| Legislative
Bulletin |
February
2, 2001 |
 |
Text
of House Speaker Jim Black's remarks
on opening day of the General Assembly
 Ladies
and gentlemen of the House, distinguished visitors and guests,
thank you. Thank you for giving me another opportunity to
serve you—and all of the people of North Carolina—as
speaker of the N.C. House of Representatives. Thank you to my
family, and especially my wife Betty, for tolerating my nights
away from home, the endless telephone calls on the nights I
was at home and the occasional intrusions into our private
lives. I am sure that each of you is thankful to someone for
the patience, understanding and support that allow you to be
here today. If that person is seated with you on the floor, or
sitting in the gallery, turn and give them a “Thank you.”
I am honored—and humbled—that you have entrusted me with
the awesome duties of this job. I promise today—just as I
did two years ago—that I will do all that is within my power
to exercise those duties fairly, faithfully and to the best of
my abilities. I take the trust of this office very, very
seriously, and I will not violate that trust. Two years ago, I
challenged this House of Representatives to put aside its
differences and work together. I called upon each and every
one of us to be a problem solver, not a problem creator.
To a remarkable degree, we succeeded. By working together, we
passed not one but two budgets before the start of the fiscal
year, for the first time in two decades. We addressed the
serious issues facing the North Carolina General Assembly, and
we did the things that needed to be done. We remained focused
and completed the last two phases of the plan to raise teacher
pay to the national average. We made Smart Start available to
every county in North Carolina. We passed a $3.1 billion bond
issue for higher education to put before the people. The
voters overwhelmingly endorsed that proposal in a referendum
last year, demonstrating their confidence in our great
universities and community colleges. We adjourned in a timely
manner, in keeping with our honored tradition of a
citizen-legislature. We did all of these things—and
more—without raising taxes.
Granted, we worked together better on some days than on
others. Every now and then, we let our emotions get away from
us. We said some things that, in hindsight, we wish we
hadn’t said. We got a little too demonstrative. I would like
to think that we got through those days, at least in part,
because I kept my word. I said on the first day of the
1999-2000 session that every member of this house would be
given a chance to represent the people who sent them here. The
2001-2002 session will be no different. Each and every member
will have the opportunity to stand up on the floor of this
House and speak for the people back home.
Sometimes our debate will be vigorous—and maybe even heated.
But we should never forget that this institution—the House
of Representatives—is bigger than all of us. it was here
before we were born. It will survive, God willing, long after
we are gone. We should never, ever, show disrespect for this
house. And as long as I am speaker, we will not.
Today marks the beginning of the 144th session of
the North Carolina General Assembly. When we adjourn next
year, it will have a unique place in history, just like those
sessions that came before it, and those that will follow. With
a new governor and several new members of the Council of
State, we will have an opportunity to look at issues and
programs in a new way, with a new perspective. We will also
have a chance to look beyond the next two years, or four
years. We can—and should—take the long view and talk about
how we can prepare our state’s citizens for the challenges
and unlimited potential of the next millennium.
The new governor—and his administration—may be the biggest
adjustment for everybody in state government. That’s going
to take some getting used to. Jim Hunt was governor for the
last eight years—and 16 of the last 24 years. A good number
of you have never served under a governor other than Jim Hunt.
For a while, it’s going to be a shock to hear Mike
Easley’s voice on the other end of the line when somebody
tells me the governor is on the phone.
While the governor will be different, the major issues will
remain the same. Education will remain at the top of our
agenda, as it should. I have always believed that education is
the key that can unlock our state’s vast potential. Our
people cannot take advantage of North Carolina’s booming
economy if they do not have the education and training that
business and industry demands. We cannot reduce crime rates if
we do not educate our young people and give them the means to
lead productive lives and to participate in the good life. We
are improving public schools in North Carolina. Other states
look to us as a model of the right way to approach
accountability, safe schools and teacher quality. In the
recent rankings by Education Week, for example, North Carolina
received the highest grade in the nation—a B-plus—for
improving teacher quality. But like most students, we have
areas where we must improve. we cannot settle for average in
any measure of public school excellence.
While we have made progress in our public schools, we must be
willing to fine-tune our recent efforts. Some fear that our
emphasis on accountability is leading to too much reliance on
standardized testing—and that teachers are spending too much
time teaching tests and not enough time teaching our children
how to think, explore, learn and solve problems. I share that
concern, and I am willing to adjust our current course of
action. But we cannot turn our backs on accountability.
Support for our public schools will erode if we do not make
sure that our children are learning—not just moving up
through the grades. A high school diploma must be more than a
certificate showing that a student spent 12 years in the
public schools.
And we must make sure that each and every child is learning.
All of our children cannot reach their full potential unless
we find ways to close the achievement gap between white and
minority students. Charter schools should not be exempt as we
push to make our public schools more accountable. Charter
schools that do not give their students a good education, or
cannot demonstrate how they are spending the taxpayers’
money, should not be allowed to operate.
As we consider our education agenda for the coming years, we
cannot slide back on teacher pay. Those of us who were here
over the last four years worked hard to stay the course on an
ambitious plan to raise teacher pay to the national average.
Nay-sayers said we couldn’t do it, that we would not follow
through. but we did. Now, the task is to move our teachers
beyond the national average. We probably are not going to
reach that goal this year. But we should never let it out of
our sight.
The difficulty in raising teacher pay and addressing dozens of
other needs is that there is just no money. We’re facing a
shortfall of more than $480 million in the current state
budget, in large part because of slower-than-expected tax
collections and higher-than-expected spending for Medicaid and
other programs. That’s the current budget, but you and I
both know that the current budget provides us with the
starting point for writing the next biennial budget.
The revenue picture may not be any brighter for the next few
years. We simply cannot burn our budget candle at both ends
any longer. We have cut taxes by more than a billion dollars,
And we’ve raised teacher pay and expanded Smart Start and
given state employees pay raises and done a lot of things that
needed to be done.
We’ve helped our people of Eastern North Carolina back on
their feet after a natural disaster of historic proportions.
And we’ve been on the losing end of some court decisions. We
were able to pay for all of that because the state and
national economies were booming and our coffers were full. But
our day of financial reckoning has arrived. As we write the
new state budget, we are going to carefully analyze our
spending and revenues. Every office in every department and
agency must be ready to justify its budget.
Some will say that we need to raise taxes to get out of our
financial bind, but I don’t hear any great hue and cry for
that from my constituents. The loudest call for a tax increase
is coming from local governments. They want us to give them
the authority to raise the sales tax—essentially a state
tax—and let them keep the revenue. I understand that a
one-cent sales tax increase, if approved by the voters, is the
number one goal of the N.C. Association of County
Commissioners. Some counties also want the authority to impose
fees and taxes on development, and to impose taxes on prepared
food, and to raise money in dozens of ways.
We resisted those calls during the last session. I did not
think we should be raising taxes so soon after we’d approved
a billion-dollar tax cut. I decided that a better course of
action would be to step back and take a comprehensive look at
our state and local tax structure to make sure that it
remained fair and equitable. The Tax Policy Study Commission
has prepared an interim report to the General Assembly. But it
needs more time to develop comprehensive proposals.
No matter what we ultimately decide, it’s no secret that
raising taxes—or giving local government the authority to
raise taxes—is not easy in today’s political climate. That
will apply to a proposal to raise transportation-related fees
that will be introduced this session. It is clear to anyone
who drives our roads and highways that we need to spend more
on maintenance. “The Good Roads State” has definitely
fallen behind. But I am not convinced that higher taxes and
fees are the only answer. And I don’t believe a majority of
the General Assembly believes they are the only answer,
either.
Some will look to a state lottery as a partial solution to our
bleak revenue picture. Gov. Easley has proposed a lottery as
the way to pay for pre-school education, and our neighbors in
South Carolina passed a lottery referendum last year. Given
those factors, I think it is clear that pressure will build
for a North Carolina lottery. But the lottery is not a sure
bet. There are a lot of lottery opponents on both sides of the
political spectrum in both the House and Senate. Instead of
focusing on raising taxes, or counting on a lottery, we must
search for ways to spend smarter, to reallocate, to reconsider
all programs to see if they are the best use of our tax
dollar. That should be one area where we all can agree.
If the budget and money matters are our number one concern,
redistricting is a close second. For some, it probably
outranks the budget. It seems simple enough to redraw U.S.
House, state House and Senate districts so that they have the
same number of people. With today’s computers, almost
anybody can draw the lines. The hard part will be threading
our way through the thicket of court cases, recognizing
communities of interest, trying to accommodate the wishes of
incumbents and minimizing the number of split counties and
cities and precincts. The only way we can get the job done is
to work together and be willing to compromise. None of us is
going to end up with the district of our dreams.
We also must strive to draw districts that will survive court
challenges. We must do our best to ensure that our citizens
are not bounced from district to district every two years
because our work did not pass muster with the courts. The
budget and redistricting will be the two biggest issues. But
they are not the only ones. We will continue looking at ways
to overhaul our mental health system. We appointed a study
commission to begin that work last year.
We will consider a death penalty moratorium. We will continue
talking about utility deregulation. but it’s no secret that
the stories coming out of California are slowing the push for
deregulation. California is not like North Carolina. But the
problems with deregulation in California have certainly gotten
our attention. We simply cannot afford to make similar
mistakes. We will talk about ways to protect air and water and
North Carolina’s natural beauty. We also will talk about
ways to ensure that every North Carolinian has access to
quality, affordable health care. and helping our senior
citizens pay for prescription drugs is a necessary part of
that discussion.
I want to conclude by saying that I am excited about the
upcoming session. Those who know me know that there’s
nothing I like more than a challenge. There should be no doubt
that the issues staring us in the face this year will present
plenty of challenges. As we tackle the tough issues, I do not
want us to fall into our usual pattern of seeing them in
isolation and developing only short-term solutions. I truly
believe that we must seize this opportunity to talk about
where we need to go as a state—and how best to get there.
As we chart our future, we can use Gov. Easley’s inaugural
address as one of our guiding stars. I quote: “We must
remember that North Carolina is more than a collection of
regions and people. We are one state, one people, one family,
bound by a common concern for each other. Our economic and
educational development must reflect this common spirit of
purpose as we build our future.” What a wonderful path to
follow as we approach the many challenges of this session.
There is only one way we can achieve those goals. We must work
in a bipartisan manner. There’s a lot of talk about
bipartisanship in Washington. Here in North Carolina, we
cannot afford to just talk about working together. we must
actually do it. With the Democratic and Republican numbers as
close as they are we must learn to live together and share
power. That’s what I’ve tried to do over the past two
years, and that’s what I pledge to continue over the next
two years. That will be bad news for strong partisans of both
parties, but good news for the people. Citizens want their
elected officials to spend less time fussing and fighting, and
more time working together to make our state and nation better
places to live, to work and to learn. I share that goal, and I
hope you do too.
Text
of remarks by Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight
on opening day of the General Assembly
 Congratulations
Jim Black. And congratulations to all the members of the
Senate on your election today. Thank you for the confidence
that you placed in me as your President Pro Tempore. Thank you
to my good friend Bob Martin, who I sat with on the back row
for eight-plus years; who gave me wisdom, vision, and a dream
or two of how we can make life better for others when you
simply do the right thing. Thank you, Bill Martin, again, for
the pleasure of your company and the wisdom that you give to
every person in this state. You’re a grand, great man and a
good friend. Thank you, Judge Cole, for all that you do for
the children of this state and for your integrity and the
partnership that you and I carry together. Thanks to my good
friend, David Hoyle and the escort committee—you are very
special and mean a great deal to me as well as to all of this
Senate. Welcome to my good friend, Beverly Perdue, our
Lieutenant Governor.
I have beside me a magazine story from Our State, which was
called The State at the time, that tells of an interview with
a Victor Meekins. Victor Meekins lived on the Outer Banks of
North Carolina and started the Coastland Times. It is our
local newspaper that is still there today and run by his son.
Victor interviewed a Cyrus Gray in 1934 and Cyrus explained as
to how things were not tough in Salvo on the Outer Banks in
Dare County in 1934. If you can envision how tough it truly
was in 1934 on the Outer Banks, you can realize what Cyrus was
saying: that it must have been God-awful bad 50 years before
the article came out—that in 1880 it must have been really
bad. He was telling the youth of the day, Things aren’t so
bad—let me tell you what it truly was like in North Carolina
on the Outer Banks at that time. I guess similar
stories—Senators Metcalf, Carter, Robinson, and
Carpenter—could be told in the mountains, that there
wasn’t much to be given except what the land would give.
Victor Meekins went on to tell about they how they had no
kerosene or matches and they made life with what nature
gave—and what the seed would produce. They salted their
fish, they lived by the weather and predictions of what they
saw forthcoming, of storms of major possibility. He said,
today we have so much in 1934 that we did not have in 1880. He
talks about having candles and actually having kerosene and
they even had ice in 1934. He told the generation that was
upcoming that it is not a bad life in North Carolina—just
remember what it was when I lived here 50 years before.
Every generation has strengthened itself in North
Carolina—that is a truism—and we should seek the same for
every child that follows. Each and everyone of us to stand
here today at a different time of a new generation, but it is
incumbent upon us that we see that they succeed. We can only
do that through different ways—one is educational
initiatives.
We can and must see that every child has a new opportunity to
become what he or she can with those abilities that the Lord
God gave him or her. How do we participate in that? We’ve
done well in the past have we not? How do we improve in the
future? I think we should give the same opportunity regardless
of where you were born as a child—if you’re born in Graham
County or Hyde or Tyrrell or Columbus or any other part—you
should be able to succeed. You should have the same
technologies, the same textbooks, and yes, you should have the
same health care as any other child in our state.
Last year, we took gigantic steps in making those changes and
seeing that health care was afforded to our children in North
Carolina. Now, when a child goes to school, he does not have
to go with a toothache or without glasses. And if the child
can’t hear—we saw the experience of other children, who
came to school and the teacher could not understand why little
Billy didn’t speak to the classroom. Little Billy couldn’t
hear and the teacher didn’t know it. But in North Carolina,
we are making the changes this season so little Billy can hear
and see and that his teeth are OK, but not because of the
income of his family, but because of an initiative that you
created in this General Assembly. That is a change that we
should all be awfully proud of—that all the little Billy’s
and Suzie’s and every other child in this state are afforded
the chance to succeed. For our children, they cannot succeed
unless they are educated or trained in some way so that they
can compete against their peers not in just other states, not
just in this country but also around this world.
We are connecting ourselves to every country. Just consider
how we are linked, how we are tied together with an Internet
system. A broad band of high-speed access for every community
in this state should not be a goal but a reality that has to
happen and has to happen soon to allow for successes of all
children.
In education we have to, Sen. Lee, have accountability—you
have been a champion for that cause. Coupled with the
accountability are the tools that a teacher needs in the
classroom to succeed for the children. Those tools include a
competitive salary. We’ve made great steps in that area but
not great enough.
But there are tragedies that we did not foresee that are
man-made sometimes because of actions of others or ourselves.
But when I say tragedies they are not a wrecking crew per se
but they slow down and cool the economy. A hurricane is a
natural tragedy and we had one in North Carolina—it robbed
us truly of $800 million plus dollars. We did the rightful
thing to make that appropriation—to lift up those brothers
of ours that were seriously hurt by the storm.
But with the hurricane comes some tax settlements that we were
involved in, so we are paying those today—court settlements
that may cost us even more tomorrow as we find out what the
judge has in his final judgment regarding how we address the
difficulties of educating children in different areas equally.
These settlements we will address, but we will also see that
we guarantee the teachers the salaries they deserve. Because
teachers must have the tools and communities must provide what
we need to allow every child to grow as he can.
Doing so will be costly and this is not a year where you have
a great deal of money to afford these opportunities. There is
some budget tightening that has to occur and I ask that each
and everyone of you do as I, and ask every citizen of this
state for suggestions about how we can make this life richer
and better for all of us. If you have an idea, bring it to us.
We must find ways to save, to eliminate duplication in
government, to pinch the pennies as you have to as a person in
your home with your own family.
We have to behave differently—that is a truism. We will save
money as we have never saved before and we will see that the
government runs efficiently and properly. I ask you to look at
every corner of government at every agency and every
department to find where the savings are. I ask you to do this
in concert with our great state employees and find ways to
save this money.
On the environment—which means so much to each and every one
of us. We can’t live in a nest that is dirty. You would
never find a bird that would do so. Nature doesn’t welcome
such. We have to protect our waters and the beautiful
mountains. The senators of the west recently have embarked on
an effort to protect the air in the mountains and their
beauty, to see that they are preserved and protected. I
commend them for such—the protection of the rivers and the
mountains and the streams of the Piedmont, the sounds and big
open bays and the ocean of the great Atlantic are part of our
legacy that we will leave behind. How North Carolina looks
tomorrow and what kind of environment will we have—these are
pressing questions we must answer. I assure you we will do the
right things.
It is incumbent upon us that we take care of those who cannot
take care of themselves: Certainly our children, those who are
most neglected because of family circumstances out of their
control, those mental health difficulties that so many people
are tragically inflicted with. We promise we will not forget
you, for we love you so very much.
Drugs for our seniors—I do not understand why a person of
age who does not have the money in the pocket cannot buy a
drug that is beneficial to the sustaining of life. I believe
that our governor has a proposal to address this challenge
that we will welcome.
Every person is special in this state and every person truly
counts. Senator Wellons, you are charged with a great
responsibility to see that our consumers are protected by a
new committee. We need new ideas to protect one’s privacy.
Personal information should be yours and should not be given
out to some business without your permission or to your
government.
We need to protect our seniors and our citizens from scam
artists. Also critically important is that the doctor patient
relationship is a relationship between a us and our doctor
alone.
Economics (are) critically important to us as well. If we are
to be one North Carolina, we are going to have to have water,
sewer and other infrastructure. We are going to have to have
technology and yes we are going to have to have roads in all
parts of our state. Sen. Gulley, you and your committee have
come together to advance some very bold recommendations—but
before you carry forward any recommendations that may require
new revenues, you have to purge state government of all waste
and mismanagement. Hopefully we won’t find a need for new
revenues—we can generate it through new technologies and
advancements of this new world on how to reach people. We have
to continue to fully examine the more economic depressed
regions of our state to see that they can lift up themselves
on their own—that is all they ask and that is all they need.
We have to be able to communicate with each other and we do a
pretty good job of that I would say—but that communication
link this year is critically important because of our fiscal
challenges. We must all work together as Republicans and
Democrats, as people black and white—whatever our station of
life—to see that that we succeed in representing people as
we have never represented those before.
In closing I’d like to say that you understand as I do that
we are in a time of transition, the new millennium, with a new
administration, a new day in North Carolina. This transition
gives us new opportunities to change old ways of doing
business and to bring education and prosperity to all the
people for this great state of ours.
To do this we must work together, smarter and harder and with
more energy and more vision than we have ever had before. We
have more challenges and many challenges facing us but I know
we can face these challenges head on and do the right thing
for all the people in this state because that is what we in
North Carolina have always done.
As we face the opportunity and challenges ahead, let’s
always keep in front of our mind that North Carolina, to be
truly successful, must be a place where the dreams we dream
for all our people are in reach of every citizen of this state
no matter what their station in life; no matter what the color
of their skin; no matter what your age, disability or special
challenge; no matter where they live from the mountains to the
coast or the grand Piedmont in between. Each of us deserves to
achieve all we can.
God bless you—God help us and God give us a North Carolina
where everyone counts.
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