Proposed North Carolina Bills

Edit: This site has a nice collection of proposed bills: studentpowernc.org

Information overload, so copying and pasting excerpts from the N&O here.

NC bill would ban co-ed apartments on UNC-CH campus

A state Senate bill filed Tuesday would prohibit UNC-Chapel Hill students sharing campus apartments with the opposite sex.

Last year, the UNC-CH Board of Trustees voted to allow students to live in suites or apartments with students of the opposite sex. Students said the move was necessary to give gay and transgender students comfortable living arrangements. Students of the opposite sex share common areas, but not bedrooms.

Senate Bill 658 says students of the opposite sex cannot be assigned the same suite, apartment or dorm room unless they are siblings or are legally married.

“UNC did not become a national leader in academics by wasting time and tax dollars on frivolous social experiments,” Sen. David Curtis, the bill’s primary sponsor, said in a statement. Curtis is a Lincoln County Republican.

Without election, limited power

Unelected local governmental entities such as special districts and authorities wouldn’t be able to impose taxes or condemn property without approval from the board of commissioners of the county they’re in, under a proposed constitutional amendment outlined in a bill filed Tuesday.

The bill is aimed at curtailing the power of local boards like the sewer district in Buncombe County and the proposed airport authority in Charlotte, which have generated controversy.

“They’re not scrutinized like they ought to be, and I think at the end of the day, if you’re going to condemn or tax you ought to have to go to somebody that’s elected by the people and get permission to do so,” Senate Minority Leader Martin Nesbitt of Asheville told reporters.

Nesbitt endorsed the bill by accompanying its sponsor, freshman Sen. Ben Clark, a Democrat from Fayetteville. Nesbitt said Clark came to him with the idea, and he liked it.

Nesbitt noted that some Republicans in the legislature have supported submitting to voters a constitutional amendment restricting condemnation, so he was hopeful there might be bipartisan agreement on this proposal, Senate Bill 705.


Bills would shorten early voting period, make absentee voting more flexible

New bills would change the way North Carolinians vote.

The state’s early voting period would be shortened and Sunday voting eliminated under one bill. House Bill 451 from House Majority Leader Edgar Starnes, R-Caldwell County, also would eliminate straight-ticket voting and same-day registration. And it would make nonpartisan judicial elections partisan.

The bill could help Republicans.

It would lop a week off the early-voting period, which Democrats have used more successfully than Republicans. It would also stop straight-ticket voting. Democrats cast 300,000 more straight tickets than Republicans in 2012. And by ending Sunday voting, it would stop the heavily Democratic “Souls to the Polls” efforts to get voters out after Sunday church services.

The bill also loosens the requirements for getting an absentee ballot. Under current law, the county of board elections can only issue an absentee ballot to the voter who has made a written request. That rule is gone under the new law which requires only a written request “signed by the requester.” In other words, anyone can come in with one or more written requests and gain absentee ballots.

Meanwhile, a bill introduced by Senate Rules Chairman Tom Apodaca of Hendersonville would eliminate public financing of judicial and other statewide races now eligible for it.

Blue Ridge Road District Study

I came across this again yesterday.  The City of Raleigh has been working on a study for the Blue Ridge Road corridor which includes NC State's Carter Findley and BioMed Campus, the PNC Arena, the North Carolina Art Museum, the NC State Fairgrounds, and various private businesses and a few residential areas.  They have drafted their final plan and will unveil it to council in the coming weeks.

One of the things I am most excited about is the planned changes NCDOT wants to do to the intersection of Blue Ridge Road and Hillsborough Street.  I drive through that intersection at least 8 times a week and its a pain in the butt.  Here is what they want to do:

How cool is that?  They want to lower the road under the existing Hillsborough Street and railroad tracks.  Too bad it probably won't be complete until 2020 or so, but I still think it is great.  I think the whole plan is great actually.  The area does need more hotels, restaurants, attractions, and residential development.  It will definitely be more of a destination in the next 20 years.  

Summer School Sucks

Summer school sucks.  But, I have only taken one summer school class and it was research methods, so take my observation as you will.  We really did try to cram a 10 week class in a 5 week time period and it did not work out so well.

The "unhelpful high school teacher" meme below summarizes the final exam last night.

GOP makes North Carolina better - Update x 2

When I first read about this last week, it gave me quite a chuckle.  It must be nice to outlaw things we do not like or want to believe.

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To be fair (who does this anymore in politics?), they are doing this so the beach communities can continue to progress as usual, without have to start preparing (zoning laws and building codes) and paying for something that may or may not happen a 80 years from now.  There are different studies by different scientists who forecast different measurements.  It's just extremely funny we created a bill to ignore science.  If you have beach front property in North Carolina, you should definitely sell it sometime this century though, or be prepared to spend a lot of money toward beachification efforts.

Thanks to the GOP for making North Carolina more interesting and news worthy.  From education in Wake County, to making the poor not poor enough, to making civil unions unconstitutional, and now outlawing science, thanks!


6-7-12 Update:
Apparently the wording has changed in the new draft, but it still would exclude data considering the acceleration from climate change. Read more here. The WRAL article also contains information about where this push is coming from and who is behind it.


6-21-12 Update:
According to the N&O, the bill has been re-written: article It will be presented next week, so it will be interesting to see how they changed the wording.