RALEIGH -- Lawmakers will get back to work at noon Tuesday in Raleigh for the short legislative session. Their main goal is to approve an amended budget, but several high profile issues will grab their attention as well.
Gov. Mike Easley unveiled his planned $21.5 billion budget on Monday, and now state lawmakers will have their own say. One of the top goals of the state is to raise teacher pay up to the national average.
In Easley’s budget, he proposed paying for teacher raises and mental health reform with an increased tax on cigarettes and alcohol, but it will be up to state lawmakers which of the governor’s plans stay in the final budget.
News 14 Carolina's Tim Boyum has more on the focus of lawmakers as they enter the short legislative session.
Other topics that legislators could hit on in the short session include:
• Drought – North Carolina suffered through the worst drought in its history this past year, and legislators will look at a number of measures to conserve the state’s drinking water.
• Probation system – The Eve Carson murder and subsequent arrests of Laurence Lovette and Demario Atwater highlighted the problems facing the state’s probation system. Both Lovette and Atwater should have been in prison at the time of Carson’s death but the state said errors in the probation system kept that from happening.
• Anti-gang legislation – The number of North Carolina gangs and gang members has grown at a rapid pace over the past 10 years, and lawmakers will look at a number of measures to control the gang population. One measure recognizes legally what a gang is for the first time in state history.
• Death penalty – Lawmakers could also discuss the death penalty, a controversial topic that has already made its way through the North Carolina court system after a lengthy moratorium. At the center of the issue is a doctor’s involvement in the execution.
The short legislative session typically lasts until early July.