Susie’s LawSusie’s Law (SB 254), which would increase sentencing for people who torture or abuse animals to include jail time, easily passed the Senate Judiciary I Committee today. The House version has already passed.
Sen. Don Vaughan (D-Guilford) said he looks forward to the bill being signed into law by Gov. Beverly Perdue sometime within the next couple weeks.
Susie, the dog for whom the legislation is named, attended the hearing along with six human supporters wearing her shirt. The Susie’s Law Facebook page has attracted almost 20,000 fans.
“If you set a dog on fire and hold it for 15 minutes while it burns, currently you get probation,” Roberta Wall told lawmakers. “So we would like to see North Carolina have just a little bit tougher laws for those who engage in cruelty to animals.”
Wall and her husband nursed Susie back to health.
Sen. Martin Nesbitt (D-Buncombe), who chairs the committee, told supporters that the bill had received special consideration. During the short session, which falls on even years, the General Assembly typically does not consider controversial, non-budget related bills. Vaughan said later that the dog breeding industry had opposed the bill because of concerns that breeders would run afoul of the law in using electrical shocks to train dogs.
“You’re certainly getting special dispensation to get this heard in the short session,” Nesbitt said. “We probably didn’t follow the rules, but Sen. Don Vaughan doesn’t follow the rules.”
Sen. Margaret Dickson (D-Bladen, Cumberland) gave an indication of how sympathetic lawmakers are to the legislation.
“I really cannot imagine any reason someone would set an animal on fire,” she said. “Lots of things are complicated in life, but that’s not complicated.”
Beaver relocation
Representatives of the city of Greensboro and the NC Wildlife Commission reached a compromise today on local legislation requested by the city to allow for the humane removal of beavers. Associate General Counsel D. Carruthers and Stormwater Manager David Phlegar, both with the city, met with Gordon Myers and Sarah Clapp, both with the Wildlife Commission, in the office of Sen. Don Vaughan (D-Guilford), who is the sponsor of the bill.
The city wants to have the ability to relocate beavers from places like Latham Park and the Twin Lakes neighborhood, where they are clogging up culverts. Currently, that’s illegal, and the city’s only options are to manage the beavers in place or have them euthanized. The Wildlife Commission opposes relocating beavers because beavers cause a lot of damage to private property, and Myers says the commission spends about $1 million a year dealing with them.
The compromise struck between the city and the Wildlife Commission on SB 1345 Greensboro/Relocation of Wildlife would provide for relocation of beavers from North Buffalo Creek and South Buffalo Creek within the Greensboro city limits for only one year. The city would move the beavers to the TZ Osborne wastewater treatment plant.
To address property damage by beavers, Carruthers said the city has pursued a strategy of harassment by destroying the critters’ dams, with limited success. The city has also tried jamming pipes through the dams to relieve to keep water from backing up.
Myers indicated he would not support a change that would accommodate relocation of beavers across county lines, but he would reluctantly support relocation within the city limits.
During a hearing in the Senate State and Local Government Committee, chaired by Sen. Don East (R-Alleghany), Vaughan requested a continuance so that the interested parties could work out agreeable language for a bill that would likely provide for a 1-year “model study on moving beavers.”
Sens. Joe Sam Queen (D-Avery) and Floyd McKissick (D-Durham) laughed out loud during the presentation.
“If you’re gonna move the beavers, make sure you keep them in the city of Greensboro,” Sen. Michael Walters (D-Hoke) said. “We don’t want them in eastern North Carolina.”
Modernizing Alcohol Beverage Control
The House State Government/State Personnel Committee, chaired by Winkie Wilkins (D-Durham), voted today to give HB 1717 Modernization of the State ABC System a favorable report, sending it the floor of the House for a final vote.
The Senate Judiciary II Committee, chaired by Sen. Fletcher Hartsell (R-Cabarrus, Iredell), reviewed the Senate version of the bill, but did not take any action. Hartsell said his committee will likely take up the bill again next Tuesday.
Sen. Don Vaughan (D-Guilford), who co-chaired the Joint Study Committee on Alcohol Beverage Control and sponsored the Senate bill, described the legislation as “a tune-up, not an overhaul,” borrowing language from an approving News & Record editorial.
Last summer, Gov. Beverly Perdue directed the Budget Reform and Accountability Task Force to conduct an in-depth review of the state’s Alcohol Beverage Control system, which gives locally appointed boards control of liquor sales. The state’s ABC system has received unfavorable publicity with the revelation by the Wilmington Star News that the combined salaries of a father and son employed by the New Hanover County ABC exceeded $400,000 and a report by the Charlotte Observer that ABC employees in Mecklenburg County accepted gifts from a liquor company.
Part of Perdue’s mandate was for the study committee to explore the possibility of privatization. Vaughan said during the Senate Judiciary II Committee today that the study committee held three hearings, and of about 50 people who addressed members, only one advocated privatization, “so there really wasn’t a great groundswell of support” for that.
The Rev. Mark Creech, executive director of the Christian Action League, said his organization requested that the threshold for a municipal referendum to determine whether to open an ABC store be raised from 500 to 5,000 registered voters.
“It was an issue of supposed fairness,” he said of the decision to lower the threshold. “I would suggest that the question is not so much about fairness, but efficiency. The Christian Action League has no love of liquor stores, but we do believe in a strong ABC system."
Rep. Ray Warren (D-Alexander, Catawba), the House sponsor of the bill, said the threshold was returned to 500 registered voters because rural residents felt that to do otherwise would be unfair. Some lawmakers have complained that an earlier committee vote last month stripped out some of the bill’s toughest measures.
The pending legislation would address the abuses in New Hanover County by limiting the compensation of general managers to the equivalent of the salary of the clerk of superior court in the local board’s respective county. In a county with 250,000 or more residents, that would amount to $112,607. Also, members of an immediate family or of the same household would be prohibited from being employed by a local board if it resulted in one family member supervising another. Addressing the Mecklenburg County abuses, local board members or employees would be prohibited from accepting gifts from contractors or companies seeking to contract with the board.
Other provisions described an analysis of the bill include:
• Establishing performance standards for local boards, including “store appearance, operating efficiency, solvency and customer service;
• A requirement that alcohol law enforcement agencies provide monthly reports to local ABC boards including information about the number of arrests and other violations, which would be published on a public website;
• Eliminating a current requirement that a city already operate an ABC store to hold a mixed beverage referendum allowing restaurants and bars to serve mixed drinks;
• Limiting compensation of local board members to $150 per meeting (this provision has a loophole: the appointing authority could approve a higher level of compensation if it notified the state ABC Commission before voting to do so); and
• Requiring that local boards make annual budgets available for public inspection and hold a public hearing before adoption.
The bill is supported by the NC Association of ABC Boards, the NC League of Municipalities, the NC Association of County Commissioners and the state ABC Commission.
Contracting by Greensboro city manager
The Senate State and Local Government Committee, chaired by Sen. Don East, was scheduled to hear a bill (SB 1448 Greensboro Manager/Contracting) that would give the Greensboro city manager greater authority to execute service contracts today, but it was pulled by Sen. Katie Dorsett (D-Guilford), according to Sen. Don Vaughan (D-Guilford).
“She didn’t like it,” Vaughan said.
A number of other legislative items requested by the Greensboro City Council this year have also been derailed. As previously reported, Rep. Earl Jones (D-Guilford) blocked legislation that would have allowed the city of Greensboro to recoup unpaid parking tickets through state tax collection, and Associate General Counsel Thomas D. Carruthers said an unidentified member of the Guilford County delegation objected to an item championed by District 3 Councilman Zack Matheny to change the city charter to allow for more aggressive enforcement against panhandlers. Carruthers said the city does not typically inquire about which lawmaker exercises their prerogative to block legislation requested by the city.
Frowned upon
Recognizing Sen. Margaret Dickson (D-Bladen, Cumberland) as she rose to speak about HB 1076 Bladen Fox Hunting, Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston), chairman of the Senate Committee on Rules and Operations, said, "Ms. Dickson, you just don't look like a fox hunter," and then remarked, "Foxy lady."
Then, as if recognizing that some might consider the comment sexist and inappropriate, the senator quipped, "Am I running for reelection, or what?"
He is not.
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