Thread: NC: Smoking bans, immig. checks among some 40 new state laws

Smoking bans, immigration checks among about 40 new state laws
By GARY D. ROBERTSON
Associated Press Writer

RALEIGH, N.C. --North Carolina political candidates must disclose their criminal pasts, and sheriff's offices are required to check the immigration status of people jailed on felony charges under dozens of new laws that take effect on New Year's Day.

Thousands of state government buildings also will become smoke-free Tuesday, the same day electric utilities will officially be on the clock to meet renewable energy and efficiency requirements by 2021. In all, 40 laws or portions of those laws approved in 2007 will be enforceable.

State lawmakers also approved legislation that requires candidates for any public office to disclose on their candidacy form whether they have ever been convicted of a felony.

Five current or former legislators have been indicted or pleaded guilty to criminal charges since 2004, including former House Speaker Jim Black, who is serving a five-year federal prison term after pleading guilty to political corruption.

Starting Tuesday, treasurers of legal expense funds for candidates or elected officials must identify the people or entities that donate and disclose how that money is used. Corporations and unions are limited to donating $4,000 per calendar year to the funds, in keeping with similar restrictions on campaign giving.

Lawmakers and ethics reform advocates sought the changes after legal expense funds set up in 2006 by Black and ex-Speaker Pro Tempore Richard Morgan were lawful but largely unregulated.

"Most of the members of the General Assembly are really honest and decent people," said Jane Pinsky, director of the N.C. Coalition for Lobbying & Government Reform. But "anything that makes people feel that government is honest and open is good for all of us."

No-smoking signs have been affixed inside state government buildings across North Carolina, continuing a trend that started in 2005 when the General Assembly banned smoking in prisons. Lawmakers banned smoking inside adult care and nursing homes in 2007. The new ban doesn't apply to public university buildings, which have their own rules.

"I'm not aware of any resistance that we've had" to the new ban, said state Administration Secretary Britt Cobb, whose department oversees property where about 72,000 state agency employees work.

Also Tuesday, the state's largest electric utilities must begin working toward generating 12.5 percent of their power from alternative energy sources or through energy savings by 2021. Electric cooperatives and municipal-owned power companies must meet a 10 percent requirement by 2018.

The phased-in standard begins with a 3 percent mandate for all providers by 2012.

Although other portions of the law worry some environmental groups, the standard "paves the way for a smart energy future," said Shana Becker with the North Carolina Public Interest Research Group.

The North Carolina Utilities Commission is still finalizing rules to carry out the law. Raleigh-based Progress Energy will focus early on solar power and fuel from animal waste, in keeping with the law, said company spokesman Scott Sutton.

The Legislature also agreed to order sheriffs and other jail administrators to determine whether someone charged with a felony or accused of driving while impaired is a legal U.S. resident. The jailer would ask the federal government for assistance if the person's legal status can't be determined.

When an illegal immigrant is charged with these kinds of crimes, "we want to do whatever we can to have them deported," Sen. Julia Boseman, D-New Hanover, the primary sponsor of the bill, said Monday.

Other laws taking effect Tuesday:

- allow adult adoptees or their biological parents to get formal assistance from an adoption agency to find out each other's identities.

- limit monetary damages to $1 million in health care negligence cases when all parties in a case agreed to binding arbitration.

- add by 20 cents the cost of a rabies vaccination tag for pets, with proceeds going to support rabies education and the state's spay and neuter program.

- lowers the top individual income tax rate from 8 percent to 7.75 percent. The law was passed in 2006 but didn't take effect until 2008.
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http://www.charlotte.com:80/204/story/426756.html

I am going to have to read this more clearly in the morning, lololol.... North Carolina???????????????? The home of Governor Weasley?