RALEIGH -- A week of marathon meetings came to a raucous close as the House and Senate -- three days after passing a $20.7 billion state budget -- finished the rest of their must-do bills and adjourned for the year.

Legislation on landfills, ethics, water wars and amorous pets kept negotiators dashing from full sessions to hallway conferences to impromptu committee meetings as they hammered out deals late into the night Thursday.

House members clutching papers, bags and mementos from their chamber desks edged toward the doors even as they shouted "Aye!" to the adjournment motion, and first-term House Speaker Joe Hackney rapped the gavel on the year's regular session at 10:36 p.m.

"You have had an incredible year, a very, very successful session, one that recognized much of the needs of this state," Senate leader Marc Basnight, D-Dare, said shortly before that chamber adjourned at 10:15 p.m.

"Be successful with your time off, use it wisely," he said. "Unfortunately, you will be back very quickly."

The General Assembly won't reconvene until May 13, 2008, unless a special session is called _ an option that has been discussed recently to address transportation funding.

This year's primary job was finished Monday with the approval of a two-year spending plan that helps county governments by shifting their share of Medicaid costs to the state. It will also allow counties to raise some taxes with voter approval, and sets the state's sales tax on most purchases at 6.75 percent.

The next few days' work were hectic _ and sometimes a bit punchy.

"You can tell it's the end of the session," Rep. Pryor Gibson said as one floor debate devolved Thursday. "Mr. Womble's wearing his purple suit, Mr. Stam's called me a squirrel, and now Mr. Luebke and I are getting ready to rumble. It's clearly time to go home."

The House cleared one of its biggest unresolved issues by early evening, voting 65-46 in favor of legislation to upgrade permit, construction and siting requirements for landfills. The Senate approved the measure earlier in the day, just hours after a yearlong moratorium on new landfill permits expired.

Local governments, waste companies and environmentalists argued over the details until the bill arrived on the House floor, and supporters acknowledged it doesn't address everyone's concerns.

"This does not fix the problem. This takes us a baby step on a long journey," said Gibson, D-Anson.

But, he added, "We can't afford to not do something. ... This ain't going away. Every one of us, every one of our constituents, when we reach under the sink and throw the trash away, we think we're done with it. But we're not."

The landfill legislation, approved without debate in the Senate on Thursday morning, would create a $2-per-ton surcharge on trash, with the proceeds aimed at funding cleanup of abandoned dumps and hazardous waste sites, and helping local governments manage their own garbage. It also establishes buffers around environmentally sensitive areas where landfills would be barred.

The late hours saw consensus on measures that would shed more light and place more restrictions on the members' political activities, capping a session shadowed by the downfall of former House Speaker Jim Black, who was recently sentenced on state and federal corruption charges.

House and Senate members agreed unanimously to open to the public investigative hearings of ethics complaints against legislators and executive branch officials.

They also voted to require that legal expense funds for elected candidates disclose both contributors and expenditures. Legal funds set up last year by Black and ex-Speaker Pro Tempore Richard Morgan were largely unregulated. The bill would limit corporations and union donations to $4,000 per calendar year, in keeping with similar restrictions on campaign giving.

Lawmakers also expanded the state's voluntary public campaign financing program, adding the races for state auditor, insurance commissioner and superintendent of public instruction. A similar program for state Court of Appeals and Supreme Court candidates began in 2004.

If Gov. Mike Easley signs that bill, the change also would have to be approved by the U.S. Department of Justice to ensure it complies with the Voting Rights Act.

Earlier in the day, lawmakers approved a requirement that electric utilities generate a portion of their power from renewable fuel and energy efficiency.

The renewable energy bill requires the state's utilities to provide 12.5 percent of their retail electricity from renewable fuel and efficiency measures by 2017. North Carolina is the first state in the Southeast to set a renewable-efficiency standard.

Lawmakers hoped to mitigate water wars between towns _ and states _ by tightening regulations on how communities across North Carolina can draw water from neighboring river basins.

The measure won't affect the plan that inspired it -- a request by Concord and Kannapolis to draw 10 million gallons of water per day from the Catawba river basin. The request is being fought in administrative appeals and a federal lawsuit filed by the downstream state of South Carolina.

"We have a compelling need to establish state policy on this issue," said Rep. Lucy Allen, D-Franklin. "It is more than just a local concern."

The House also voted unanimously to accept Senate changes to its proposed high-risk insurance pool, clarifying that funding will come from existing taxes. Rep. Verla Insko, D-Orange, said the pool should remain solvent for 10 to 12 years, at which time the General Assembly can consider new or different financing.

A last-minute compromise put the brakes on speeders, making it harder for judges or lawyers to allow motorists to plead to lesser charges.

One of the Legislature's longest-running battles also came to an end as Sen. Ellie Kinnaird, D-Orange, basked in applause upon passage of her measure to fund spay-neuter programs with a 20-cent fee on rabies tags.

The Senate voted 45-0 on final passage of the bill, which Kinnaird has introduced repeatedly in past sessions without success and with much good-natured teasing.

"It is finally done after 11 years," she said with laugh and a sigh. "Thank you."

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