Easley's staff introduced proposals for $31 million for programs to benefit uninsured children, farm and poultry plant workers and sexual assault victims.

"One of the most important roles of government is to look after and protect the basic human rights of those who cannot stand up for themselves," Easley said in a news release.

Easley is expected to make public his proposed budget next week as the legislature returns to Raleigh to work on the 2009 budget. The proposals released Thursday account for a fraction -- less than 1 percent -- of state spending last year.

The proposals Easley announced Thursday included $10.4 million for expanded child health insurance coverage. The federal government would triple the state's commitment, and Easley's staff figures that amount would pay for health insurance for an additional 10,683 children. Currently more than 120,000 children are covered by the state's program, said Dan Gerlach, a senior budget adviser to Easley.

"I'm delighted to hear this," said Tom Vitaglione, a senior fellow with Action for Children North Carolina, a Raleigh nonprofit agency. "We still have several thousand children eligible for that program who have not yet been enrolled."

The state's program for uninsured children, Health Choice, is for children in families earning too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford insurance premiums. For a family of four, that would be a household income between $22,000 and $44,000, Vitaglione said.

"It's really a commitment to the working families," he said.

Easley also proposed spending $600,000 so that uninsured women do not have to pay for the cost of a rape kit examination, a medical procedure necessary to find evidence for a sexual assault prosecution.

An article in The News & Observer in February found that hospitals bill sexual assault victims who receive the exam. A state program helped uninsured women cover part of the cost, but many were left to pay hundreds of dollars.

The money Easley proposed would cover that balance for about 1,000 exams, Gerlach said. It would not cover the cost of the exam for women with insurance.

"We were in hopes this would also include women who are insured," said Monika Johnson-Hostler, executive director of the N.C. Coalition Against Sexual Assault. "At the end of the day, we're happy the governor did include funding for the rape victim assistance program."