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Tues.: Remains of the Day
posted at 2009-05-06 00:13 | Last modified 2009-05-06 00:45
Sen. Maj. Leader Tony Rand sent the smoking ban (H2) back to Senate Health today. This does not bode well: it’s a clear sign that Senate leadership lacks the votes to move the bill in its current form, despite many personal phone calls by Basnight on the bill’s behalf.
Senate Dems are set to meet Wed AM to discuss H2’s future. Some possible options I’ve heard discussed:
- Remove the language allowing local governments to enact more stringent smoking regulations.
- Limit the ban to restaurants and bars only.
- Restore the Cole Amendment, exempting adult establishments from the ban. This would allow the bill to avoid a conference committee, but it would also make restaurant owners extremely unhappy.
- Do nothing for now. Having already made it through one chamber, H2 is already eligible for consideration after crossover, so it doesn’t have to be resolved this week.
H2 is up for debate (again) in Senate Health Care at 11am Wed. Check back to see what, if anything, they decided to do.
The Senate voted 25-22 Tuesday to approve a controversial anti-bullying bill that specifically refers to gay and lesbian students as targets for harassment. S526 would require school districts to protect all students from bullying, but – and here’s the catch – it includes a list of examples of common reasons for bullying, like race, gender, and sexual orientation.
Conservatives fought to remove that list under the rationale that it would give homosexuals protected status under state law. (FTR, the bill specifically states it can't be used for that purpose). Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger warned of “unintended [legal] consequences.” Senator Jim Forrester even suggested it might require schools to teach that homosexuality and cross-dressing are normal and acceptable. I’m sure that was a horrifying prospect to the bill’s openly lesbian sponsor, Julia Boseman (D-Wilmington), who showed superhuman equanimity in explaining otherwise.
Listening to the debate, it occurred to me that I can’t conceive of another situation in which sitting senators would tell one of their own -- on the chamber floor, no less -- that he or she is a member of a minority that is “abnormal,” “unacceptable,” and somehow unworthy of equal protection. Would the Senate tolerate this sort of rhetoric if Julia Boseman were African-American? Or Muslim? Or disabled? I doubt it.
Durham Dem Floyd McKissick didn’t think so, either. He compared the bill’s enumerations to those upheld by the US Supreme Court in the 1964 Civil Rights Act. You can hear his speech here. (3:33)
Listen Now!
Senators Dan Clodfelter (D-Meck), Bill Purcell (D-Scotland), and Doug Berger (D-Franklin) also spoke eloquently in support of the bill. The final Senate vote is set for Wednesday.
A proposal debated in House Health today would require retailers who provide shopping carts to supply disinfectant wipes for customers to use on the carts’ handles. H1834 sponsor Earl Jones (D-Guilford) says the CDC and other groups have identified shopping cart handles as one of the three nastiest vectors for disease transmission. A lot of upscale stores already provide wipes, but many discounters don’t.
The proposal elicited plenty of debate from skeptics who say it’s the first step down a slippery slope. Cabarrus Rep. Jeff Barnhart wondered whether the state ought to require wipes at gas pumps. Davie Republican Julia Howard says she’d like to add escalators. The measure was sent to subcommittee for further work. Even odds on whether it sees the light of another day.
- Say what? Perdue to cameraman: "You’re a pervert." (See bottom of entry.)
- Staying classy! ABC Commission Chair Tony Fox “resigns” after McClatchy busts him for racist anti-Obama email. (He’s president of the National Alcohol Beverage Control Association, btw.)
- Gov Easley’s new gig: blogger. Srsly. And at Huffington Post, no less. (H/T: Dome)
- And Jack Betts wonders whether Dan Blue really wants the Senate Seat Wake Dems are trying to give him.
Comments? Drop me a line.
