Leaders pleased with 2011 session
By Matthew Whittle
Published in News on July 5, 2011 1:46 PM
Local legislators, with the exception of the lone Democrat in Wayne County's delegation, say they are pleased so far with the results of the first Republican legislative session in more than 140 years. But they also are dismayed at Gov. Beverly Perdue's vetoing of several key bills, including medical malpractice reform, regulatory reform and voter identification requirements.
Citing their ability to pass a reduced budget and the elimination of the temporary one-cent sales tax, as well as education reform and annexation reform among their top accomplishments this session, local Republicans, state Reps. Efton Sager, R-Wayne, and Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir, as well as state Sens. David Rouzer, R-Johnston, and Louis Pate, R-Wayne, all say they feel like they have made strides this year to improve North Carolina and set it on a good track moving forward.
"I think we accomplished as much as feasibly possible," Sager said. "We set out what we wanted to get accomplished, and despite some vetoes by the governor, we did those things."
The budget was passed over the Gov. Beverly Perdue's veto, and now, when they return on July 13 to also consider several proposed constitutional amendments, including those defining marriage as between a man and a woman and placing further restrictions on abortion, legislators will have to decide if they can override her veto of the voter identification, the regulatory reform and medical malpractice bills. Also vetoed was a bill to begin looking at offshore drilling possibilities.
Redistricting will be discussed later in July.
Of those pieces of legislation that were vetoed, one in particular that lawmakers believe they will be able to override is the regulatory reform bill, which would streamline permitting processes, as well as prohibit any new state environmental regulations more stringent than the federal government's, require state agencies to annually review all rules, and give judges the final say in disputed cases.
"These common sense reform measures have strong bi-partisan support. I believe we will have enough votes to override the governor's veto when we return later this month," Rouzer, one of the bill's key sponsors, said in a release. "This bill would provide much needed stability and certainty on the regulatory front, enabling small businesses to be more profitable."
Add to those the elimination of the one-cent sales tax and the decision to make the first $50,000 made by all small businesses tax exempt, and LaRoque said he believes they've gone a long toward "making North Carolina more business friendly."
In fact, he said, with more money in the private economy, those two steps should help generate more than 15,000 new jobs.
Other items of note, Pate said, are the efforts to decrease classroom size by adding teachers in grades kindergarten through third, as well as efforts to make sure every child is reading at grade level by the fourth grade.
"One of the most important things we do is educate children," he said. "In the classroom, we're going to protect the teachers, the assistants and the children."
And contrary to protests of the governor and other leading Democrats, LaRoque said that with the state fully funding the classroom, if any teaching positions are cut, then those fall on the counties.
Of local interest, both LaRoque and Sager said they were pleased to pass the Goldsboro de-annexation bill.
But not everybody was happy with the way the session turned out.
Rep. Larry Bell, D-Sampson, said he was disappointed that the Republicans had decided not to extend the temporary sales tax, saying that it could have filled the state's budget gap without requiring such deep cuts.
"That wasn't bothering anybody really," he said.
And, he added, with all the fees added this session, such as the $75 fee for driver education in the public schools, the Republican claim of lower taxes doesn't ring exactly true.
"That's still coming out of somebody's pocket," he said.
He also warned of requirements in the budget that the school revert a certain amount of money back to the state at the end of the fiscal year.
He also was glad to see the governor veto the voter identification bill.
One thing he did praise the Republican leadership for was its ability to run a smooth session in terms of its operation -- and the fact that they were able to pass a budget and adjourn, at least temporarily, early.
But even that, he said, had its roots in politics.
"They worked everybody until they were worn out," he said. "And when you stay up that late, you make a lot more mistakes in your thinking process. It really became a political issue. They were trying to prove a point, but then both sides play those games."
But to the county's Republican delegates, the early departure was a sign of a well-run session -- and a sign of the leadership's determination not to waste money paying legislators to stay in Raleigh.
"We didn't hesitate getting to work," Sager said. "The previous session I was here for it was a month before we even got our committee assignments. Local governments may not be happy with their budgets, but at least they know how much money they're going to get."
But, he said, because of the fast pace of work, there are still some bills on the table to be taken up during the short session in 2012. Among those are Rouzer's welfare reform bills, including one that would require four hours a month of community service, and one that would require recipients to list their vehicles as part of their assets.
"Part of it was just time. We just didn't have time to go through all that stuff," he said.
Overall, though, Pate said, "We did some good things, in a record amount of time, too. It was a successful session."
"I think we've turned the ship 180 degrees and are headed in the right direction now. We can't do everything in one session, but if we can get a Republican governor and a Republican legislature, we could really sail with the wind at our backs."