N.C. Senate Republicans propose “Agenda for Change”
From the NC Republican Senate Caucus:
RALEIGH – Echoing the overriding campaign theme of the 2008 elections, Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham), members of the Republican Senate Caucus, and Republican Senate candidates from across North Carolina today endorsed a legislative agenda, A New Direction for North Carolina, at a press conference held in front of the State Legislative Building in Raleigh. Republicans offered the agenda as the outline of a legislative program a Republican majority in the North Carolina Senate will bring to the floor for up or down votes during the 2009 Legislative Session.
All 50 seats in the North Carolina Senate are on the ballot in the November 4 General Election. Although a number of seats are not contested, there are a sufficient number of competitive races for the partisan makeup of the 2009-2010 Senate to be determined by the election results. Democrats have exercised uninterrupted control in the North Carolina Senate for well over 100 years.
The Republican Agenda emphasizes a new course and a new direction for state government including addressing North Carolina’s highest in the southeast income tax rates, eliminating budget earmarks, balancing the state budget without tax hikes, and increased transparency in state fiscal matters. Several items reflect initiatives Republicans have introduced in past legislative sessions that Senate Democrats have refused to bring up for a vote; those include measures to resume enforcement of North Carolina’s death penalty for pre-meditated first degree murder, medical malpractice reform, and protection of private property from condemnation for economic development. There are also new measures proposed to allow for natural gas and oil exploration on North Carolina’s Outer Continental Shelf, detailed disclosure of all state spending and contracts on the state’s internet website, Senate Rules requiring open committee meetings, and additional internal auditors in state departments to help control state spending.
Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger made the following statement:
“With Election Day less than three weeks away, it is important for the people of North Carolina to know what a Republican majority in the North Carolina Senate will mean to them and to our state. Every election season should include discussion and debate about public policy, consideration of competing ideas, clear and understandable statements of principles, and outlines of proposed legislation. This agenda, once implemented, will provide a new direction for North Carolina and a change from current Democrat policies. The people of North Carolina are frustrated with the scandals and corruption, which have been all too prevalent in North Carolina’s Democrat-dominated state government. They have tired of Democrats’ oft-repeated election-year promises and assurances that spending more money will cure the serious deficiencies in North Carolina’s K-12 public education system. And they do not understand how a state with a proud history of ‘good roads’ finds itself with both the highest gas tax in the southeast and the worst road congestion in the cities making up its commercial core. North Carolinians are ready for a change in leadership, they are ready for a slate of legislative candidates eager to address public policy issues with fresh, new ideas, and they are prepared to face the future with confidence that a new direction will return North Carolina to its rightful place of leadership in the southeast and the nation.”
The Senate Republican agenda follows this release
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NORTH CAROLINA REPUBLICAN SENATE – AN AGENDA FOR CHANGE
A New Direction for North Carolina
Republican candidates for the North Carolina Senate pledge that a Republican Majority in the North Carolina Senate will change state government by bringing the following legislation to the floor for an up or down vote during the 2009 Legislative Session:
1. Strengthen North Carolina’s economy and create jobs by reducing North Carolina’s highest in the Southeast Income Tax rates and adopt a budget free of earmarks, pork, and unnecessary spending
2. Legislation to reduce dependence on foreign oil supplies and create jobs by allowing natural gas and oil exploration on North Carolina’s Outer Continental Shelf with meaningful protections for our coastal environment
3. Legislation to Protect our Citizens
· Resume enforcement of the death penalty for first degree murderers
· Increase active sentences for gang related crimes
· Require collection of a DNA sample from every person charged with a felony
· Make murder of an unborn child a crime in North Carolina (Laci Peterson’s Law)
4. Legislation to Improve Public Education
· Increase funding for career, technical, and vocational education
· Require public schools to use national tests to evaluate student performance
· Create a merit-based pay program to reward highly qualified and effective teachers
· Lift the cap on public charter schools
· Keep North Carolina’s public universities and community colleges the best in the nation
5. Legislation to increase transparency in government and end Democrat corruption
· A Constitutional Amendment limiting the length of legislative sessions
· Term limits for the office of President Pro Tempore of the Senate and Speaker of the House of Representatives
· Reform and restructure the Department of Transportation and Board of Transportation to return North Carolina to its position as the “Good Roads” state
· Implement Senate Rules to require open committee meetings
· Make all state expenditures and state contracts available on the State’s Internet Website
6. Legislation to Limit the Growth of State Government.
· Create more internal auditor positions in state agencies and increase the number of internal audits and performance-based audits
· End raids on Trust and Savings Funds, including the Highway Trust Fund
7. Meaningful medical malpractice reform with limits on non-economic damages
8. Legislation to end North Carolina’s status as a safe-haven for illegal immigrants
· Prohibit illegal immigrants from attending state-supported Universities and Community Colleges
· Stop issuing North Carolina driver’s licenses to illegal immigrants
· Stop welfare and entitlement benefits for illegal immigrants
9. A Constitutional Amendment to protect private property from condemnation solely for economic development
10. Legislation to reinstate the healthcare tax credit repealed by Democrats in 2002 and to expand the healthcare tax deduction for small business
