THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, June 24, 1995 TAG: 9506240345
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY BETTY MITCHELL GRAY, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 98 lines
The pace at the General Assembly is expected to quicken Monday as lawmakers begin what they hope will be the last week of their 1995 session.
Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.'s $10.6 million spending package for coastal programs, an agreement on a proposed pipeline from Lake Gaston to Virginia Beach, and legislation on charging fees for commercial marinas are among the items of regional interest that will be considered as the 170 senators and representatives press to end the session.
``We're not convinced that we can leave next week. But we are convinced that we will attempt to leave by Friday,'' said state Senate leader Marc Basnight, a Manteo Democrat.
Committee meetings and other legislative work are ``all directed at a Friday adjournment,'' Basnight said Friday from his office in Manteo. ``I'm not saying we will get that. But we are going to try.''
As the state House of Representatives adjourned for the week Thursday afternoon, Speaker Harold J. Brubaker, a Randolph County Republican, asked House members to prepare for a hectic schedule and try to keep debate short and their tempers in check.
While budget talks are expected to get most of the attention next week, several other items of regional interest are still awaiting action.
Lawmakers are questioning whether to extend a ban on most commercial fishing licenses, now scheduled to end July 1, 1996, or give the state Marine Fisheries Commission the authority to extend the ban. The answer is likely to be found in the fine print that accompanies the expansion budget, which could be completed by Wednesday.
The House Finance Committee on Tuesday is scheduled to consider the latest compromise on a bill that would levy fees for commercial marinas.
A bill that would give state legislators the chance to approve new administrative rules before they become law was taken off the Senate calendar on Wednesday and referred to the Senate Appropriations Committee.
Legislation to create and pay for a wetlands mitigation program is pending in House and Senate committee meetings.
Action on a bill to expand insurance coverage available to coastal property insured through the so-called Beach Plan has been stalled in a House insurance committee for two weeks. The bill could be considered in the 1996 session if the insurance committee does not meet again before the session's end.
A study of whether the state should withdraw from the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission is likely to be approved by lawmakers. The General Assembly is expected to enact legislation authorizing a variety of environmental, fisheries and other studies before its members leave Raleigh.
North Carolina and Virginia legislatures face a Friday deadline to approve a deal on a pipeline from Lake Gaston to Virginia Beach. North Carolina lawmakers will have to act on an agreement between the two states next week.
On Monday, legislators will begin work in earnest on the two remaining state budgets: An expansion budget, which will include any salary increases and spending for new programs; and a capital budget, which will cover one-time spending for construction projects and equipment purchases.
Some General Assembly leaders have estimated that lawmakers will have about $244 million in expansion money and about $210 million in capital money available when they begin their review of spending projects.
But others say the available funds will be much less.
To give state employees a pay raise of about 2 percent - the salary increase that legislators generally expect to approve this year - will cost taxpayers about $140 million.
Brubaker estimates that granting the salary increase will reduce the amount of money available for new programs to about $40 million. Requests from state agencies and special interests for new program spending total about $500 million.
On Friday, Basnight said his top priorities will be mental-health and retardation-services funding, appropriations for the state's small school systems, funding for coastal programs and economic development concerns.
In his coastal agenda, Hunt has asked for $5.7 million in spending on new programs and about $4.9 million in spending for capital projects on the coast.
After a recent rally in Raleigh to promote the coastal package, Hunt said he was optimistic that the lawmakers would find the money for those programs.
The big-ticket items in Hunt's coastal package are programs to prevent non-point source pollution - runoff from farms, towns and timber operations - and to improve enforcement of fisheries rules.
Non-point pollution requests total $1.7 million through the Division of Soil and Water, Division of Forest Resources and Division of Environmental Management.
Fisheries requests include $2.1 million for new fisheries law enforcement officers, equipment and a new marine patrol boat.
Hunt also has asked for $11 million in spending for capital projects for northeastern North Carolina that are not part of his coastal agenda:
A request for funds for an eastern North Carolina agricultural center in Martin County totals $6 million.
Improvements to the Elizabeth II State Historic Site on Ice Plant Island on the Outer Banks total $5 million.
Last week, Basnight promised to include an appropriation for an economic development zone for an eight-county area around Lake Gaston in the expansion budget. by CNB