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Monday Wrap-Up
posted at 2007-06-11 23:39 | Last modified 2007-11-14 10:38
The untimely death of Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight's wife Sandy really cast a pall tonight on the whole building. The memorial service is scheduled for noon Wed. in Wanchese, so a lot of Senators (and perhaps some House members as well) are planning to leave late Tuesday and stay over.
Between the memorial and the budget, there probably won't be a lot of big bills coming up in committees this week. But sometimes the smaller bills are more fun to talk about, anyway.
On the wire
House J2 will look at a proposal by Onslow Republican George Cleveland to impose a 5% surtax on any wire money transfer made by a person who can't prove his or her legal status in the US.
When I asked him about it tonight, Cleveland said many immigrants are paid in cash under the table, with no taxes taken out, so this is one way the state can recoup money to pay for the services they use.
It seems obvious, though, that the real purpose is to make it risky and expensive for illegal immigrants to wire money home - the reason many come to the US to work. Cleveland openly admits the goal is to make the state less attractive to undocumented workers: "Anything we can do to make one less illegal alien come here is a good thing to do."
As you might expect, Latino advocacy groups oppose the legislation as "double taxation." They say most undocumented workers do pay taxes, and most contribute more than they'll ever get back in state services...a point, they say, that's borne out by various studies.
El Pueblo turned down my request for an interview this evening because they don't want to draw media attention to the bill. Given its sponsor, it's unlikely to go anywhere in its current form, anyway.
But whatever side you come down on, it's clear that the recent failure of immigration reform at the federal level has a lot of folks frustrated on both sides of the debate.
Inherently dangerous animals (besides the elected kind)
Here we go again. This bill used to be the fruitless biennial endeavor of former Wilkes Republican Senator John Garwood, who got the boot from his own party in a nasty primary after he called in sick for the lottery vote in 2005.
This year, a retooled version's being run by Halifax Dem Senator Ed Jones. The new version is much more specific than older versions, outlining exactly which mammals and reptiles the average Joe wouldn't be allowed to own. (Current owners are grandfathered in.)
Barring Billy Bob from keeping that tiger in his basement might seem like a no-brainer at first, but the issue is, as usual, much more complex.
Animal rescues and refuges worry they'd go broke paying for the various certifications and inspections they'd have to have to house the homeless lions, tigers, bears, and pythons people can't care for.
On the other hand, NC is one of a very few states that doesn't impose some kind of restriction on what kind of critters folks can own, or breed, or sell. The result is that the state has become a sanctuary for the burgeoning exotic pet breeding trade.
Wolf hybrids? Black mambas? Anacondas? Savannah cats? You can get 'em all right here in the Old North State. Makes you wonder whether the industry couldn't apply for some kind of protection as economic development.
Snarkiness aside, I can see both sides on this one. It'll be interesting to see what the Senate J2 does with it.
Something (else) about Mary
Over at Dome, Ryan Teague Beckwith has posted a letter from embattled Cumberland Dem Mary McAllister to her constituents, explaining her lobbying efforts on behalf of the non-profit that pays her a handsome salary.
But there's one small problem: what she's telling her constituents isn't exactly the truth. Read more about it here.
It's rainin' yams
The NC Ag Dept is staging its second annual "Sweet Potato Drop" tomorrow at the State Farmers' Market. The event was rescheduled to coincide with World Hunger Awareness Day.
Starting at 9am, dozens of volunteers will bag up truckloads of donated sweet potatoes for food pantries across the state. How much more fun could decent people need? And I say that as someone with a deep reverence for sweet potatoes.
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