Will North Carolinians choose sunrise or sunset for safety?

Rising 72 feet from the sidewalk of the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh stands a “globe-al” sculpture of Earth, depicting its oceans, land masses, curvature. What European, Norse if not also Polynesian adventurers proved centuries ago and what Greek theorists posited millennia ago is that this Earth is round, a sphere. It is not flat. It is not two-dimensional.

Slightly to the north, outside the N.C. Legislative Building, a plaque details management of the 2 million gallons of annual rainfall that topple from the building’s roof. Three buried cisterns each holds 18,000 gallons for use in nearby irrigation. The balance feeds the stormwater drainage system undulating eastward as the Neuse River to the Pamlico Sound, before blending with the Atlantic. Some of these molecules of water touch foreign shores. Some evaporate and return to North Carolina as nourishing distillate. This aqueous journey can be visually imagined upon the surface of the Earth sculpture, back to the south.

North of this plaque, effluent of a different sort emerges from the N.C. Legislative Office building, joined to the legislative building by a pedestrian bridge. There on April 5, the Interim Joint Legislative Committee held its first hearing on a bill that would eliminate licensing requirements, and certifying boards, of 14 professions, including podiatry, acupuncture, clinical perfusion (think “heart-lung machine” operators), pastoral counselors, sign-language interpreters and recreational therapists. These requirements would “sunset” on May 1, 2017. “Too many boards,” bill proponents say. Consumers can get sufficient data online about a provider – de-facto credentialing by Internet review.

Each respondent gave compelling examples of why licensing of these professions is essential to the safety and well-being of N.C. consumers, why each profession needs a board familiar with its training and challenges. Poignantly, the attorney representing acupuncturists told the committee: “I hold in my hand a 4-inch (acupuncture) needle. Under the provisions of this piece of legislation, I am now qualified to practice acupuncture in the State of North Carolina. Which one of you wants to go first?”

The committee tabled the proposed bill until after the upcoming short session of the 2016 General Assembly.

Years ago architects for this impressive legislative compound built the pedestrian bridge connecting two of the most important deliberative enclaves in the capital. The current majority of the N.C. General Assembly, however, has long been building a bridge back to the early 20th century. Far too many members regard the political terrain, along with the interests of the public, as “flat,” two-dimensional, embracing an agenda of stripping costs, stripping regulation and stripping self-determination in ways that detrimentally affect the state’s services, citizens, townships, municipalities and environment. Gov. Pat McCrory, with too-few exceptions, has served as little more than a rubberstamp for such aberrant initiatives.

Heaven-poured waters tumble upon the roof of the State Legislative Building, feeding nearby flora before moving eastward, nurturing estuaries within and without the borders of the state. Much of the “runoff” from this General Assembly remains solely inside N.C., too often more caustic, corrosive or eroding than nurturing.

While parts of the world work to adapt to a global community, North Carolina lurches toward an anemic past. The proposal to delicense 14 professions joins this backward procession, exposing North Carolinians to subpar service, nonstandardized practice, harm and malpractice. North Carolinians face an opportunity and a responsibility to determine whether they will support the sunrise, or sunset, upon safety and well-being for themselves and their neighbors.

Contact the committee members. Let them know what you think. Needle them, if you will.

This story was originally published April 15, 2016 at 4:51 PM with the headline "Will North Carolinians choose sunrise or sunset for safety?."