Legislators keep session short, sweet
Monday, July 31st, 2006
By Chris Fitzsimon
Policy milestones reached in a jiffy The Associated Press North Carolina’s "short" legislative sessions, which fall in even-numbered years, are generally a time to shore up the odd deficiency in budgets and policies from the year before.
This year it turned out to be a session of efficiency.
In less than three months, legislators tackled many of the state’s largest policy issues of the past decade, passing new laws at a pace that surprised even political veterans.
"I certainly have not seen a session of this magnitude in the years I’ve been here," Rep. Alma Adams, a Democrat from Guilford County, said before the legislature adjourned for the year shortly after 1 a.m. Friday. "This has truly been a history-making session."
Among the major policy changes was raising the state’s long-stagnant minimum wage by $1, a response to Adams’ nine-year campaign on the issue.
Legislators reached a catalog of milestone deals during the 2 1/2-month session, including a crackdown on sex offenders, changes in drunken driving laws, and a long-awaited proposal to rid the state of video poker machines.
The legislature also adopted a first-in-the-nation innocence commission with the authority to investigate criminal cases and overturn wrongful convictions. (more…)
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