Fitzsimon File

The General Assembly adjourned for the year just before five o'clock Friday afternoon after no major issues arose to divide House and Senate leaders. The expected fight over how to address a significant funding shortfall in the State Health Plan never materialized.

The House voted Thursday to take $100 million from the State Rainy Day fund to address the problem, but Senate leaders refused to consider that proposal, preferring instead to do nothing and let State Health Plan officials handle it, which is likely to result in higher insurance costs for many state employees.

But oddly, no one in the House seemed too upset about it. House Speaker Joe Hackney didn't mention the House health plan fix in his frequent updates to members about what bills were still pending before adjournment.

No one mentioned being inundated with calls from angry state employees worried about heath care costs eating up their 2.75 percent raise, but those calls are coming if co-pays or premiums are raised, and it seems almost certain they will be. The funding shortfall could be as much as $140 million by the end of the fiscal year.

Governor Mike Easley is expected to sign legislation passed Thursday to make it more difficult for people with a serious mental illness to buy a gun. The head of Grassroots North Carolina, a pro-gun group to the right of the NRA said his organization was neutral on the legislation and that it wouldn't make people any safer.

The bill grew out of a commission appointed by Attorney General Roy Cooper in response to the shootings last year at Virginia Tech. There was heated debate in the Senate about the bill but nobody opposed sending the names of people who are a danger to themselves or others to the federal database that gun dealers are required to check before selling a firearm.

And everybody also agreed that making it tougher for people who are dangerous from buying a gun is a good idea. But not Grassroots North Carolina. They are neutral about our making communities safer.

Look for more here next week and on the Progressive Pulse about what was accomplished this session and what wasn't.

The most interesting news of the day in the policy world came from outside the General Assembly from disgruntled members of the N.C. Association of Realtors that routinely intimidates lawmakers in its lobbying efforts avoid paying for a share of the state's growth that brings realtors billions in profits.

The Senate voted this session to take away the option of counties to ask voters to approve a small increase in the local land transfer tax to pay for school construction.  The House did not consider the legislation, but the Realtors made it clear they will try again.

The day the Senate Finance Committee approved the repeal of the local option transfer tax, the Realtors Association issued a press release announcing it was raising $10 million to increase it advocacy efforts and propaganda campaign.

The press release didn't mention where the money was coming from, but thanks to a handful of unhappy realtors, we now know. The Association is imposing a $50 fee on all its members and if the fee isn't paid by the end of September, it will be added to next year's dues along with a 40 percent late fee.

One realtor points out that not only does the fee force members to support advocacy they might not agree with, if they do not pay it, they lose their membership and will no longer have access to the Multiple Listing Service that is vital to their daily job.

Raleigh Realtor Carlton Brown has set up a blog to get the word out and his first entry explains the problem, that the Realtors Association "can end our careers as we know it, by not allowing access to our local MLS should we not have the money or desire to support their activism."

Brown calls the Association's tactics extortion and promises that a website is coming. Maybe he should see if the domain"its-a-really-bad-idea.org." is free or maybe "stop-the-extortion-preserve-the-American-dream.com."

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This entry was posted on Friday, July 18th, 2008 at 4:45 pm and is filed under Fitzsimon File. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.