Legislators keep session short, sweet

Policy milestones reached in a jiffy

North Carolina's "short" legislative sessions, which fall in even-numbered years, are generally a time to shore up the odd deficiency in budgets and policies from the year before.

This year it turned out to be a session of efficiency.

In less than three months, legislators tackled many of the state's largest policy issues of the past decade, passing new laws at a pace that surprised even political veterans.

"I certainly have not seen a session of this magnitude in the years I've been here," Rep. Alma Adams, a Democrat from Guilford County, said before the legislature adjourned for the year shortly after 1 a.m. Friday. "This has truly been a history-making session."

Among the major policy changes was raising the state's long-stagnant minimum wage by $1, a response to Adams' nine-year campaign on the issue.

Legislators reached a catalog of milestone deals during the 2 1/2-month session, including a crackdown on sex offenders, changes in drunken driving laws, and a long-awaited proposal to rid the state of video poker machines.

The legislature also adopted a first-in-the-nation innocence commission with the authority to investigate criminal cases and overturn wrongful convictions.

With a bulging treasury, lawmakers had the money to give a hearty 8 percent raise to teachers and a 5.5 percent raise to state employees. Both were the largest increases in about 15 years.

Another priority for lawmakers: regulating themselves.

A series of legal troubles over the past year related to House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, prompted lawmakers to reduce the influence of money on state politics.

In the end, nine of the 10 recommendations from a special House committee formed by Black got approved by the legislature in some form.

Lawmakers also voluntarily self-imposed new restrictions to give the public more access to decision-making at the legislature.

House members clamped down on so-called special provisions that are often inserted into budgets without public hearing or debate, such as a policy approved last year that required kindergarten children to have eye exams.

Pork provisions, in which money is allocated to special projects, also were largely absent from this year's budget.

In the past, Black acknowledged, some of the state's large issues were negotiated by the chamber's leadership instead of in a full debate.

"That's not the democratic process," Black said. "We really worked hard this year at keeping all the policy issues out in the open and have the committees have thorough discussions."

As the legislature neared adjournment, some measures that had received debate failed to win passage.

One was a provision that would have allowed stores to offer discounts on beer and wine to customers holding coupons or grocery store "loyalty cards."

The trade association representing convenience stores withdrew its support, and religious conservatives fought the measure.

During the House debate Thursday, Rep. Paul Luebke, a Durham Democrat, said the controversial coupon provision was deleted from a larger bill on alcohol laws.

"We were hearing a lot of criticism," Luebke said.

During the past two years, legislators filed about 5,000 bills -- the highest number in more than 90 years, according to official estimates.

Lawmakers were not likely to return for regular business until a new legislature is seated in January, when the next full session begins.

(Staff writer Lynn Bonner contributed to this report.)