The Raleigh Report

 

From the Office of Representative William Brisson

April 7, 2011

 

After a break of a few weeks to try to negotiate moderate bills on charter schools and voter suppression, both bills began to move through the House of Representatives again this week. I remain opposed to these bills in their current forms largely because they will result in the disenfranchisement of many of our citizens.

 

The charter school bill would allow rapid expansion of the system without suitable accountability, allow “virtual” charter schools to grow unabated, siphon money away from the traditional public schools for services they are not obligated to provide and also contain no provisions to encourage diversity. The bill (S8) passed the House on Thursday after the majority party shut down debate after about 45 minutes. This did not allow members who wanted to speak on the bill to do so! The last chance to debate this bill will be on Monday night and the Speaker has already informed the chamber there will be only about 30 minutes of debate allowed.

 

The voter suppression effort introduced earlier this session has taken a step backwards. After negotiating with the sponsors of the bill for several weeks to improve the bill and balance efforts to prevent alleged voter fraud with the constitutional right to vote, they announced to the press they were returning to the original version of their bill. The bill requires a form of government identification at the polls. The most current estimate finds that nearly 900,000 registered voters -- about 15 percent of the state’s total -- lack the kind of identification required under this bill. Many of them are poor, African-American, elderly, or college students. An estimated two-thirds of them are Democrats. The state would have to pay to furnish them acceptable identification. The legislation (H351) could result in up to $3.5 million a year in additional costs, while just 21 cases of alleged voter fraud were reported last year. It is not clear how many of those allegations were found to be true.

 

While I support lifting the charter school cap if it is done carefully and protecting the voting franchise, both of these bills are extreme efforts to divide our state and I am continuing to look for a middle ground.

 

I also want to share with you some of the measures that I supported this week that I believe will help make North Carolina a better place to live. Summaries of the legislation follow.

 

Please let me know if you would like additional information and contact me if I can be of service to you. Thank you as always in your interest in our state and our work in the General Assembly.

 

 

Ethics

 

_ State employees convicted of job-related felonies will lose their state retirement benefits under legislation approved this week in the House of Representatives. The bill (H153) allows the employee to receive their contributions to any retirement plan, plus interest, but they will lose any state benefit. The legislation applies to state employees, teachers and elected or appointed officer’s participating in the state’s retirement plan.

 

 

Crime

 

_ The House has given its approval to a bill that would make terrorism a state crime. The legislation (H149) says that a person is guilty of terrorism if they commit an act of violence or is engaged in a criminal enterprise to intimidate civilians or the activities of government.

 

_ The practice of medicine or surgery by someone who is not properly licensed would be upgraded from a misdemeanor to a felony under a bill that passed the House this week. The law resulted from a case where a man impersonated a doctor for three weeks before being discovered. (S31)

 

 

Notes

 

_ Legislative leaders held a bipartisan press conference this week to announce a new campaign to help feed the hungry in North Carolina. The North Carolina Association of Food Banks and the North Carolina Pork Council have created The Food Effect campaign. This initiative provides North Carolinians with a way to support these food banks. By visiting the website www.thefoodeffect.org, you can learn more about the hunger problem in North Carolina. You can also visit the The Food Effect on Facebook at www.facebook.com/thefoodeffect, or follow the project on Twitter at @thefoodeffect.

 

Please remember that you can listen to each day’s session, committee meetings and press conferences on the General Assembly’s website at www.ncleg.net. Once on the site, select "Audio," and then make your selection – House Chamber, Senate Chamber, Appropriations Committee Room or Press Conference Room.