition of the sort of “public event” where lobbyists can wine and dine lawmakers. Perhaps K&W’s getting old.
But the new bill also includes a couple of really interesting provisions, like a requirement that state ethics commission opinions (redacted, of course) be released within 30 days, rather than once a year. Here’s to good reading on a more frequent basis.
Election Law Amendments
S1263 passed easily, but the Instant Runoff Voting pilot section darn near went down in flames after Jackson Dem Phil Haire launched a cranky diatribe against the recent IRV near-meltdown in Cary. The pilot funding survived, but not by much and only after pleas for support on both sides of the aisle. Watch this one next year.
Coming up:
The anti-bullying bill and the gang suppression measure both emerged from conference committee tonight. Both are calendared for Tuesday, but there's no telling when we’ll actually see a vote - noses are still being counted.
This isn’t even the half of what’s all going on, but it’s late. So more tomorrow.
Comments? Drop me a line.
