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Monday: Snuffed Out?
posted at 2007-03-26 20:31 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
Looks like House Maj. Leader Hugh Holliman's smoking ban may be in trouble. The first sign of trouble was that it didn't come up for a floor vote in the few days following its 9-4 approval in J1 committee. Today, Holliman told NCNN's Matt Willoughby he's planning to pull the bill off the calendar when it comes up tomorrow.
Rumor has it there's an odd-bedfellows coalition of objectors, including conservative Dems and a substantial portion of the Black Caucus. The vast majority of House Republicans are also opposed.
Most critics say the legislation goes against private property rights in banning all workplace smoking, regardless of the context. But supporters point out the government has been regulating workplace safety on issues like asbestos for a long time, even on private property. Since secondhand smoke is an environmental toxin, they say, it should be regulated, too.
The next step? Holliman may try to reformulate the bill to make it more palatable to his fellow Dems. But that's where it gets complicated, as we saw last year with the failed restaurant smoking ban - it's almost impossible to come up with a compromise that doesn't leave everyone disgruntled enough to refuse to support the bill.
We're #6!
Governor Easley announced today that NC now ranks 6th in state tourism. Overall expenditures jumped more than 8 percent last year - the biggest annual increase since 1990 - with 45 million visitors spending more than 15 billion dollars here in 2006. Expect tourism lobbyists to bring up those numbers a lot this week as the House Education Committee considers rolling back the school start date law. The tourism industry likes the later start date because it means more family vacations in August, not to mention more plentiful cheap labor.
It's Not Google
Last Thursday, I wrote about a datacenter bill introduced by Senator Kay Hagan (D-Guilford) - a sales tax exemption that would benefit large server farms setting up shop in rural counties. Sounds familiar, yes? But state Commerce officials say it isn't intended for Google. The legislation that made the Google deal possible includes a tax exemption not quite as broad as Hagan's bill, but broad enough to cover most everything Google's likely to want to buy.
Greensboro's Mark Binker says it's all about attracting new companies looking for locations for off-site backup storage facilities. Given the specificity of Hagan's bill, it sounds to me as if negotiations may already be underway. But thanks to the state's ability to seal public records in the name of economic development, we won't know the rest till the ink is dry.
Party's over?
Sounds like it, according to this story on lobbying reform by the N&O's Andy Curliss and Dan Kane. But I liked the sidebar even better - Andy Curliss explains how one Jones St. couple has had to figure out how to balance reporting requirements and romance.
Tuesday preview
Plenty to talk about tomorrow. House Finance takes up a measure on state divestment from Sudan in response to Darfur. House Education looks at raising the minimum age for kindergarten. Holliman's smoking ban may go on hiatus. Environmental Defense unveils new legislation on hog lagoons. Senate JII goes back to the dangerous dogs bill. And of course, there's the weekly GOP presser, though today's release gives absolutely no indication of what they plan to talk about. There's obviously no shortage of material.
Comments? Drop me a line.
