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A Look at Some New Laws on the Books

By Steve Tuttle

The weeks-long deadlock in the General Assembly this summer over what programs to cut and which taxes to raise probably created a widespread impression that legislators mostly sat around twiddling their thumbs this session. But in fact several significant pieces of legislation were enacted, some of which are summarized below:

CEOs as Superintendents: You could be smart enough and savvy enough to successfully lead a billion-dollar company, but until this summer you weren’t welcome to apply for a job running even the smallest school system in North Carolina. At NCCBI’s urging, the legislature passed a law that eliminated a long-standing requirement that school superintendents must have a college degree in education and substantial classroom teaching and administrative experience.

The community colleges and the UNC System never had the “closed shop” rule that the public schools operated under, which is why Bill Friday was able to serve as president of the university system and why the late Joe Grimsley was able to lead a community college. Although very successful in their jobs, neither held a degree in education.

NCCBI had the backing of several other groups, including the Public School Forum, in seeking the change in the law. The N.C. Association of Educators vehemently opposed the change.

Election Reform: Determined to avoid the election debacle that occurred in Florida, North Carolina lawmakers passed several laws to modernize state election procedures. Most significantly, the General Assembly adopted legislation outlawing the use of butterfly ballots in the six counties that still use them — Cabarrus, Duplin, Forsyth, McDowell, Mitchell and Onslow. The legislation doesn’t give the counties any state money to pay for new voting machines, but it does give them until 2006 to make the change.

Legislators also acknowledged the huge surge in the number of Hispanic voters by passing a law requiring bilingual voting instructions in cities and counties whose Hispanic population is at least 6 percent. That covers 111 localities. Meanwhile, even though few precinct officials ever objected to the practice, legislators passed a law saying it’s fine for a voter to take a child with them into the voting booth.

A law also was passed to lengthen the so-called no excuse early voting period, which proved so popular before last fall’s balloting. Now, no excuse early voting will be allowed during party primaries as well as in the three weeks before the general election.

Child Bicycle Safety: The third time was the charm for legislation requiring children under 16 to wear safety helmets while riding bicycles. After defeating similar bills in 1996 and 1998, the General Assembly adopted a bill imposing a $10 fine on parents who knowingly allow their kids to ride without helmets. At least 17 states and several North Carolina municipalities already have mandatory helmet laws. University of North Carolina highway research reports 38 children aged 14 and under died from bicycle-related injuries between 1996 and 1998.

Streamlined Sales Taxes: The legislature took an important first step toward leveling the playing field between brick-and-mortar merchants and those who sell their wares over the Internet, by catalogues and over the TV home-shopping channels. Alarmed by estimates by the state Department of Revenue that North Carolina is losing $120 million to $140 million a year on sales and use taxes on such purchases, legislators passed a bill that joins North Carolina with several other states in studying ways to make their sales tax systems more compatible so that collecting such taxes can be more efficient.

Red Light Cameras: They seemed to have worked well at helping Charlotte officials discourage motorists from running red lights, so legislators passed a law allowing several other cities to install the cameras at dangerous intersections, including Nags Head, Concord, and towns in Union, Durham and Wake counties. But some Wake County legislators feared that Raleigh might view the cameras simply as a cash cow, so they asked for – and got – a provision that the proceeds from red light camera tickets will go to the public schools, not city hall. Red light cameras also are allowed in Fayetteville, Greensboro, High Point, Rocky Mount, Wilmington, Green-ville, Lumberton, Chapel Hill, Cornelius, Huntersville and Matthews.

Executing the Mentally Ill: This summer North Carolina became the 17th state to ban the execution of mentally retarded defendants convicted of capital crimes, defined at persons with an I.Q. of 70 or less. On the recommendation of Attorney General Roy Cooper, the legislature amended the legislation to apply to inmates already on death row. The law requires that a defendant exhibit evidence of mental retardation prior to the crime. The law does not prevent someone who is mentally retarded and commits murder from being sentenced to life in prison.

Wine Tasting: If you’ve ever toured the wineries in California’s Napa Valley, you will remember the hospitality you were shown by being given free samples of the wines. But North Carolina’s small but growing wine industry couldn’t do that because under state law it was illegal for anyone not holding a liquor license to give away alcoholic beverages. Now it will be legal for North Carolina wineries to offer the same hospitality as their California counterparts.

The Ten Commandments: Legislation specifically allowing public schools to post the Ten Commandments was adopted, as long as they are part of a display with other documents significant to the development of the western system of law and the U.S. Constitution. The same measure also requires schools to teach a class in North Carolina history and geography in elementary school and again in middle school and it requires a dress code for students as well as the teaching of character education.

DNA Testing: The General Assembly adopted far-reaching legislation that for the first time establishes rules and procedures for using DNA to convict criminal defendants and for proving the innocence of those who have been wrongly convicted. Under the new law, defendants will be allowed greater access to DNA testing before and after trial and can receive crime scene samples and analysis of those samples performed by the state before going to trial.


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