Jan 24, 2007
In N.C. General Assembly, it's always about the money
Editorial - Charlotte Observer

When the General Assembly convenes today in Raleigh for its biennial session, it will have a new leader in the House for the first time in eight years and new ethics laws governing lobbyists, lawmakers and executive branch officials. It also needs new House and Senate rules that guarantee openess to all 170 members -- including more time to study the annual budget before voting and the right to have all amendments considered. 
 
Those changes are long overdue, though many worry how the House will function without Rep. Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, in the speaker's seat. Democrats, who have a 68-52 edge in the House, have nominated Rep. Joe Hackney, D-Orange, a veteran lawmaker with a reformer's heart, to be speaker. While some think the new ethics rules go too far, legislators should see how they work before reinventing them. Postponing that discussion will allow time to concentrate on critical decisions on taxes, education and health care. 
 
Gov. Mike Easley has raised the possibility of creating a state earned income tax credit and paying for it by retaining a quarter-cent sales tax levy due to expire this year. A state earned-income credit would help low-wage working citizens, but it should be adopted as part of a larger reconsideration of the state's revenue structure. A state-local tax modernization commission is examining a host of issues related to how governments pay for themselves -- including the possibility of the state picking up counties' share of Medicare costs -- and may not have significant recommendations until 2008. 
 
Legislators won't know for several months whether they'll be dealing with a structural shortfall in assembling the annual budget. They must give top priority to funding public schools and community colleges and keeping university tuition affordable. That means granting the UNC system's request for additional state student financial aid over the next two years. That program ran short this year. 
 
Legislators will, as usual, face more spending requests than they can meet. A commission on land and water conservation has recommended an ambitious $1 billion bond issue to pay for natural, historical and cultural resources over five years. It's a visionary recommendation, but it may run up against the hard reality of needed school construction bonds and housing bonds. Lawmakers also will be asked to fund more mental health services and health care programs and raise teacher pay to the U.S. average. 
 
Some choices will be clear-cut. Lawmakers should give local governments authority to ban smoking in restaurants and other public places. They should approve seed money to help convert hog waste pits to new waste technologies and lift a moratorium on new hog farms that limits competition. They should address forthcoming recommendations of a global warming study commission and a capital punishment study panel. It's a long agenda. Lawmakers should come to town ready to work.