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First
a state, now a regional approach
launched to fight smog-causing ozone
As
the House was considering the so-called clean smokestacks bill
to solve North Carolina’s smoggy-air problem by imposing
strict emissions controls on 14 coal-fired power plants, Gov.
Mike Easley was in Tennessee on Tuesday to sign an accord with
the governors of Georgia and Tennessee to foster a regional
approach to air quality. "Pollution
does not respect state borders,” Easley said at the third
annual Governor's Summit on Mountain Air Quality. Easley was
quick to tell the other governors that North Carolina has been
doing its part to battle air pollution and is considering
imposing among the nation’s toughest emissions standards.
Easley spoke as the House Utilities Committee continued
debating the Senate-passed clean smokestacks bill, S.1078
Improve Air Quality/Electric Utilities. Read
that story
 Legislative News
House
passes bill raising
auto emissions testing fees
The
House on Tuesday approved a bill that sets fees for North
Carolina's stronger auto emissions testing program,
established by the 1999 General Assembly. The vote was 69-44
to approve the bill, H. 969 Air Quality/Motor Vehicle
Inspection Fees.
The measure now goes to the Senate.
The state’s
new auto emissions testing program will be phased in over the
next five years and expanded from the current nine urban
counties to 48. The legislation sets the motor vehicle safety and
emissions inspections fee at $34. In counties where emissions
testing is not required, the fee for safety inspections alone
would increase from $9.25 now to $14.45 in October and to $16
in 2003.
Read that story.
House:
It’s OK for schools to post Ten Commandments
By
a margin of 101-15, the House on Wednesday approved a
Senate-passed bill to encourage dress codes and teaching of
character education in the public schools. House Republicans
led by Rep.
Don Davis of Harnett
County, wanted to go a step further and started the amendment
stempede to stipulate that schools may also display the Ten Commandments on
classroom walls. The bill now goes back to the Senate for concurrence in
amendments. The Ten Commandments amendment was offered by ). It allows display of Biblical tenets on
any school property as long as they are displayed in the same
manner as "other documents of historical
significance."
Read
that story.
 Get updated on all committee
actions, floor votes and see a list of new laws passed by the
legislature.
Economic Development News:
N.C. ranks 11th nationally in
growth through the go-go '90s. Asheville lands a high-tech
wonder.State
Government News
Revenue
Department meets timely refunds deadline
Last
year was a disaster for the state Revenue Department, which
couldn’t get its new computer system to work right and fell
nearly a month behind schedule in mailing out tax refund
checks. The state ended up paying $2.5 million in
interest penalties on refunds to taxpayers who had waited
weeks for their money. This
year it’s a different story. Revenue workers processed all
on-time income tax returns by May 11, got most refunds in the
mail within three weeks and all payments in the bank by the
end of April, according to Secretary Norris Tolson. Read
that and other state government stories.
Check the NCCBI
master calendar of meetings and events you may want to
attend.
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