RALEIGH -- Gov. Bev Perdue is almost finished with the stack of bills left on her desk by the legislature when it adjourned last month. She signed at least eight more into law on Tuesday.
Perdue has signed at least 102 of the 109 measures, according to the legislature's records, and plans to sign four military-related bills today at a ceremony at a National Guard center in Morrisville.
Perdue has until midnight Monday to veto bills, sign them into law or let them become law without her signature.
Perdue told reporters Tuesday that she didn't know whether she would veto any of those remaining. They include legislation that would amend state purchase and contracting laws, allow University of North Carolina campuses to keep money realized by energy savings and help turn abandoned manufacturing sites into locations to develop renewable energy sources.
North Carolina governors have vetoed 10 bills since the chief executive received the authority in 1997 following a change to the state constitution. Only one veto has been overturned.
Disposing of flags
Several Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts stood around Perdue in the old House chamber Tuesday as she signed a bill that would allow worn North Carolina state flags to be respectfully retired by burning them, in keeping with federal law for U.S. flags. A Boy Scout troop from Charlotte and Girl Scout troop from Johnston County helped lobby for the law because there was no set way to dispose of state flags.
"Thank you for your very good idea," Perdue told the scouts.
Perdue also signed a bill making clear it's illegal for medical providers and others to give or receive kickbacks for the use of Medicaid services. And she signed legislation designed to prevent a repeat of a judge's ruling that potential major polluters receiving local and state incentives must accept more stringent environmental reviews upfront. The bill was passed after a judge said in May that a fuller environmental review was needed for a proposed Titan America cement plant and quarry near Wilmington.
Perdue signed into law Monday a broad ethics, campaign finance and government reform bill. The measure toughens penalties for illegal campaign donations above $10,000 and expands personnel information that must be released to the public about state employees, such as a letter explaining why a worker was fired.
