Local Food Policy Council

Folks from the agriculture community met at the Department of Agriculture today to discuss SB1067 which deals with the promotion of local food through a Local Food Policy Council. I was present at this meeting today and played "catch up" on this bill as I was not at the meeting that was held last week. Representatives from the organic agriculture industry as well as those from the traditional agriculture industry were at the table. I trust that as a result of these meetings, we will all come to a consensus on the contents of the bill.

Annexation

The House Judiciary II Committee was to meet yesterday after session to discuss the annexation issue. Upon arriving at the Legislative Office Building after session, the meeting was cancelled and moved to today. Arrived at the LOB today after session and the meeting was cancelled and moved to tomorrow. Rep. Rick Glazier, Chairman of the Judiciary II Committee tells me the meeting is set for tomorrow and there are no known conflicts. He regrets that the budget has taken precedent over this issue. Due to conflicts with my schedule, I am unable to attend the meeting tomorrow... if it takes place this time around.

And I'm off...

to Washington, NC for the State Grange Board meeting. I will present a legislative update for our board member as well as tour PCS Phosphate. In light of recent difficulties in obtaining permits, we are touring the plant to gain a better understanding of the facility and the work being done there.

Tune in for updates, pictures, etc. next week!

NC's aging population

The state isn't ready for a doubling of its elderly population over the next two decades, according to a study by the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research. The study says that the number of state residents who are at least

65 years old will grow from 1.1 million in 2006 to 2.2 million by 2030. Like other parts of the country, North Carolina faces the retirement of the Baby Boomers. One of every five Americans will be 65 or older by 2030, according to the public policy center. The increase is expected to be greatest in rural communities, which could strain to provide transportation for a dispersed elderly population. And the needs of rural seniors will differ greatly from those who live in urban counties, where seniors are and will continue to be most numerous, according to the study. The population increase could lead to job shortages, the center said. Also medical costs to the state will rise as Baby Boomers age. North Carolina pays 27 percent of the cost of Medicaid, the health insurance for low-income residents that is now the main source of long-term care coverage for elderly people, according to the center.(Jordan Schrader, ASHEVILLE CITIZEN-TIMES; THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, 6/16/09).

Budget Conference Committee

Conference committees are put together when there is disagreement on a bill. These committees have members from both the House and the Senate and they will emerge with a bill that both chambers can be satisfied with. A conference committee is put together when dealing with the state budget. The members of this committee are:

SENATE
Linda Garrou - Forsyth - Co-Chair
Charlie Albertson - Duplin, Lenoir, Sampson - Co-Chair
Charlie Smith Dannelly - Mecklenburg - Co-Chair
A.B. Swindell - Nash, Wilson - Co-Chair
Bob Atwater - Chatham
Doug Berger - Franklin, Granville, Vance, Warren
Stan Bingham - Davidson
Dan Blue - Wake
Julia Boseman - New Hanover
Daniel G. Clodfelter - Mecklenburg
Don Davis - Greene, Pitt, Wayne
Katie G. Dorsett - Guilford
Tony Foriest - Alamance, Caswell
Steve Goss - Ashe, Watauga, Alexander, Wilkes
Malcolm Graham - Mecklenburg
Fletcher L. Harstsell, Jr. - Cabarrus
David W. Hoyle - Gaston
Clark Jenkins - Edgecombe, Martin, Pitt
Ed Jones - Bertie, Chowan, Gates, Halifax, Hertford, Northampton, Perquimans
Eleanor Kinnaird - Orange, Person
Floyd B. McKissick, Jr.- Durham
Martin L. Nesbitt, Jr. - Buncombe
William R. Purcell - Anson, Richmond, Scotland, Stanly
Joe Sam Queen - Avery, Haywood, Madison, McDowell, Mitchell, Yancey
Tony Rand - Cumberland, Bladen
Larry Shaw - Cumberland
John Snow - Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain, Transylvania
R.C. Soles, Jr. - Brunswick, Columbus, Pender
Josh Stein - Wake
Richard Stevens - Wake
Don Vaughan - Guilford
David F. Weinstein - Robeson, Hoke

HOUSE
Mickey Michaux - Durham - Chair
Alma Adams - Guilford - Chair
Martha Alexander - Mecklenburg - Chair
Jim Crawford - Granville, Vance - Chair
Phillip Haire - Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain - Chair
Maggie Jeffus - Guilford - Chair
Joe Tolson - Edgecombe, Wilson - Chair
Douglas Yongue - Hoke, Robeson, Scotland
Paul Luebke - Guilford - Chair
Pryor Gibson - Anson, Union - Chair
William Wainwright - Craven, Lenoir - Chair
Jennifer Weiss - Wake - Chair
Hugh Holliman - Davidson - Chair
Bill Owens - Camden, Currituck, Tyrrell, Pasquotank - Chair
Bruce Goforth - Buncombe
Larry Womble - Forsyth
Deborah Ross - Wake
Robert Grady - Onslow
Rick Glazier - Cumberland
Ray Rapp - Haywood, Madison, Yancey
Marian McLawhorn - Pitt
Larry Bell - Sampson, Wayne
Marvin Lucas - Cumberland
Earline Parmon - Forsyth
Cullie Tarleton - Ashe, Watauga
Laura Wiley - Guilford
Susan Fisher - Buncombe
Alice Graham Underhill - Craven, Pamlico
Russell Tucker - Duplin, Onslow
Jane Whilden - Buncombe
Elmer Floyd - Cumblerland
Fred Steen - Rowan
Beverly Earle - Mecklenburg
Bob England - Cleveland, Rutherford
Verla Insko - Orange
Jean Farmer-Butterfield - Edgecombe, Wilson
William Brisson - Bladen, Cumberland
Randy Stewart - Nash
Jeff Barnhart - Cabarrus
Alice Bordsen - Alamance
Jimmy Love - Harnett, Lee
Tim Spear - Chowan, Dare, Robeson, Hyde
Ronnie Sutton - Robeson
Ray Warren - Alexander, Catawba
Melanie Wade Goodwin - Montgomery, Richmond
Darren Jackson - Wake
Annie Mobley - Bertie, Gates, Hertford, Perquimans
Tim Moore - Cleveland
Pricey Harrison - Guilford
Garland Pierce - Hoke, Robeson, Scotland
Edith Warren - Martin, Pitt
Winkie Wilkins - Durham, Person
Michael Wray - Northampton, Vance, Warren
Angela Bryant - Halifax, Nash
Carolyn Justice - New Hanover, Pender
Nelson Cole - Rockingham
Grier Martin - Wake
Lucy Allen - Franklin, Halifax, Nash
Lorene Coates - Rowan
Ty Harrell - Wake
Margaret Dickson - Cumberland
Nick Mackey - Mecklenburg
Phillip Frye - Avery, Caldwell, Mitchell, Yancey

FDA Regulation of Tobacco - Take 2

The Senate voted overwhelmingly to give the FDA control over tobacco products. Senators Burr and Hagan both voted against the bill. However, it passed 79-17, with 3 not voting. The House, earlier in the week, supported this bill too. The votes from NC delegation are as follows:

YES: Butterfield, Etheridge, Price, Miller, Watt
NO: Coble, McIntyre, Foxx, McHenry, Kissell, Myrick, Shuler
NOT VOTING: Jones

President Obama is looking forward to signing this bill as is shown in the video below:


The Grange opposed FDA regulation of tobacco.

State Budget

ASSOCIATED PRESS:

The House gave final approval early Saturday to an $18.6 billion state budget proposal that includes more than $780 million in new taxes, clearing the way for negotiations to begin with the Senate on a compromise plan. The bill passed on a largely party-line vote of 64-53 following a three-hour debate. Democrats who drew up the House plan called it a balanced approach to handle the state's worst fiscal situation in a generation: more than $2 billion in cuts, combined with the taxes and federal stimulus money. "With the new revenues focused squarely on education and helping those who genuinely need our help, we have avoided the worst of the cuts," said House Speaker Joe Hackney, D-Orange. The House tax package would raise the sales tax by a quarter-penny so that most residents would pay 7 percent. It would also add two new marginal income tax rates for the wealthy and create or raise taxes on liquor, movies and digital downloads.

Passage of the House plan allows Democrats in the House and Senate to begin negotiating a final two-year spending plan in earnest this week. The Senate passed a budget bill in April. Senate Democrats are lobbying hard for their own tax package that would raise more revenues but change dramatically sales and income taxes and lower their rates. Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue wants to have input on the bill, and wants it ready to sign before the new fiscal year begins July 1. But that deadline may be hard to meet. "I'm expecting it to be a long process," said Rep. Mickey Michaux, D-Durham, senior co-chairman of the House Appropriations Committee. "I'm hoping that it's not."

The competing House and Senate plans are far apart in sheer size, the result of the Senate drawing up its proposal weeks before lawmakers were told dwindling tax collections had deepened the budget hole by $1.5 billion.

Michaux said a key fight in negotiations may center on the University of North Carolina system, which historically has had strong allies in the Senate. Despite the differences in the plans, some cuts were in both proposals and appear likely to make it into the final budget. They include:

* Elimination of funding to pay salaries for 3,400-6,000 public

schoolteachers as average class sizes are increased.

* Elimination of an undetermined number of vacant and filled jobs

within state government. Remaining employees should expect no pay raises, and furloughs are possible.

* Coverage reductions for Medicaid patients and frozen or decreased

payments for doctors who treat them.

* Closing of several prisons.

Lawmakers acknowledged that any tax hikes carry political risks. "A lot of folks in my area that contacted me, they couldn't afford additional taxes at this time," said Rep. Van Braxton of Lenoir County, one of two Democrats who voted with Republicans in opposing the House budget bill. And raising income tax rates that are already the highest in the southeastern U.S. may be a deal-breaker for some Democratic senators who believe it would discourage companies from moving to the state. The rate was raised temporarily in 2001 but didn't expire for six years. "I'll never vote for that - ever, never,"

said Sen. David Hoyle, D-Gaston, one of the authors of the Senate tax plan.

Republicans, who are in the minority in both chambers, have argued unsuccessfully the budget could be balanced without new taxes that would delay the economy's recovery. "I am convinced there are hundreds of millions of dollars in cuts that wouldn't harm citizens," said House Minority Whip Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg.