Under the Dome Updates: Spending amount reached, new park gets first student visitors
Several major pieces of legislation moved forward on Wednesday, including in the Senate, where bills imposing tougher penalties for rioting, damaging electrical facilities like substations, and distributing heroin, fentanyl and other opioids all cleared the final hurdle before floor votes that could come as soon as Thursday.
Meanwhile, the Senate’s Medicaid expansion bill cleared the Senate Finance Committee.
Lawmakers were also expected to talk about the Equal Rights Amendment and voting rights legislation during two news conferences.
And across the street, a public park that has received money in the state budget got its first student visitors.
With Under the Dome Updates, The News & Observer brings you the latest legislative news from North Carolina as it develops. Refresh this page to follow the latest updates, and find more coverage on our website and Twitter account.
2:10 p.m.: Berger and Moore agree how much to spend on budget
Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore have reached an agreement on how much money the state budget will spend, Moore’s office announced. It’s a key moment in budget negotiations, and shows that the budget process is still on track to finish on time, in June.
The two Republican leaders agreed that for the first year of the two-year spending plan, spending will increase by 6.5%, and in the second year, 2024-25, it’ll grow by 3.75%. Berger’s office confirmed that means spending will be about $29.7 billion in 2023-24 and about $30.8 the following year. The 2023-24 fiscal year begins July 1.
“Reaching this agreement with the Senate on the overall spend is an encouraging start to crafting another responsible budget that addresses the needs of North Carolinians, including key investments in teacher and state employee raises, infrastructure, and workforce development,” Moore said in a statement.
“We have more work to do to ensure those needs are met, to secure a bright future for North Carolina in spite of the failing Biden economy that has impacted us all. I am confident we can keep our state on the same path to continue the growth and promise our state offers so many,” he said.
2:10 p.m.: Wake County high school students get first tour of NC Freedom Park
North Carolina Freedom Park, across Wilmington Street from the Legislative Building, has been under construction for more than a year. Busloads of students on field trips to the General Assembly will soon make a new stop at the park, scheduled to be completed this summer.
The project has received more than $2.5 million in state funds. Built to honor and celebrate the African American experience in North Carolina, the park features a center art structure called the Beacon that will be lit at night, and inscribed quotations from Black North Carolinians along several walkways.
The first student group to tour the site, on Wednesday, was a 10th grade honors civic literacy class from Wake Early College of Information and Biotechnology in Morrisville.
12:30 p.m.: Increased penalties for sexual misconduct with students advance
A House committee backed a bill that would increase the penalties for sex offenses with students as well as on school leaders who fail to report the misconduct.
The “Protect Our Students Act” elevates sexual activity with a student or taking indecent liberties with a student from a Class I felony to a Class G felony for school employees.
House Bill 142 also makes it a Class I felony for school administrators who fail to promptly report to the State Board of Education any teacher who has engaged in misconduct resulting in dismissal, disciplinary action or resignation.
“I know some school administrators are concerned about the increase in the penalty,” Rep. John Torbett, a Gaston County Republican, said at Wednesday’s meeting of the House Judiciary 1 Committee. “But ladies and gentlemen, very simply, If you are following the law you have absolutely nothing to worry about.”
Torbett said passing the legislation will show how seriously North Carolina wants to “end this bad behavior.”
The bill passed the committee and now goes to the House Pensions and Retirement Committee.
11 a.m.: Rioting, power grid, trafficking, Tiktok bills move forward
Multiple bills, some of which were introduced by Republican lawmakers early on in this year’s session and reflect their priorities, were approved by the Senate Rules Committee on Wednesday morning.
House Bill 40, sponsored by House Speaker Tim Moore, who visited a Senate committee yesterday to present the bill, would impose stricter criminal penalties for various rioting offenses, including those that result in at least $2,500 of property damage, or a death.
The bill, which has been strongly criticized by social justice activists who have claimed the bill is intended to silence Black Lives Matter protesters, passed the House last month with the support of six Democrats, including four who are Black.
One of the bill’s main sponsors, Rep. Shelly Willingham, a Rocky Mount Democrat and former police officer, has rejected the idea that the bill would target any specific movement, and says it’s a common-sense measure to make sure rioters who disrupt peaceful protests and cause injury or property damage are held responsible for their actions.
Willingham said the bill includes language to make clear that it isn’t meant to prevent or prohibit people from exercising their First Amendment rights, and said he hopes it’ll “discourage some of those folks who come out for the wrong reasons, from not doing some of these things.”
But Kerwin Pittman, a social justice activist with Emancipate NC, reiterated his view that the bill was meant to deter police brutality protesters from making their voices heard. He also addressed Democrats in the Senate who may be considering voting for the bill.
“My message is to any Dems who (want) to sign on to this (bill): Make no mistake. We’ve organized from one end of the state to the other, and you will be held accountable for ... supporting this type of legislation that distinctly targets marginalized communities,” he said to the committee.
Senate Bill 58, which would impose tougher penalties for damaging energy facilities like the electrical substations in Moore County that were damaged in December, resulting in nearly 45,000 customers losing power for several days, was also approved on Wednesday.
Two other bills, Senate Bill 83, which would block state employees from downloading or using TikTok, WeChat or Telegram on state devices; and Senate Bill 189, which increases fines for heroin and fentanyl trafficking, and expands the scope of the state’s “death by distribution” law, also received approval.
All four bills can now head to the Senate floor, where votes could come as soon as Thursday.
This story was originally published March 8, 2023 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Under the Dome Updates: Spending amount reached, new park gets first student visitors."
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