2009 Legislative Update


Moving Forward Step-by-Step


The 2009 legislative long session was conducted against the backdrop of a major budget crisis, creating challenges for our volunteers and staff. Nonetheless, working with our allies, we were able to take some important incremental steps forward for meaningful reform.

 

Council of State Voter-Owned Elections

In a final 29-17 vote, the NC Senate approved a bill to expand the successful Council of State program for the Auditor, Superintendent of Public Instruction and Commissioner of Insurance. The new bill adds the office of the State Treasurer and creates a dedicated source of money for the program from small fees on investment managers and insurance agents. The bill will be taken up by the state House in 2010. We hope to add even more offices to the bill in 2010 — including the Commissioners of Labor and Agriculture — and will be working hard toward that goal.


Local Public Campaign Financing

H-120, the local public financing authorization bill, narrowly passed the House, after intensive lobbying by both sides, but subsequently stalled in the Senate. We will work this bill going into the 2010 short session, based on the success of the pilot program conducted in Chapel Hill. Three candidates opted into that program and two met the requirements to receive public financing. The two who qualified were both mainstream candidates with longstanding community ties — thus negating fears a local program would attract “fringe” candidates. Both candidates won, one as mayor and the other as the leading vote-getter for town council. We think this bodes well for greater participation in the future, especially because successful local programs in Portland, OR and elsewhere began slowly.

Youth Pre-Registration

Our bipartisan bill for the pre-registration of 16-17 year olds was adopted by the General Assembly and becomes effective Jan. 1, 2010. This law could add thousands of young people to the voter rolls and boost voter education and voter turnout in NC. It allows 16-17 year olds to fill out a pre-registration form, particularly when they take the required civics course in 10th grade or sign up for a driver's license. When the teenager reaches voting age, he or she will be automatically registered and the board of elections will verify the information on the form following the same process used for all first-time voters.

The bill also requires county boards of elections to conduct registration drives at high schools each year, and it broadens existing requirements for teaching students in civic classes about the voting process.

Ethics

    An ethics bill passed the legislature in 2009 that will require local cities, counties, school boards and sanitary districts to develop codes of ethical conduct and receive training about conflicts of interest (H-1452). Several other bills passed the House and are eligible for consideration in the Senate in 2010. We will be working with our partners to advocate for these bills.