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  • My 33rd year at NCGA starts today

    Number of comments: 2
    I started working at the North Carolina General Assembly November 14, 1977, so my 33rd year starts today! [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2009, 3:21pm EST
    by gercohen

  • 2010 census projections and redistricting – 2009 update

    In 2007 and 2008, I posted on the State Data Center’s 2010 population projections and how population growth might affect the 2010 redistricting. Of interest to the legislative community is the North Carolina State Data Center population projections.  Most recently updated September 8, 2009, the County Population Growth 2000-2010 dataset gives some [...]
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    Posted: October 16, 2009, 2:32pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • bills eligible in the 2010 NC short session

    The 2009 Regular Session of the 2009 General Assembly adjourned on August 11, 2009, to reconvene for the 2010 Short Session at 12:00 noon on Wednesday, May 12, 2010. As in the past, the adjournment resolution limits the measures that may be considered during the Short Session.  An explanatory memorandum is [...]
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    Posted: September 29, 2009, 1:19pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • September 18 reconvened session cancelled

    A majority of the members of the House and Senate having signed a petition under Article II, Section 22(7) of th North Carolina Constitution stating that no reconvened session was necessary, the General Assembly session set to convene at 1:00 pm on Friday, September 18 has been cancelled by Governue Perdue, see Order Rescinding [...]
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    Posted: September 16, 2009, 6:03pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • stats on NC long sessions 2001 through 2009

    Number of comments: 1
    Here’s a table comparing the volume of legislation filed and passed during the last five long sessions of the North Carolina General Assembly, covering 2001 through 2009:   2001 2003 2005 2007 2009 Date Convened Jan. 24 Jan. 26 Jan. 26 Jan. 24 Jan. 28 Date adjourned Dec. 6 July 20 Sept. 2 Aug. 2 Aug. 11 Senate legislative days  173  102  126  111  112 House legislative days  179  102  125  113  114 Senate bills introduced  1,109  1,340  1,184  1,573  1,109 House bills introduced  1,478  1,028  1,800  2,072  1,658 Total bills introduced  2,587  2,368  2,984  3,645  2,767 Session Laws enacted  519  435  463  551  577 Vetoes 0 1 1 1 1 Joint resolutions [...]
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    Posted: September 16, 2009, 9:09am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Table of statutes amended by 2009 NC regular session

    We’ve put up a final list (in Excel spreadsheet format) of all General Statutes and Session Laws amended by the 2009 Regular Session of the North General Assembly, find it on this page, listed as:  NCGS and Session Laws Affected by 2009 Ratified Bills. [...]
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    Posted: September 11, 2009, 3:45pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Governor Perdue signs four bills, vetoes HB104

    Governor Perdue completed her action this afternoon on bills from the 2009 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Assembly by signing four and vetoing one. Signed were: 2009-574 H945 The Studies Act of 2009. [ HTML | RTF | PDF ] 2009-575 H836 Modify Appropriations Act. [ HTML | RTF | PDF ] 2009-576 S133 Registers of Deeds’ Pension. [ HTML | RTF | PDF ] 2009-577 H1329 Consolidate Expunction Statutes. [ HTML | RTF | PDF ] Vetoed was House Bill 104. Clarify Legislative Confidentiality, on September 10, 2009. Click [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 5:51pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • No bills signed as of 2 pm today

    No bills signed as of 2 pm today. Still 10 hours left. [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 2:55pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • first scans – NC public records digitization project

    I posted this past weekend about the big joint ECU/UNC/State/Legislative libraries project to digitize and publish 750,000+ pages of NC historical records. I’ve learned from the North Carolina Legislative Library: “UNC has begun scanning materials on the Scribe, and ECU will begin testing data extracts from the Internet Archive in the [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 11:06am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Last day for bill signing is today

    Today (September 10, 2009) is the last day for Governor Perdue to act on bills passed by the 2009 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Assembly.  Article II, Section 22(7) of the Constitution allows 30 days after session adjournment (August 12) for the Governor to act.    Here are the five bills [...]
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    Posted: September 10, 2009, 10:26am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Carolina Hurricanes tix available cheep

    This is my tenth season as leader of an eleven-family season ticket group sharing nine Carolina Hurricanes season tickets. I have 50 tickets to resell that were not claimed in my pool (one member from last year dropped out).  This year, my group consists of five legislative staffers, two lobbyists, a neighbor, [...]
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    Posted: September 09, 2009, 6:23pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 29 of 30, one bill signed, five remain

    Number of comments: 1
    Governor Beverly Perdue signed Senate Bill 974 (Consumer Economic protection Act of 2009) on Wednesday, September 9, 2009. After that signing there still remained five bills on her desk. Wednesday is day 29 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be this Thursday, September [...]
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    Posted: September 09, 2009, 11:01am EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 28 of 30 – no bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue did not sign any bills on Tuesday, September 8, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Tuesday was day 28 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be this Thursday, September 10. [...]
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    Posted: September 09, 2009, 8:55am EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 27 of 30 – no bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue did not sign any bills on Monday, September 7, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Monday was day 27 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be this Thursday, September 10. [...]
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    Posted: September 08, 2009, 10:11am EDT
    by gercohen

  • days 24 thru 26 of 30 – no bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue did not sign any bills Friday, September 4, 2009 through Sunday, September 6, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Sunday was day 26 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be Thursday, [...]
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    Posted: September 08, 2009, 9:12am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Law Writer blog premieres

    While cover on this North Carolina legislative news and research tips, Phyllis Pickett of our North Carolina drafting staff has started a new blog entitled “Law Writer: Legislative Drafting and Analysis in the Real World” covering the more technical aspects of law writing. Drop by, won’t you? Looks like it will give a [...]
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    Posted: September 05, 2009, 2:33pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Huge NC public records digitization underway

    In late July, 2008, I posted on why we were stopping our internal legislative digitization project at 1959: We’ve been going back one legislative session (two years) each year and scanning local acts.  We’ve to date not posted public laws from 1959 through 1982 to reduce the expense of the project (all [...]
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    Posted: September 05, 2009, 1:58pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Do counties have charters? (no and yes)

     After I posted earlier this week about city charters I got an inquiry about whether counties have charters. I would view the initial act creating a county as its charter, but no county that I know of has ever sought an enactment to codify its local acts into one document [...]
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    Posted: September 04, 2009, 12:05pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 23 of 30 – no bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue did not sign any bills on Thursday, September 3, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Thursday was day 23 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be Thursday, September 10. [...]
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    Posted: September 04, 2009, 10:10am EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 22 of 30 – no bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue did not sign any bills on Wednesday, September 2, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Wednesday was day 22 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be Thursday, September 10. [...]
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    Posted: September 03, 2009, 9:55am EDT
    by gercohen

  • How tall is Jim Hunt?

    WordPress.com (where this blog is hosted) gives me a report each day on what site referred people to my blog, and if they found this blog on google, what were they searching for.  My report for September 2 said someone was sent to my blog by google after they searched [...]
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    Posted: September 03, 2009, 8:51am EDT
    by gercohen

  • What’s a city charter and why is it so old?

    Number of comments: 1
    I get periodic calls asking me to send a copy of the charter for a particular city. North Carolina law defines a city charter as “… the entire body of local acts currently in force applicable to a particular city, including articles of incorporation issued to a city by an [...]
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    Posted: September 02, 2009, 3:07pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 21 of 30 – no bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue did not sign any bills on Tuesday, September 1, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Tuesday was day 21 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There [...]
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    Posted: September 02, 2009, 12:12pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 20 of 30 – no bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue did not sign any bills on Monday, August 31, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Monday was day 20 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. [...]
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    Posted: September 01, 2009, 1:38pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Comparing Perdue and Easley action on post session bill signings

    As of Sunday, August 30, 2009 the 19th day of 30 for action, six bills remained on Governor Beverly Perdue’s desk out of the 108 that had been pending at the August 12, 2009 adjournment. A total of 102 bills (94% of the total) have been signed. In 2007, at the [...]
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    Posted: August 31, 2009, 1:43pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • days 18 and 19 of 30 – no bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue did not sign any bills on Saturday, August 29, 2009 or Sunday, August 30, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Sunday was day 19 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day [...]
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    Posted: August 31, 2009, 1:28pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 17 of 30: 43 bills signed, six remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue signed 43 bills on Friday, August 28, 2009. At that point there still remained six bills on her desk. Friday was day 17 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There is no [...]
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    Posted: August 31, 2009, 1:17pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • No more bill signing news until Monday

    No more North Carolina  bill signing news until Monday, August 31. [...]
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    Posted: August 28, 2009, 2:53pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 16 of 30 – 3 bills signed, 49 remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue signed three bills on Thursday, August 27, 2009. At that point there still remained 49 bills on her desk. Thursday was day 16 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There is no [...]
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    Posted: August 27, 2009, 5:43pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 15 of 50 – 56 bills signed, 52 remain

    Governor Beverly Perdue signed 56 bills on Wednesday, August 26, 2009. At that point there still remained 52 bills on her desk. Wednesday was day 15 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There is [...]
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    Posted: August 27, 2009, 5:35pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • NC bill signings begin

    Governor Perdue began Wednesday, August 26 signing the 108 bills on her desk. We will process those, assign Session Law chapter numbers and post them to the web later this morning. The quickest way to find the newly signed bills will be to go here  and scroll to the bottom, newly signed [...]
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    Posted: August 27, 2009, 6:40am EDT
    by gercohen

  • thru day 14 of 30 – no bills signed, 108 left

    Through Tuesday, August 25, 2009, there still remained 108 bills on Governor Perdue’s desk. Tuesday was Day 14 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There is no “pocket veto“, any bills not acted [...]
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    Posted: August 26, 2009, 9:38am EDT
    by gercohen

  • thru day 13 of 30 – no bills signed, 108 left

    Through Monday, August 24, 2009, there still remained 108 bills on Governor Perdue’s desk. Monday was Day 13 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There is no “pocket veto“, any bills not acted [...]
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    Posted: August 25, 2009, 10:05am EDT
    by gercohen

  • thru day 12 of 30 – no bills signed, 108 left

    Through Sunday, August 23, 2009, there still remained 108 bills on Governor Perdue’s desk. Sunday was Day 12 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There is no “pocket veto“, any bills not acted [...]
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    Posted: August 24, 2009, 11:32am EDT
    by gercohen

  • thru Day 9 of 30 – no bills signed, 108 left

    Through Thursday, August 20, 2009, there still remained 108 bills on Governor Perdue’s desk. Thursday was Day 9 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There is no “pocket veto“, any bills not acted [...]
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    Posted: August 21, 2009, 2:49pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • thru Day 8 of 30 — no bills signed, 108 left

    Through Wednesday, August 19, 2009, there still remained 108 bills on Governor Perdue’s desk. Wednesday was Day 8 of 30 for gubernatorial action after the August 12 adjournment of the 2009 North Carolina legislative session, final day for action will be September 10. There is no “pocket veto“, any bills not [...]
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    Posted: August 20, 2009, 12:17pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • What’s on the Governor’s desk – Aug. 15 edition (108 bills)

    Number of comments: 1
    Here’s a list of the 108 bills on Governor Perdue’s desk as of Friday, August 15, 2009 (I don’t expect anything to be signed this weekend and I’m in Winston-Salem until Wednesday — deadline for guberantorial action is September 10): Bill Short Title   Action Text H12   Garvee Bonds/Repayment.   Pres. To Gov. 8/11/2009 H104   Clarify Legislative Confidentiality.   Pres. To Gov. 8/11/2009 H148   Congestion Relief/Intermodal Transport Fund.   Pres. To Gov. 8/11/2009 H191   General Statutes Clarifying Correction.   Pres. To Gov. 8/11/2009 H209   Sex Offender Registry/Liberties w/ Student.   Pres. To Gov. 8/6/2009 H212   Health [...]
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    Posted: August 14, 2009, 1:06pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • The Adjournment Resolution over to 2010

    Number of comments: 1
    The North Carolina General Assembly adjourned by joint resolution on Tuesday, August 12, 2009 to meet again on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 for the so called “short session”. The practice of using a joint reslution to reconvene and set the rules limiting what can be considered was first used in 1975 [...]
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    Posted: August 12, 2009, 4:27pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • NC Session Wrap #2

    At today’s North Carolina General Assembly House and Senate Sessions, 59 bills and three joint resolutions were ratified.  This afternoon, the final 53 bills were delivered to the Governor. The Governor now has 108 bills on her desk. The other six were bills that became law when they were ratified.   There [...]
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    Posted: August 11, 2009, 4:48pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Finding what the 2009 NC Regular Session did

    Looking for what the 2009 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Assembly did? You will be able to find: (1) Session Laws on public and local bills. This gets updated within an hour or two after we get bills back from the Governor. The list is in chronological order by Chapter number [...]
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    Posted: August 11, 2009, 11:20am EDT
    by gercohen

  • 2009 North Carolina legislative session wrap-up

    Number of comments: 1
    UPDATED 11:04 am Tuesday, cajoled paperwork for four more bills.   At its Friday North Carolina Senate and Monday House sessions, the General Assembly took final action on 62 measures:  59 bills and 3 resolutions.  Of those 59 bills, 53 will will be signed and go to the Governor Tuesday, five are [...]
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    Posted: August 11, 2009, 12:06am EDT
    by gercohen

  • What happened Friday in the Senate

    The following  22 bills had final legislative votes in the Senate Friday and will be ratified (signed by the Lt Governor and Speaker) in session Tuesday and delivered to the Governor later Tuesday afternoon: SB 220 AN ACT TO MAKE TECHNICAL CORRECTIONS IN THE GENERAL STATUTES AS REQUESTED BY THE GENERAL [...]
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    Posted: August 09, 2009, 5:50pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • 2009 NC Budget Conference Report online

    The conference report on Senate Bill 202, the 2009-2011 North Carolina State Budget has been filed in the House and Senate this evening:  New – Bill Text New – Table of Contents New – Committee Report (details money) The conference report must be approved by votes on two separate days. It will not reach the Governor before [...]
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    Posted: August 03, 2009, 11:16pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • 2009 NC Session to date

    Some stats on the 2009 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Assembly as of July 2, 2009, with some comparisons to 2007: Session Laws enacted by 7/2/2009:  272 (Of the 272 acts, 182 were signed into law by the Governor, the other 89 were local acts that do not require gubernatorial approval and [...]
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    Posted: July 02, 2009, 6:55pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Governor Perdue signs 15-day budget extension

    Governor Perdue signed Senate bill 311 at 5:30 this evening, Continuing Budget Authority, which authorizes expenditures by North Carolina State Government until the close of July 15, 2009. The text of the chaptered session law, S.L. 2009-215,  is here. [...]
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    Posted: June 30, 2009, 6:08pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • House budget passed 6/13 — bill text and committee report

    The House of Representatives passed Senate Bill 202 on June 13, 2009. Thirty-nine adopted floor amendments were engrossed to create the 6th edition of the bill.  Below are links to the bill as passed, its table of contents, the report from today incorporating the bill and all amendments, including budget [...]
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    Posted: June 13, 2009, 1:22am EDT
    by gercohen

  • House floor amendments online

    House floor amendments to Senate Bill 202, 2009-2011 North Carolina State budget are scanned in and posted online at http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2009&BillID=s202&submitButton=Go As of 6:50 pm Thursday, June 11, posting was up through House amendment 31, as follows.  Missing numbers were amendments withdrawn, displaced, or out of order: 06/11/2009 House Amend Adopted 1 06/11/2009 House Amend Adopted 2 06/11/2009 House Amend Adopted 3 06/11/2009 House Amend Adopted [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2009, 6:57pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Eight days a week

    While only the Beatles could have eight days a week, and with a Friday and Saturday North Carolina House session likely this week, the Charlotte Observer’s Jack Betts has a great post today about how regular daily sessions dropped from six to five to four days per week over the last 65 [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2009, 1:08pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • House Finance Committee action from Wednesday

    The North Carolina House Finance Committee moved along Wednesday June 10, 2009 on Senate Bill 202, 2009-2011 budget approving the following, along with three smaller amendments:  New – Bill Text – Proposed House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 202, 2009-2011 State Budget, to be considered June 10, 2009 in House Finance [...]
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    Posted: June 11, 2009, 7:18am EDT
    by gercohen

  • House budget bill as approved by Appropriations Committee

    The 2009-2011 North Carolina state budget bill as approved by the House Appropriations Committee Tuesday June 9, 2009 can be found here. [...]
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    Posted: June 10, 2009, 1:06am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Revised documents/House Appropriations committee

    Revised documents for North Carolina House Appropriations Committee June 9, 2009: New – REVISED Bill Text – Proposed House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 202, 2009-2011 State Budget, to be considered June 9, 2009 in House Appropriations Committee (Section 5.7 new, Section 28.2 revised) New – Report – Supplemental Report on the [...]
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    Posted: June 09, 2009, 10:03am EDT
    by gercohen

  • proposed House budget online

    The North Carolina 2009-2011 budget will be considered in House Appropriations Committee Tuesday, June 9, the following items have been posted to the web: New – Bill Text – Proposed House Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 202, 2009-2011 State Budget, to be considered June 9, 2009 in House Appropriations Committee [...][...]
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    Posted: June 08, 2009, 11:02pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • House appropriations subcommitee reports online

    The reports presented TO the House Appropriations subcommittees on June 4, 2009 have been posted to the web by our Fiscal Research Division as follows (note, these reports may have been amended before adoption Thursday, amendments are not shown):   Capital As presented June 4, 2009 Education As presented June 4, 2009 Health and Human Services As [...]
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    Posted: June 06, 2009, 6:10pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Keeping up with bills in the end game

    As bills pass both house and make there way to and fro the Governor’s office (or in the case of local bills, become law immediately), the North Carolina General Assembly has several resources to keep up with new laws: 1) Bills about to be ratified — bills are usually ratified the next [...]
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    Posted: June 02, 2009, 10:11am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Finding Dan Blue’s votes

    I’m continuing to get inquiries about Dan Blue’s service in both the House and Senate during the 2009 North Carolina legislative session. While this is nothing new (Dan is the sixth Representative to move over the the Senate since 1943), I still get inquiries about whether he can vote in [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2009, 3:02pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Hartsell signs a bill

    Number of comments: 1
    Hartsell signs bill When Senator Fletcher Hartsell signed Senate Bill 750 on May 28, 2009, he became since at least 1945 the first rank and file Senator to sign a bill as part of the enrollment and ratification process. The North Carolina Constitution in Article II, Section 22 requires the “presiding officer” of each [...]
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    Posted: June 01, 2009, 2:30pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Carolina Hurricanes season ticket group for 2009-2010

    Since 1999 I’ve organized a Carolina Hurricanes season ticket group. For 2008-2009 we had 13 families sharing 9 seats to all 41 home games. (Members are currently legislative staff, lobbyists, a neighbor, and friends)  A season ticket group enables members to get tickets at a discount, get better seats due to [...]
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    Posted: May 27, 2009, 2:37pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • What hath crossover wrought, Part 2

    As previously mentioned, there were 303 Senate bills and 424 House bills that passed each house between opening day and Thursday, May 14, 2009, the crossover deadline in the 2009 NC legislative session. For those wonks, here are more links showing how much went on each day of crossover week. Those links will [...]
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    Posted: May 17, 2009, 10:00am EDT
    by gercohen

  • What hath crossover wrought – Part 1

    Number of comments: 1
    With crossover come and gone for the 2009 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Assembly, I’m getting a lot of calls and emails asking “what made crossover?” Follow the following hyperlinks, which take you to the: 303 Senate bills and 424 House bills that passed each house between opening day and Thursday, May [...]
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    Posted: May 15, 2009, 12:58pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Former Speakers in the Senate; mid-session moves from H to S

    I’ve gotten a number of inquiries about whether any former North Carolina House Speakers have later served in the Senate, and whether any House members have also served in the Senate during the SAME session.  These questions have been prompted by former House Speaker Dan Blue ( Speaker 1991-1994) moving over [...]
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    Posted: May 11, 2009, 10:48am EDT
    by gercohen

  • 2009 NC bill filings down 23.6% from 2007

    We’re now past the final deadlines for most bill introductions in the 2009 long session of the North Carolina General Assembly.  Total bill filings dropped by 23.6%, with a 19.4% drop in the House and a 29.2% drop in the Senate. When factoring out companion (identical) bills, there were 26% [...]
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    Posted: May 08, 2009, 10:15am EDT
    by gercohen

  • NC State House redistricting plan maps and stats online

    Number of comments: 1
    House Bill 1621 changes House Districts 16 and 18. A full set of maps and statistics can be found here. A closeup map of revised House District 18 in New Hanover County can be found here. [...]
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    Posted: May 08, 2009, 9:50am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Bill drafting requests down almost 17%

    The total number of substantive bill drafting requests received by North Carolina legislative staff is down by almost 17% comparing May 4, 2009 with the same point in the 2007 Regular Session, a reduction from 3948 to 3293.  The dropoff has accelerated since I reported a 12% drop as of March 23, [...]
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    Posted: May 04, 2009, 10:27am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Crossover deadline FAQ

    I am getting a lot of emails and phone calls from members and others about the crossover deadline.  While questions requiring definitive answers are best directed to leadersip offices and the rules committee chairs, here are some basics:   1) The crossover rules are set out in the House Rules and Senate [...]
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    Posted: May 01, 2009, 10:06am EDT
    by gercohen

  • Finding House bills filed at the deadline

    Looking for the 157 House bills filed April 8, 2009 (HB 1221-1377) and the 127 House bills filed April 9, 2009 (HB 1378-1504)? The quickest way is to go to: http://www.ncleg.net/gascripts/lastaction/lastaction.pl?Biennium=2009&SessionNumber=1 where you can scroll through the short titles and click on the links. Today at 1:00 pm was the filing deadline under the House [...]
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    Posted: April 09, 2009, 2:12pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Senate budget as passed

    Here is the 2009-2011 North Carolina State budget as it passed the Senate today: New – 2009 Budget (Senate Bill 202 Bill Status History) New – Bill Text – Committee Substitute #2 for Senate Bill 202, 2009-2011 State Budget, as approved April 7, 2009 by Senate Appropriations, Pensions & Retirement and Finance [...]
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    Posted: April 09, 2009, 2:03pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • NC Senate proposed budget on the web

    This is just up on the News & Information pane of the North Carolina legislative website: New – 2009 Budget (Senate Bill 202 Bill Status History) New – Bill Text – Proposed Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 202, 2009-2011 State Budget, to be considered April 7, 2009 in Senate Appropriations Committee New – [...]
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    Posted: April 06, 2009, 8:18pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Bill drafting requests down 12%

    The total number of substantive bill drafting requests received by North Carolina legislative staff is down by over 12% comparing March 20, 2009 with the same point in the 2007 Regular Session, a reduction from 3105 to 2727.    Interestingly, the number of bills filed in North Carolina has dropped during bad economic times. [...]
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    Posted: March 23, 2009, 2:20pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Committee substitutes online sooner in NC

    Number of comments: 1
    When committee substitutes are reported to the floor,  in the past they had not been going on the North Carolina General Assembly website until the next edition of the bill is printed, which can be anywhere from an hour to ten hours later depending on workload. The new edition has [...]
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    Posted: February 19, 2009, 3:11pm EST
    by gercohen

  • We cut paper use by 36.8%

    Number of comments: 3
    I had reported last month that we had made formatting changes in North Carolina legislative documents to make them 18.5% shorter in order to save paper and printing time. Now, we have cut the number of copies printed  for our printed bills office and member distribution from 355 to 275, [...]
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    Posted: February 11, 2009, 9:14am EST
    by gercohen

  • N&O feature on Penny Williams 50th anniversary of hiring on NCGA staff

    Penny Williams, Legislative Assistant to Senator David Hoyle, is featured in a great article in today’s News & Observer.  Penny’s first day of employment at the General Assembly was Februry 4, 1959. Penny is the only current legislative employee who worked for the General Assembly prior to its move from the [...]
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    Posted: February 05, 2009, 10:43am EST
    by gercohen

  • Short titles added to RSS feed on new bills filings

    For those of you who use a feedreader to keep up with news, our RSS feed on new bills  now includes the short title along with the bill number. Thanks to Kelly Stallings of our IT staff for the programming and Ryan Beckwith of Under the Dome for the prodding. Other [...]
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    Posted: February 02, 2009, 12:09pm EST
    by gercohen

  • 2009 NC legislative rules online

    Rules for the 2009 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Assembly are now online: The Senate permanent rules are here, while for the House of Representatives  you need to look at the House temporary rules for 2009, which reference the permanent rules for 2007 with updated deadlines. [...]
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    Posted: February 02, 2009, 11:39am EST
    by gercohen

  • NC floor amendments online

    Number of comments: 2
    We’ve added another upgrade to the North Carolina legislative website — copies of floor amendments beginning with opening day of the 2009 Regular Session. In the past, to get a floor amendment, you had to go to the bill books in either of the two legislative libraries, where copies of all [...]
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    Posted: January 31, 2009, 4:08pm EST
    by gercohen

  • Archived audio of 2009 NC House now online

    Number of comments: 1
    Archive audio of daily North Carolina House of Representatives floor sessions is now available on the official North Carolina House website. I had noted last year that voterradio. com had archived audio of the 2008 House and Senate sessions online. [...]
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    Posted: January 30, 2009, 10:25am EST
    by gercohen

  • Receding and depressing bill filing historical stats

    Number of comments: 1
    Interestingly, the number of bills filed in North Carolina has dropped during bad economic times. During the eight-month long  2001 recession, bill filings dropped by 3% between 1999 and 2001; during the 1990-1991 recession, there was a sharper 32.3% drop from 1989 to 1991; while at the start of the [...]
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    Posted: January 28, 2009, 5:43pm EST
    by gercohen

  • 2009 NC bill deadlines

    Here are the North Carolina General Assembly House and Senate deadlines for getting bill drafting requests to staff, filing those bills, and crossover when non-money bills must clear one house. The deadlines can also be found here on the Legislative website.       2009 House Deadlines    Drafts To Bill Drafting by 4 pm Filed in House by 3 [...]
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    Posted: January 28, 2009, 1:33pm EST
    by gercohen

  • NC Bill filing deadlines in 2009

     I’m getting a lot of inquiries about the bill filing deadlines for the North Carolina General Assembly’s 2009 Regular Session, which convenes January 28.  Those deadlines have not been set — typically, they appear in the temporary or permanent rules adopted the first day of session. [...]
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    Posted: January 20, 2009, 3:40pm EST
    by gercohen

  • new email addresses over at the NCGA, but don’t worry

    Our primary email addresses at the NC General Assembly have changed again, though the old ones will still operate as aliases for the forseeable future, so need to worry about your address books. When we moved into the internet age in the late 1990s, we started with the balky email server and [...]
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    Posted: January 15, 2009, 3:39pm EST
    by gercohen

  • NC General Statutes updated through 2008 online

    The North Carolina General Assembly website now contains the North Carolina General Statutes updated to include enactments in 2008. Thanks to all our IT people, bill typists, proofreaders, The Revisor of Statute’s Office at the North Carolina Department of Justice and the folks at Westlaw for getting this done.        [...]
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    Posted: January 15, 2009, 11:23am EST
    by gercohen

  • Formatting changes mean shorter NC bills, less paper

    Effective for the 2009 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Assembly, we are making formatting changes to all new legislative drafting documents (drafts, bills, amendments, proposed committee substitutes, conference reports, and conference committee substitutes). This should enable a significant reduction in the number of pages many legislative documents take, [...]
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    Posted: January 12, 2009, 1:21pm EST
    by gercohen

  • 149th NC General Assembly convenes January 28, 2009

    The General Assembly of North Carolina will convene at 12:00 noon January 28, 2009 in the State Legislative Building in Raleigh. This will be the 149th session of the General Assembly, counting from the first assembly elected under the Constitution of 1776 (the official count of 148 apparently omits one [...]
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    Posted: January 12, 2009, 10:58am EST
    by gercohen

  • Franklin Freeman’s legislative service (and some of our folk)

    the Charlotte Observer’s Mark Johnson had an excellent piece yesterday on Franklin Freeman, most recently Governor Easley’s legislative liason, noting that “Freeman is leaving after four decades of public service in two branches of state government and daily interaction with the leaders of the third.” The article does not mention that Franklin was chief page [...]
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    Posted: January 05, 2009, 11:24am EST
    by gercohen

  • NC Legislative website gets a facelift and ‘09 info

    Number of comments: 4
    The North Carolina legislative website has had a facelift for the new year, and besides the remake of the index page, information is now available for the House and Senate members for the 2009 Regular Session. Our News Archive page now has a pulldown menu where you can go back and view news [...]
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    Posted: January 02, 2009, 1:42pm EST
    by gercohen

  • More on military absentee voting: 2008 and 1944

    I posted last month on absentee voting statistics for North Carolina reporting the following percentages of requested absentee ballots that were successfully voted for the 2008 general election: Military 61.2% of 13,501 Overseas 72.23% of 5,596 Civilian 82.56% of 259,857 I’ve gone deeper into the numbers and have found the following: Analyzing the absentee voter [...]
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    Posted: December 09, 2008, 10:55am EST
    by gercohen

  • Military absentee ballots in NC 2008, 61.2% success rate

    Number of comments: 1
    The Associated Press reported in early October that in 2006 only 30% of military absentee ballots were counted, noting that: “No one keeps centralized records on military ballots or voter turnout. But anecdotal evidence collected from local voting districts, which number more than 7,000, points to ballots that arrived late, ballots [...]
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    Posted: November 26, 2008, 1:43pm EST
    by gercohen

  • 12:00 noon on the third Wednesday after the second Monday in January next

    The North Carolina General Assembly will convene its 2009 Regular Session  January 28, 2009, which is  ”12:00 noon on the third Wednesday after the second Monday in January next after their election.” Prior to 1879, North Carolina legislative elections were in early August and convening was mid-November. Elections were moved to [...]
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    Posted: November 24, 2008, 10:00am EST
    by gercohen

  • How to achieve a finished piece of legislation

    Number of comments: 1
    Here’s a presentation I made to Leadership NC at their government session in Raleigh on November 6, 2008. I was on a panel with North Carolina Supreme Court Clerk Christie Cameron, and Franklin Freeman, Governor Easley’s legislative liason. WHAT IT TAKES TO ACHIEVE A FINISHED PIECE OF LEGISLATION Gerry Cohen, Director of Bill [...]
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    Posted: November 18, 2008, 9:50am EST
    by gercohen

  • US Supremes hear NC redistricting case

    As previously posted, the United States Supreme Court on October 14 heard North Carolina’s appeal from a North Carolina State Supreme Court case holding that a 2003 State House of Representatives redistricting plan violated the North Carolina State Constitution in District 18 in Pender and New Hanover Counties. The North Carolina Supreme [...]
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    Posted: November 17, 2008, 9:49am EST
    by gercohen

  • Today is county election canvass day

    Today is the day when the 100 counties canvass their election results, and announce the count of about 40,000 provisional ballots. The official State canvass is on November 25. Want to keep up with the canvass and the provisional ballots?  Election return central is here, and you can watch the totals [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2008, 10:19am EST
    by gercohen

  • The Buffalo Nose and other tall tales

    Number of comments: 1
    Did you know that the nickname of the Press Room at the old State Capitol back when the General Assembly sat there through 1961 was the “Buffalo Nose”. That’s one of the facts I uncovered in preparing a presentation I gave last night to the annual Capitol Beat opening reception. [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2008, 10:11am EST
    by gercohen

  • My 32nd year at the NC General Assembly starts today

    I started at the North Carolina General Assembly November 14, 1977, so that makes today the first day of my 32nd year here.  While I’m the senior staff person in terms of total permanent staff time, we do have two staff members who have continuous temporary and permanent time beginning [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2008, 9:56am EST
    by gercohen

  • Back from the early voting front line

    A few weeks ago I posted about my plans to work for the Wake County Board of Elections at an early voting site. I worked 80 of the 141 hours the Pullen Arts Center early voting site was open (taking annual leave for the hours that fell in my normal workday). I had [...]
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    Posted: November 14, 2008, 9:47am EST
    by gercohen

  • On the election front-line

    Number of comments: 2
    I will again be an early voting poll worker beginning October 16 for the Wake County Board of Elections for this fall’s general election. I will be working 73 of the 114 hours the Pullen Arts Center early voting site will be open (and taking annual leave for the hours that fall in [...]
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    Posted: September 12, 2008, 12:01pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • 2007-2008 Drafting workload totals

    Number of comments: 1
    I’ve finally had a chance to total up all the bill requests received by North Carolina legislative staff for 2007-2008 and compare the totals to those for 2005-2006, 2003-2004, and 2001-2002. I’ve tracked the number of blank bill requests and excluded them from the totals. Staff workload is up 6% from [...]
     | Rate | Archive
    Posted: September 05, 2008, 2:27pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Final drafting workload stats for 2008

    Now that we’ve concluded the 2008 short session of the North Carolina General Assembly, I’ve gone back and updated my post of May 23, 2008 comparing bill drafting requests for 2008, 2006, 2004, and 2002. While our workload is up  78% comparing 2008 with 2002 and up 35% comparing 2008 with 2004, it was [...]
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    Posted: September 05, 2008, 1:59pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Veto of House Bill 2167 overriden

     By a vote of 93-7 in the House and 39-0 in the Senate, Governor Easley’s veto of House Bill 2167 was overridden today. The text of the new law appears here in HTML and .pdf.  In accordance with G.S. 120-29.1, the bill was certified as a law by Senate Principal Clerk Janet [...]
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    Posted: August 27, 2008, 12:53pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Reconvened session today on veto of House Bill 2167

    The 2007 Regular Session of the North Carolina General Session reconvenes today at 11 a.m. Eastern Time* to consider overriding Governor Easley’s veto of House Bill 2167 (Wide Boats/Exemption). Details on the constitutional provisions on the reconvened session are here. To override the Governor’s veto requires the vote of three-fifths of the [...]
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    Posted: August 27, 2008, 9:57am EDT
    by gercohen

  • day 30 of 30: Final Four bills signed

    Governor Easley signed the final four bills on his desk into law late Sunday evening, August 16, 2008, day 30 of 30 days for gubernatorial action.  The new laws are listed below: 2008-225 S1697 Toll Enforcement Authority Changes. [ HTML | RTF | PDF ] 2008-226 H2623 Emergency Foreclosure Reduction Program. [ HTML | RTF | PDF ] 2008-227 H2188 Earlier Notification of Mortgage Servicer Fee. [ HTML | RTF | PDF ] 2008-228 H2463 Regulate Mortgage Servicers. [ HTML | RTF | PDF ] Under Article II, Section 22 of the Constitution, the Governor had 30 days [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2008, 3:42pm EDT
    by gercohen

  • Details of veto of House Bill 2167 (Towing of Recreation Boats)

    Number of comments: 1
    Links to details of Governor Easley’s August 17, 2007 veto of House Bill 2167 (Towing of Recreation Boats/Exemption) are below: Governor’s Objections and Veto Message Governor’s Veto Signature House Bill 2167 Information [...]
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    Posted: August 18, 2008, 3:29pm EDT
    by gercohen
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