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Local News Story
NC lawmakers leave bills on next year's to-do list
Raleigh, NC, 08.13.2009
EMERY P. DALESIO
For emergency room nurse Terry Shook, his home is his castle. Anyone who kicks down his door to get inside ought to expect to be carried out again in a stretcher.
That's why he has urged the General Assembly to pass legislation making state law on deadly force crystal clear with the doctrine that unlawful and forcible entry into a home allows the resident to shoot without fear of potential prosecution.
``I think we should have the right to protect ourselves against these people who want to do whatever they want to me. If somebody comes through the door to my house, as far as I'm concerned they're bought and paid for,'' said Shook, 47, of Claremont.
The legislation is one of many updates and reforms that stalled when the General Assembly adjourned this week, but which could surface again when lawmakers return in May. Lawmakers enacted nearly 500 new laws on topics ranging from sex education for middle-school students to new protections for auto dealers who could lose their franchise as General Motors and Chrysler shrink.http://news.yahoo.com/world/mcclatchy
But most of the Legislature's energy went into finding a compromise on how much to raise taxes and which programs to cut. Lawmakers produced a $19 billion state budget that was more than $2 billion lower than last year's appropriated amount. Scores of other issues were left hanging until next year.
``We were so busy trying to get the budget out, maybe we didn't push it as hard as we could have,'' said Sen. John Snow, D-Cherokee, a retired district court judge who was one of the co-sponsors of the bill establishing the home-as-castle doctrine. ``We're going to give it an effort to get it moved in the next session.''
Supporters of establishing the castle doctrine want to ensure residents aren't second-guessed if someone breaking in at night turns out not to have a weapon, said bill sponsor Sen. Doug Berger, D-Franklin.
Perhaps the biggest issue left for next year was reforming a law to make it more difficult for cities and towns to pull neighboring property owners into the community's taxing authority against the property owner's wishes.
North Carolina is one of fewer than a half-dozen states that allows municipal annexations that can force landowners into communities and taxes they don't want. Municipal leaders opposed changes, saying the 50-year-old annexation laws allow communities to counter suburban sprawl that sees middle-class residents and their tax revenues move outside municipal limits.
Supporters muscled the compromise legislation through the House, but the measure never got a hearing in the Senate. The ensuring months gives groups lobbying for a voice and a vote for people whose property would be annexed into a city more time to build support for meaningful changes, said Tony Tetterton, vice president of the Fair Annexation Coalition, an umbrella organization for groups who fought local annexations.
``It's a good thing that it didn't become law because it would be a very bad law,'' said Tetterton, who lives in rural Johnston County near Selma. ``I just think long-term we need to press upon the Legislature that we're not going away until we see meaningful reform.''
Other bills that could come up next year would:
force commercial dog breeders to meet state standards, register with the state, and be listed on an Internet-accessible registry.
require commercial wind farms to obtain a state permit, and ban them from being built on mountain ridges.
change the comparative fault standard used in state courts, which prevents a person hurt in a car accident or slipping on a wet floor from recovering damages in court if a jury decides the plaintiff was even slightly to blame.
let cities and towns choose to join a statewide experiment in taxpayer funding of local election campaigns.
create a loan fund for companies developing new pharmaceuticals or other biotechnology products to finance the North Carolina plants and equipment needed to launch production and create jobs.
(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)
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