Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Monday Quick Hits: Hot Policy Topics for This Week

North Carolina

Today begins the last week of the legislative session at the General Assembly. There are a several bills that will be "hot topics" in the press and at the building this week. These bills include reforming ethics, coming in line with a court decision on elections, and the Alcoa debate.

We will have a complete review of the session next week.

Friday, July 2, 2010

NCGA: Corporal Punishment Bill Passes Senate-Heads to Governor

Yesterday the Senate passed HB 1682: Corporal Punishment and Children with Disabilities. The vote was unanimous, 48 Senators voted in favor of this legislation. We greatly appreciated the efforts of advocates across the state who supported this bill. A special thanks to the ACLU of NC, Autism Society of NC, and Disability Rights North Carolina who worked tirelessly with The Arc of North Carolina on securing passage of this legislation.

Here is what the bill does:
This bill would offer parents of children with disabilities, as defined by Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and IDEA, the ability to opt out of corporal punishment if it is practiced by their school. This bill will also direct the state to collect specific data regarding the practice of corporal punishment.