Actions by Governor Bev Perdue (D-Craven) overshadowed a week of heightened activity at the General Assembly during which numerous bills advanced in the legislative process.  The Governor provided the public and media with an update on the worsening State Budget picture, authored a plan to cut State Employee and Teacher salaries, and took steps to increase State control of the Halifax County School system.  Meanwhile, the House Appropriations Committee held a statewide videoconference on the State Budget that is being drafted by the House's chief budget writers.  The Senate advanced various legislative proposals through committees and at the full Senate this week.  In a break from the busy legislative schedule, the House and Senate had as honored guests the players and coaches of the 2009 NCAA National Champion UNC Tar Heels men's basketball team at separate sessions on Wednesday. 

The Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM), the fiscal research arm of the Governor's Office, has advised Governor Perdue that revenues collected during the current fiscal year will likely fall short of expenditures by over $3 billion.  In reaction to that news, Governor Perdue authored two Executive Orders this week that will reduce the salary of all State Employees and Teachers by ½% and grant those employees 10 hours of unpaid vacation.  In the same announcement Governor Perdue said she would capture and redirect funds from certain special funds, including the State Rainy Day fund and federal stimulus monies originally target for next fiscal year, in order to reduce the budget deficit.  The total expected savings from the "flexible furlough plan" and the redirecting of funds is estimated to be just over $1 billion.  Under such a plan lawmakers would be left with the task of paying off the current year debt of about $2 billion before budgeting for the 2009-2010 and 2010-2011 fiscal years in order to comply with the State Constitutional requirement of a balanced budget. 

In an effort to gather public input on the State Budget the House Appropriations Committee held a town-hall style, Statewide videoconference meeting on the budget this week.  Sites across the State were linked by video conference to the auditorium of the NC Museum of History in Raleigh that was filled to capacity with individuals and interest groups seeking an opportunity to speak to lawmakers who play key roles in writing the House budget.  Prior to the meeting, the committee staff reported receiving nearly 2,000 emails on the budget.  Budget interest groups actively participated by voicing support for their own key projects or offering pleas that their programs not be cut from the budget.  The six House Appropriations Committee Chairs are expected to continue meeting through the end of the week and to issue targeted levels of funding by Tuesday of next week.  The targets set the maximum funding levels that each subcommittee is expected to work within and is the first major step in development of the House's budget plan.  House leaders plan to pass their version of the State Budget before the end of May. 

Also this week, the State Department of Public Instruction presented a plan to Wake County Superior Court Judge Howard Manning that will increase the State's role in the administration of the Halifax County School System.  The plan details a three year experiment in which teachers and principals would be retrained and education coaches would be hired to guide the system toward educational successes that have eluded the system for years.  More than 70% of elementary school students in Halifax cannot meet proficient reading standards on State tests and none of the system's fourteen schools met federal standards of "adequate yearly progress."  The education system of the northeastern North Carolina county has been under scrutiny and the subject of litigation for over a decade.  Halifax was a part of a 1994 lawsuit that reached the North Carolina Supreme Court and brought the "Leandro decision," a holding that found that all North Carolina children have a constitutional right to a "sound basic education." 

Legislation was on the move this week, as the May 13 crossover deadline becomes a serious threat to bills that are stalled in committee.  In the Senate, bills to require the recordation of real property sales information (Senate Bill 405), to allow for hardened erosion prevention structures (Senate Bill 832) to expand the regulation of structured settlements to personal injury (Senate Bill 780), and a package of bills that allow the State Treasurer more authority in investment activities (Senate Bills 632, 691, 703) was approved and sent to the House.  In the House, legislation that will allow joint tenants to hold property in unequal shares (House Bill 799), to require a state purchasing preference for fuel efficient vehicles (House Bill 1079), and to restrict the use of corporal punishment in school (House Bill 442) was approved this week and sent to the Senate. 

The NCAA Champion Tar Heels were honored at the General Assembly this week.  Coach Roy Williams and the players of the Championship team were seated on the floor of the House and Senate while an honorary resolution was read and lawmakers heaped praises upon their outstanding season of play.  The Tar Heels finished the 2008-2009 season with a record of 34-4, including an 89-72 victory over Michigan State in the national championship game.  The honors were also a fitting send off to graduating senior Tyler Hansbrough who won first team all ACC honors four times, was a consensus All-American three times, and will have his jersey retired to the rafters of the Dean E. Smith Center in Chapel Hill.