THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, July 18, 1994 TAG: 9407180065
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY HUNTER T. GEORGE II, ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Long : 127 lines
Politicians have to reveal a little more about campaign contributors - but not nearly as much as some would like - and open more meetings under new laws passed by the legislature this year.
Other new laws passed during the eight-week session that ended early Sunday morning seek to help businesses save money on their workers' compensation premiums, make wading pools safer for children and authorize North Carolina's first toll road.
The rejected bills would have repealed the intangibles tax, prohibited the state from executing murderers who are mentally retarded and changed the way North Carolina's public schools are governed, among others.
For years, lawmakers generally avoided campaign finance reform until it was discovered that former state Sen. Harold Hardison collected more than $400,000 in improper contributions during a 1988 run for lieutenant governor.
But they passed only one of a handful of proposals offered this summer.
The lone new law requires candidates to identify all political action committees that give them money. The previous law exempted gifts under $100.
A group called the North Carolina Alliance for Democracy, which boasts the League of Women Voters and the ALF-CIO among its 28 members, said lawmakers should be embarrassed.
``After weeks of posturing about supporting reform, both House and Senate leadership failed to pass any significant bill which increases disclosure or limits contributions to campaigns,'' the group said in a statement. ``The good news is that the debate has helped to establish campaign finance reform as a major issue to be dealt with in the 1995 session.''
Campaign proposals that failed would have changed the schedule for filing finance reports, reduced the $4,000 limit on contributions per election, required candidates to identify the occupations of their contributors, restricted contributions to political parties and increased the statute of limitations on campaign law violations from two years to five years.
The bills came from a study commission on election laws, which plans to offer more proposals next year.
The legislature also passed a bill that rewrites portions of the state's voter registration statutes in an effort to comply with new federal mandates. The new regulations require states to expand the number of places where people can register to vote to include social services departments and other agencies.
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno has threatened to sue states that don't comply.
The short session witnessed a major agreement between business, labor, insurance and legal groups over a law that affects thousands of people who are injured on the job.
Sen. George Daniel's proposal to rewrite North Carolina's workers' compensation statutes sparked intense opposition last year from labor, which said the bill aimed to save businesses money by cutting benefits to workers.
After months of negotiations, some powerful special interest groups reached a compromise that the House and Senate readily agreed to.
``What a difference a year makes,'' said Daniel, D-Caswell.
The new law attempts to control medical costs by setting guidelines and fees, reduce fraud and encourage injured people to return to work without the fear of automatically losing their benefits.
All sides cautioned that the bill won't cause a sudden drop in workers' compensation premiums, which doubled during a three-year period.
``You're going to have to let this get into the system,'' said Anne Griffith of North Carolina Citizens for Business and Industry.
The bill sparked controversy again when House leaders claimed credit for directing the compromise, much to Daniel's dismay.
Another bill dealing with workers' compensation failed.
Sen. Aaron Plyler's bill would have established a fund to help injured workers employed by companies that violate a state law requiring that they carry workers' compensation insurance. Opponents objected to a provision in the Union County Democrat's bill that would have created the fund through a small tax on companies' insurance rates.
Public officials have fewer reasons to hold closed meetings under a compromise reached between the House and Senate this summer.
``I truly believe an open government is the foundation of freedom and this bill is a step in that direction,'' said Sen. Roy Cooper, D-Nash.
Under the compromise, government boards will have only seven reasons to hold closed meetings, instead of the 21 that was allowed under the previous law. Those reasons include discussions with an attorney over litigation, the purchase price for property and discussion of specific employees.
An incident in Raleigh last year in which most of a child's intestines were sucked through a drain in a wading pool prompted the legislature to strengthen pool regulations.
The new law bans wading pools that have only one drain. The bill's sponsor, Sen. Linda Gunter, D-Wake, said the measure will affect about 150 public pools in North Carolina.
Motorists could see something on the highway in a few years that hasn't been seen before - a toll road.
The General Assembly approved a measure Saturday that authorizes the Department of Transportation to charge a toll on a bridge that's slated to be built over the Currituck Sound. Supporters said it will provide a sorely-needed access to the mainland from the northern Outer Banks as well as serve as a test for the possibility of toll roads in North Carolina.
The legislature passed other bills that would:
Specify that homeowners may shoot an intruder. Sen. Don Kincaid, R-Caldwell, filed the bill last year after prosecutors charged a Durham man who killed a teen-ager he caught breaking into his garage.
Strengthen child restraint laws by requiring that children under 4 stay in a car seat and children under 12 use a seatbelt anywhere in the vehicle.
Regulate professional charitable solicitors.
Address complaints about reckless power skiers by establishing statewide safety rules.
Other bills weren't so lucky.
Lawmakers could not decide between two proposals that would change the way North Carolina's public schools are governed.
The House and Senate approved drastically different versions of a bill that would have asked the state's voters to amend the constitution to decide whether power to run the schools should be in the hands of the state superintendent or the Board of Education.
Both chambers also could not agree on provisions in a bill that would prohibit the state from executing murderers who are deemed to be mentally retarded.
Other bills that died would have:
Asked voters to amend the state constitution so that convicted criminals no longer could choose prison time over probation, knowing they'll only be behind bars a short time.
Taxed every piece of citrus fruit brought into the state. Sen. Sandy Sands filed the bill in protest of recent actions against tobacco by Florida, California and other states. The bill passed one committee in the Senate before the Rockingham County Democrat decided he had made his point.
Bills that didn't pass are dead for the year. Legislators can file them again next year. by CNB