From Mountain Xpress (6/14/11): While the all-important $19.7 billion state budget labored its way through the General Assembly en route to Gov. Bev Perdue's historic June 12 veto (the first time a North Carolina governor has ever rejected a budget), legislators also pushed a number of other bills along the Statehouse corridors toward the June 9 crossover deadline (after which most bills can't be considered for the rest of the two-year session). Some lost their earlier patina; others made light of the serious business at hand.
Take, for example, the Sunshine Act — the darling of those who believe free access to public records and public meetings is vital. Put forward early in the session, HB 87 aimed to bolster government-in-the-sunshine by adding a constitutional amendment guaranteeing such access. The bill saw some amendments of its own, but the concept survived until June 3, when it was scheduled for a committee vote. The subject of that vote, though, turned out to be a gutted bill, its original content replaced by one calling for a 30-day moratorium on “commercial communications” with accident victims and people charged with certain motor-vehicle violations.
“There is never a dull moment at the Statehouse these days,” said Beth Grace, executive director of the nonprofit N.C. Press Association. The new HB 87, she told Xpress via email, is “aimed at lawyers and is completely unrelated” to the original purpose. Republican Stephen LaRoque of Kinston, who sponsored the original bill, hopes to bring the sunshine back if possible, noted Grace, adding that there’s talk of a special legislative session in the fall to discuss potential constitutional amendments.