Julia's Musings: Special Session

Recently the Governor used his veto authority on House Bill 1761, better known as the "Goodyear Bill" (http://www.ncleg.net/Sessions/2007/Bills/House/HTML/H1761v4.html).

Our State House sprang back to life yesterday with a Special Session to consider a veto override. The House is required to make the first move during this Special Session, either voting to override the veto, voting to sustain the veto or voting on a compromise bill. The majority of the day went like this: Speaker Joe Hackney enters the chamber, bangs the gavel calling the session to order then announces a recess, bangs the gavel again and exits the chamber. Meanwhile, behind closed doors the key players were knocking out a compromise bill. All this culminated at 7:30pm when the Governor sent over a proclamation for an Extra Special Session. This gives our elected leaders the ability to take action on the soon to be disclosed compromise legislation. Yesterdays Special Session and Extra Special Session ended at 8:14pm with an announcement that they will start again Tuesday, September 11th at 10:00am.

A question you might be asking right now is "What does this have to do with people with developmental or cognitive disabilities?" Well the short answer is all policy has an affect on other policy and this legislation is no different. First question I want answered is, "Are there corporations in North Carolina that target the hiring of people with disabilities that may also benefit from these grants?" If so, then we need to get the information out to them and get them to apply in the future. Second question I want answered is, "How is the funding source for this legislation going to affect future budget discussions?" This year we saw no "new" money appropriated to DD/MR.

So, to make sure our community gets these answers I will be at the General Assembly this morning observing all the happenings.


Can't wait till the end of the day and want to know what is happening in "real time"?

You can follow the events on line by going to http://www.ncleg.net/ and clicking on the Live Audio Symbol at the top of the page. You can also read some live blogs detailing the action by heading over to Under the Dome or Issac Hunter's Tavern. Both links are on the side of this page.