Press Release from Representative
Allen, August 15, 2006
The 2006 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly has
ended, and I am proud to report that numerous newspapers, Governor
Mike Easley, and various advocacy groups from across the state have
all said that it was one of the most successful and productive
sessions in recent memory. My colleagues and I remained
focused from the first day of session until the last on our
priorities of improving education, making health care more
affordable, strengthening our economy and creating new jobs,
reducing crime in our neighborhoods, and protecting our environment.
As I have mentioned before, the House Democratic Caucus announced
a far-reaching agenda on opening day – May 9 – and as we said on the
final day of session, we accomplished every item on our agenda and
passed many other bills during our 2 and ½ months in Raleigh.
The Legislature will reconvene on Wednesday, January 24, 2007 at
noon. During the interim, you can contact me via email at lucya@ncleg.net
or by calling my Raleigh office at (919) 733-5860 or in Louisburg at
(919) 496-5111. You can also find additional information on the
General Assembly at www.ncleg.net.
The following are three bills which I sponsored during the Short
Session:
Safe Drinking Water / Private Wells (HB 2873): Private
drinking water wells play an important role in meeting the State’s
drinking water needs. Greater than 50% of the North Carolina’s
population receives its drinking water supplies from groundwater.
Representative Verla Insko and I sponsored this bill, which calls
for consistent statewide enforcement of regulations governing the
location, construction, operation, repair, maintenance, and
abandonment of private drinking wells.
Stormwater Rules (HB 2166 / SB 1566): Final approval was
given on July 26th to new rules that oversee how
stormwater runoff is managed in more than 150 small and medium sized
communities. This bill lays out rules for land developers who
disturb at least one acre of lands in unincorporated counties and
small cities and towns. These developers would have to create and
enforce a plan as to how they intend to control rain and other water
run-off to reduce the chances that pollutants could enter waterways.
The bill would require subdivisions and other home developers to
install stormwater controls if they build near shellfish waters.
Developers would have to set up retention ponds or vegetation to
control rainwater runoff in coastal areas where more than 12% of the
land is covered by buildings, pavement, gravel, or athletic courts.
This is a major step in water quality protection and has been
several years in the making. I was a primary sponsor of the Senate
companion bill in the House, and led the debate on the issue on the
House floor.
Physician Oversight: In the last week of the session,
legislation to strengthen the NC Medical Board, supported by the NC
Medical Society, was passed by the Senate. House Bill 1301 –
Physical Therapy Board License / Strengthen Medical Board / Safety
Organizations, which originally addressed the continued competence
of physical therapists, was amended by the Senate Health Committee
to include one amendment to the Professional Corporation Act, one
amendment to strengthen the peer review statute and a lengthy
amendment to strengthen the Medical Board. The House Select
Committee on Health Care approved most of the NC Medical Board
changes this winter. Those changes expand the disciplinary options
of the board, to include public reprimand, public letters of
concern, remedial training, and limitations on practice. The
proposal also clarifies reporting by hospitals of revocation,
suspension, or limitation of privileges, and reporting by hospitals
and insurers of medical malpractice payments. Finally the bill goes
beyond the recommendations of the House Select Committee to
establish new standards of discovery of information developed by the
Board in its investigation of licensees. The House gave final
approval to the measure. Supporters of the measure say this will
greatly boost the Medical Board’s ability to protect the people of
North Carolina.
Below is a short recap of some of the most important legislative
accomplishments of the 2006 session. Feel free to contact me
if you would like additional information on these issues or any
others that were debated by the General Assembly during this year’s
session.
EDUCATION:
Education remained my #1 priority throughout this year’s session.
I am extremely proud of our many accomplishments, which will improve
education from early childhood through adulthood. Due to this
year’s budget surplus and the lottery, we were able to dedicate more
funding to our children’s education than ever before. (The
budget included $10.8 billion in resources dedicated to improving
education and increasing teachers’ salaries. This total
represents more than $943 million above last year’s budget and is
in addition to $425 million in expected revenues from the new
North Carolina Education Lottery.) We gave teachers the
substantial pay raise they deserve (an average of 8%), which will
bring them closer to the national average and will help us reduce
our teacher shortage. We dedicated over $75 million to address
the on-going Leandro school funding lawsuit, which will help our
low-wealth schools and disadvantaged students and provide additional
funds for literacy coaches and high school reforms. We also
eliminated a $44.3 million recurring reduction in public school
budgets ordered annually since the 2003 budget shortfall. Franklin,
Halifax and Nash Counties were substantial beneficiaries of these
actions.
We continued our investment in our outstanding universities and
community colleges, which educate our people at all stages
throughout their life. UNC campuses across the state will
receive $185.7 million to help build new classrooms and buildings.
The budget also substantially increases financial aid available for
students attending our state’s universities and community colleges,
and we gave parents a new tax deduction when they save for a child’s
college education.
We also established a new lottery oversight committee, which will
ensure that all lottery proceeds go to early childhood
education, reducing class size, school construction and college
scholarships. Schools will now be required to set aside time
each day for students to recite the Pledge of Allegiance.
HEALTH CARE:
Improving health care in North Carolina by making it more affordable
and accessible for all of our citizens was another top priority
during this year’s session. As the House Democratic Caucus
stated on opening day, we believe that health care should be a part
of the job – if you work, you should have health insurance. It
is wrong that half of the 1.3 million uninsured North Carolinians
work full-time jobs. To help address this problem, we passed
numerous bills this session that will improve and expand health care
and services in communities across our state.
The House Select Committee on Health Care, which was created
during the interim by Speaker Black, and its six subcommittees held
numerous meetings prior to May and made recommendations for
legislation on issues including access to health care, ways to
decrease the number of uninsured North Carolinians, and the state’s
increasing costs associated with Medicaid. I was particularly
pleased to sponsor two important patient safety bills successfully.
After three years of work and passage by the House several times
in recent years, we were finally successful in approving a new tax
credit for small businesses that offer health insurance to
employees. The new $250 tax credit will go to small businesses
that offer health coverage to employees making less than $40,000,
which will help our valuable businesses with one of their fastest
growing expenses, plus allow more North Carolinians to get or keep
health insurance.
The House also passed legislation that would create a new
high-risk insurance pool, which would cover people who can’t afford
health insurance or can’t qualify under traditional plans.
Supporters of the bill said this was a first step toward providing
affordable health care to our state’s 1.3 million uninsured. The
House overwhelmingly approved the bill, but unfortunately the Senate
did not take it up prior to adjournment.
This year’s budget provides more than $4.2 billion for health and
human services. As part of an on-going reform effort that began in
2001, we dedicated $95 million in new funds for mental health,
developmental disabilities and substance abuse programs, including
$14.4 million for the Mental Health Trust Fund. We
provided $27.4 million in relief to all 100 counties to freeze the
counties’ portion of Medicaid expenses at the 2005-06 year’s level.
(Note: The House budget included a total of $53 million to cap the
rate and provide additional assistance to counties with high numbers
of Medicaid recipients; the Senate did not provide any assistance in
its budget.) More than $30 million is provided for child care
services and subsidies, which will maintain the current 2,650 child
care slots, remove 3,096 children from the waiting list and create
3,100 new slots.
IMPROVING OUR ECONOMY & CREATING NEW, GOOD PAYING JOBS:
North Carolina’s economy has steadily improved during the last few
years; however, some communities continue to experience job losses
and unemployment rates higher than the state or national rate.
In an effort to strengthen our economy and create new jobs, my
colleagues and I were successful on numerous fronts. We approved a
$1 increase in the state’s minimum wage, which will increase the
salaries of approximately 140,000 North Carolinians from $5.15 to
$6.15 per hour starting January 1. We provided substantial pay
raises for our valuable teachers and state employees – teachers
received an average 8% increase and state employees received a 5.5%
increase.
We approved legislation to expand successful job creation
programs, like the One North Carolina Fund and Job Development
Investment Grants (JDIG), which have created over 33,000 new jobs
across our state since 2001 and are helping our economy prosper. The
budget provided $15 million for the One North Carolina Fund and $5
million for the One North Carolina Small Business Fund. Legislators
also approved changes to the William S.
Lee Act, which was created 10 years ago and has created
more than 130,000 new jobs across the state during the past decade.
Under this program, companies receive tax credits based on the
location of the new jobs – companies receive higher credits if jobs
are located in more economically distressed or impoverished counties
of the state.
We provided close to $200 million in tax cuts for all North
Carolinians, including a reduction in the state’s sales tax,
effective December 1 – just in time for the holidays, and a
reduction in the personal income tax rate, which will help
approximately 30,000 small businesses. We also capped the state’s
gas tax to ensure it does not increase further even if oil and gas
companies continue to raise prices at the pump for consumers.
PROTECTING OUR FAMILIES & REDUCING CRIME:
Legislators took numerous important steps during this year’s
session, which will reduce crime and better protect our families and
communities. We strengthened our laws regarding sex offenders, DWIs,
identity theft, and the production of meth, which is a dangerous
drug impacting many of our rural communities. Legislators also
approved vital funding in the budget for our courts, new judicial
and law enforcement positions (Halifax County received a new
Assistant District Attorney position), and our state’s emergency
preparedness efforts.
Following work by the House Select Committee on Sex Offender
Registration Laws, the General Assembly passed numerous measures
that crack down on sex offenders, which will better protect our
children. Sex offenders will now be prohibited from living within
1,000 feet of a school or daycare center and will not be able work
or volunteer in a position where they would interact with minors.
Some of the worst predators face lifetime satellite monitoring under
a new global positioning system (GPS), and all offenders must comply
with tougher registration requirements, which will give authorities
more chances to update addresses and photographs. DMV is also
instructed to search the national database of sex offenders prior to
issuing a new driver’s license, which will help ensure criminals
from other states also register and are monitored in our state.
Legislators also took aim at human trafficking and sexual servitude
by increasing penalties, especially for those individuals who harbor
children. We included $1.5 million in the budget to upgrade the
state’s sex offender registry, implement the global positioning
system (GPS), and establish an email notification program so
citizens can be notified when a registered sex offender moves into
their neighborhood.
Lawmakers approved legislation to create a first-in-the-nation
Actual Innocence Commission, which will help ensure the guilty
are in prison and the wrongfully convicted are not. The commission
will be focused on examining questions of innocence, while the
current criminal appeals process is geared toward ensuring fair
trials.
After three years of work, the state has overhauled and toughened
our DWI laws. The new laws will impose tougher penalties for
those who cause fatal accidents and limit the discretion of judges,
which in the past has resulted in many DWI charges being reduced or
completely tossed out of
court. The DWI changes create three new felonies – and
stiffer penalties – for automobile accidents that involve impaired
driving and result in serious injury or death. The measure will also
require merchants to keep records on keg sales and make it a
misdemeanor for anyone younger than 21 to drink an alcoholic
beverage. I am particularly pleased that evidence of vehicle speed
provided in accident reconstruction will now be accepted in court.
The General Assembly also passed legislation to ban video
poker. The new law, which was supported by the North Carolina
Sheriffs’ Association, requires current machine owners or businesses
to downsize from the current maximum of three machines to two
machines by October 1, 2006, and from two machines to one machine by
March 1, 2007. A complete ban of the machines will take effect
on July 1, 2007. The phase out of video poker will allow the
more than 1,700 current employees in the industry to find new jobs
while ridding the state of the controversial games.
CAMPAIGN FINANCE, LOBBYING AND ETHICS REFORMS:
House members spent close to 8 months drafting various ethics,
campaign finance and lobbying reform proposals. At the end of
last year, House Speaker Jim Black established the House Select
Committee on Ethics and Governmental Reform, which looked at
numerous issues and ultimately recommended 10 pieces of legislation.
Prior to adjourning, legislators approved some of the toughest
and most far-reaching campaign finance, lobbying and ethics reforms
and regulations in the nation. We strengthened ethics regulations
for the executive, judicial and legislative branches of government
along with boards and commissions. We established an
independent, eight-member State Ethics Commission, which will
conduct inquiries on complaints filed against all three branches of
government. Following last year’s passage of tougher lobbying
regulations, lawmakers went further this year by enacting additional
reforms including a gift-giving ban and a ban on lobbyists
contributing to political campaigns.
Legislators also approved bills that provide more control over
the use of campaign funds and prohibit the use of funds for personal
expenses, improves required training for campaign treasurers, bans
the use of "blank payee" contribution checks, and requires stronger
reporting requirements on campaign finance reports as well as
efforts by lobbyists and politically active "527" groups.
CRACKING DOWN ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION:
Legislators approved several measures intended to combat illegal
immigration in North Carolina. Driver’s license applicants will now
have to produce a Social Security card or valid visa when applying
for a North Carolina license. In recent years, illegal immigrants
had used an Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITIN) as
identification to obtain a driver’s license. Another measure would
require state government, including the UNC system, community
colleges and school systems, to use a federal database to ensure new
hires are legal residents. The House also passed a resolution
calling on the U.S. Congress to enact meaningful immigration reform,
including locating a new immigration court in Charlotte and allowing
local authorities to be able to work with federal agencies to deport
illegal immigrants who are caught driving while impaired or for
other serious crimes.
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