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Thurs: "Tail between legs"
posted at 2009-06-25 23:10 | Last modified 2009-06-25 23:13
The state House voted largely along party lines today, 60-55, to approve a watered-down version of H88, the comprehensive sex ed bill.
The House version offered two separate tracks – abstinence-only and comprehensive – but defaulted to no sex ed at all if parents didn’t make a choice. The Senate version defaults to a combination – abstinence and a couple of days of comprehensive for all students unless their parents opt out.
Rep. Susan Fisher (D-Buncombe) wasn’t happy with the Senate version when it came out, and sounded only marginally more pleased with it today, in one of the least enthusiastic concurrence speeches in recent memory.
“If all the sides involved with this bill are still a little bit unhappy, then we may have made some progress.”
Here’s the rest of her commentary. (1:30)
Listen Now!
But Fisher’s distaste couldn’t hold a candle to Robeson Dem Ronnie Sutton’s open disgust for his caucus’s decision to concur.
“We’re letting the Senate call the shots. And whatever they send back over here, we’re gonna take it and run with it like a dog with their tail between their legs.”
The rest of his screed is here. (:42)
Listen Now!
The bill is headed for the Governor’s desk. She’s indicated she’ll sign it, though no word yet on whether that’ll be a public ceremony.
Catching up
The House is set to vote Monday night on a continuing resolution that looks a lot like the Senate CR, except that it's not open-ended: the House version of S311 would expire July 15th. Meantime, House and Senate chairs say they’re close to an agreement, but it sure doesn’t look that way from outside 612. Senate Finance co-chair David Hoyle told WRAL today the two sides have agreed on $990M in new revenue next year, but not on how they’ll raise the money. I saw Perdue budget chief Charlie Perusse walking into the building yesterday. It could be a long summer.
Annexation reform backers finally got their day in court. After a series of delays, House J2 got down to business on the Annexation bill, H524, after session today. Chair Bruce Goforth said Tuesday that forty proposed amendments had been filed. I don’t know the total number debated this afternoon, but Fayetteville’s Paul Woolverton reports the bill was approved by voice vote and is now headed for House Finance.
Beach plan
State Insurance Commissioner Wayne Goodwin stopped by House Insurance today to plug a compromise reform bill, H1305, to patch up the Beach Plan. Goodwin said the state’s coastal insurance pool is badly underfunded, and it’s only a matter of time before Mother Nature makes that shortcoming apparent.
Early proposals put the majority of the burden on insurers. Some responded by threatening to stop writing policies in NC. Goodwin said today that’s a real possibility, and if it came to that, homeowners would ultimately pay the prices in higher rates for coverage.
Under the measure introduced in committee today, some $800M in Beach Plan surplus (also known as insurer profits) would be held in reserve to cover a bad season. After that’s exhausted, insurers would be on the hook for $1B. If claims run higher than $1.8B, insurers could impose a 10% premium on every homeowner in the state to recoup their losses.
The proposal also includes some major coverage changes. Commercial property owners would be subject to the same wind and hail surcharges homeowners already have to pay. Coastal structural coverage limits would be halved from $1.5M to $750K, and the limit on content coverage would fall, too, though new credits would be granted for damage mitigation efforts.
Proponents, including Goodwin, concede it’s an imperfect bill, but say it’s the best solution to a bad situation. They’re far outnumbered by its critics, from coastal residents (especially business owners) who think it’s unnecessarily punitive to inland homeowners who don’t think they ought to be liable for rich folks’ investment properties.
There was no vote on the bill today. House Insurance is set to return to the bill Tuesday.
Dig deep
As you know if you’ve tuned in over the past two days, WUNC’s doing a fiscal-year-end fund drive. We’re using a lot of euphemisms on the air, but here’s the bottom line: we’re short. Seriously short, to the tune of $370K. It’s not that we haven’t cut spending – trust me, we definitely have – but our corporate underwriting is way down because of the economy.
So we’re asking for your help. If you’ve already given, thank you. Could you give a little more? If you haven’t ever given because you didn’t think it mattered, I’m here to tell you: it does.
The mini-fund-drive ends Friday evening. If you can help us out at any level, please consider it. Call us at 1-800-962-9862, or pledge online - and thank you!!
Comments? Drop me a line.
