A different Republican take on Moral Monday: Rep. Jon Hardister

Rep. Jon Hardister (courtesy photo)

Not all Republicans in the NC General Assembly look down their noses at Moral Monday protesters and resort to calling them names: Take a look at Greensboro's Rep. Jon Hardister.

We interviewed Hardister, a first-term Guilford County representative, for our recent article about Moral Monday demonstrations at the legislature, but didn't have space to run his responses.

While he said he probably doesn't agree with the Moral Mondays protesters, Hardister said he's "glad they're doing it" because "it's good to see people engaged."

"You take them seriously," Hardister said. "When people take the time out of their day to come to the General Assembly to protest you definitely want to take it seriously and listen to what they have to say. Anytime I see protesters I always think about. It challenges you to think about what you’re doing."

Protests force legislators to pause and explain their actions, which is important, he said. Hardister said he ultimately makes his decisions by analyzing issues, talking to people on both sides of the debate and doing research: Like with voter ID — one of the key issues propeling the Moral Monday actions. Hardister said he considered the issue carefully but added that polls showed that most North Carolinians support voter ID, as do many of his constituents.

Hardister, who's only 30 and is the vice president of First Carolina Mortgage, is a strong advocate of charter schools, which comes as no surprise to anyone who followed his election campaign last year; he touted "a platform of supporting school choice and strengthening charter schools." Hardister served on the board of Greensboro Academy, a charter school, before he was elected.

Since taking office he's been the lead sponsor on seven bills, two of which are about charter schools, though his involvement in charter-related legislation doesn't end there. Hardister also supported the creation of a new board to govern charter schools that would still be under the education department, interest-free loans as start-up funds for charters and an act to make public charter schools eligible for permanent registration license plates.

"My philosophy on charter schools is that they are an important part of our public school system," Hardister said, adding that they are meant to supplement and not replace traditional public schools. "The idea is for the funding to follow the student. It’s just a way to provide more opportunity for children and more choice for parents."

Hardister said two bills he sponsored focusing on charters, HB 250 and HB 273, would give them some more flexibility in conducting enrollment, require funds allocated for charter schools to be transferred in a more timely fashion and more clearly articulate charters' ability to borrow money for operational expenses like electricity, running water and maintenance.

Hardister's bills are partially informed  by his contacts — he has stayed in touch with charters in his district and worked closely with two charter school lobbying organizations, he said. He tries to stay in touch with what a broader base of constiuents want too, he said. 

"You have to do your research and follow your instincts," Hardister said. "Education is a sensitive topic and we all agree it's important. We all want what's best but unfortunately we don't always agree on how to get there."

The desire to make things better transcends political parties, he said, which is why it's important to treat everyone — protestors and politicians alike— with respect and assume they are sincerely tying to do what they believe is best. The only times politics is disheartening, Hardister added, is when people dismiss someone by saying they don't truly care.

Developing: Charlotte Observer reporter arrested while covering Moral Monday

Courtesy of the Advancement Project

Tim Funk, the faith reporter for the Charlotte Observer, was arrested today at the Moral Monday protest at the NC General Assembly, according to a statement released by the Advancement Project. Funk was covering the demonstrations and was one of almost 100 people who were arrested at the weekly action protesting regressive legislation put forward by the Republican-controlled General Assembly.

Protestors who intend to be arrested at the demonstrations are separated from the rest of the attendees, both in where they stand and (at least last week) by green ribbons around their risk indicating their intention to be arrested. The Advancement Project, one of the organizations behind the demonstrations, also released this fuzzy photo of Funk being arrested today.

We will post more information as it becomes available. Read more about Moral Monday here.

UPDATE: Jennifer Farmer, a spokesperson for the Advancement Project who witnessed the incident, said Funk was there to cover the protest, not participate, adding that he had been with protesters all day interviewing people.

"When he was arrested he was just covering the event," Farmer said. "It looked like he tried to explain to them that he was a reporter. This was definitely during the course of work for him."

A spokesperson for the NC Capitol Police was not immediately available for comment.

PHOTOS: Greensboro contingent joins Moral Mondays

 Here are a few photos from the protests at the NC General Assembly on Monday. Full coverage coming in Wednesday's issue of YES! Weekly.

Inside the building

Part of the Greensboro contingent

New Creation Community Church Pastor Frank Dew (in blue), before he was arrested for civil disobedience. 

A few Greensboro residents came to support and witness the civil disobedience

Rev. Nelson Johnson, left, and retired Bishop Chip Marble, right (both of Greensboro), talked to NAACP organizer Rob Stephens near the protests.

Rep. Pricey Harrison (D- Guilford County), flashed a thumbs-up, took photos and watched the protest before crossing the street to talk to participants (here with her hands on her hips).

Additional photos:

Demonstrators entering the building in pairs

Frank Dew, left, watches an arrest and waits his turn. 

Waiting for jailed protesters to be transported in buses (in the background)

Guilford redistricting map: Meandering lines, party affiliation and voting history

Republicans put party registration before compactness and community cohesion in a new Guilford County Commission redistricting map rushed through the General Assembly this week.

“The county’s citizens would also be best served if the districts were balanced in regards to political parties as much as possible based on party registration, and the ratio for the county in the districts should have an equal number of Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, unaffiliateds, and even conservative voters — all based on the ratio of voters outside the voting rights districts in the county,” said Jeff Hyde, a founder of Conservatives for Guilford County, who ran unsuccessfully for NC Senate last year.

Hyde condemned a map submitted by Skip Alston, the commission’s Democratic chairman.

“Your current map stuffs, stacks and packs based on party affiliation and voting history,” he said. “This is the practice that the General Assembly wanted to discourage, and which is why they passed this bill.”

NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger responded to a complaint by Alston that he went back on his word by shepherding a bill through the Senate that took away the county commission’s power to draw its own map.

“The understanding I had was that they were going to draw competitive maps,” he said. “Unfortunately, what we saw as a result of that one map that Commissioner Alston had submitted was anything but competitive. There was discussion about a two-pronged process where they were still looking at the possibility of leaving the commission with 11 members.”

Berger said three Republican members of the county commission — Linda Shaw, Billy Yow and Mike Winstead — expressed concerns to him about the local redistricting process.

Berger said the purpose of the plan enacted by the General Assembly was to have “a situation where the maximum number of competitive districts were in place.”

Shaw described the plan somewhat differently yesterday.

“This is supposed to be five favoring Republicans and three favoring Democrats,” she said.

The three minority-majority districts are a lock for Democratic candidates. The remaining five districts are almost evenly split between in voter registration between the two parties. But judging by past history, Republican candidates would be favored to win.

The five districts would have consistently been carried by Republican candidates in the 2008 presidential, gubernatorial and US Senate elections, along with the 2010 US Senate election, with only two exceptions. District 5, which snakes up from downtown Greensboro up to Summerfield, would have been carried by Barack Obama in 2008 by a mere 50.0 percent. And Democrat Kay Hagan would carried all five districts in her 2008 US Senate campaign. But Hagan is an anomaly: 2008 was a year of pent-up Democratic mobilization, and as a Greensboro resident, Hagan enjoyed a home court advantage in Guilford County.

The map approved by the General Assembly features district lines that are even more contorted than those in the plan submitted by Alston.

“It’s almost like a bunch of snakes running around because it just meanders and meanders,” Commissioner Kay Cashion observed.

As a result it chops High Point up into three separate districts. The city is currently represented by two district commissioners.

Republican Commissioner Bill Bencini, who lives in High Point, is drawn into a district comprised of only 35.9 percent High Point voters. Another district in the western part of the county, which will be an open seat, has an electorate that is majority High Point voters. About 60 percent of the new District 1, a minority-majority district is in High Point.

Cashion is drawn into a district with Shaw that radiates out from UNCG out to Stokesdale in the county’s northwest corner. Democrats hold a slight edge in voter registration in the new District 3, but Republicans John McCain, Pat McCrory and Richard Burr would have carried the district respectively in the 2008 presidential election, 2008 gubernatorial election and 2010 US Senate election.

Berger blamed the Voting Rights Act for the tortured electoral lines evident in the map enacted by the General Assembly. But maps submitted to the county redistricting committee by the Guilford County Republican Party and by Keith Brown, a blogger who is active in the Republican Party, feature compact districts.

“I did and have seen that map, as well as other maps that have been available,” Berger said. “You know, I’m not saying that there’s only one way to do this. I do think the map adopted by the General Assembly is competitive. That’s the primary concern of those who called me. That was the primary focus of their attention. They wanted a situation where the quality of the candidate and the quality of the message would be the deciding factor for how elections turn out.”

Consistent with their rhetoric throughout the redistricting process, Democrats have charged that the Republicans are using race to maximize their partisan advantage. Sen. Don Vaughan, a Greensboro Democrat, echoed that complaint in remarks about the Guilford County Commission redistricting plan enacted by the General Assembly.

“It’s a pattern of segregation: Putting minority folks all into the same area for voting purposes,” he said. “It’s packing.”

In fact, the three minority-majority districts in the map adopted by the General Assembly share similar contours with other proposed plans, including some submitted by Democrats. The new map increases black voting age population in two of the districts only slightly in two districts: From 47.7 percent to 50.7 percent in the district represented by Davis, and from 63.7 percent to 64.3 percent in the district represented by Commissioner Carolyn Coleman. In a third district, represented by Alston, black voting age population decreases from 62.0 percent to 59.9 percent.

Considering that Guilford County is covered under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, the county attorney is required to submit the map to the US Justice Department for preclearance. Part of what the Justice Department will be scrutinizing is whether the plan is retrogressive, that is, whether it makes black voters worse off than before.

The process, if not the contents of the map, could present a challenge.

“Under the regulations governing Section 5, one of the required pieces of information is, what role did minorities play in the development of the plan and the enactment of it?” said Gerry Cohen, director of bill drafting for the Fiscal Research Division in Raleigh. “So that’s one of the things that the county attorney is going to have to submit. I would guess he or she will be checking with folks here or in Greensboro to find out if that happened.”

There was no public hearing on the map before the General Assembly approved it, and the bill that was enacted does not allow the Guilford County Commission to put the matter to a referendum by the voters.

Guilford Democrats stunned by Raleigh-imposed redistricting plan

Commissioner Bruce Davis called a redistricting map enacted by the NC General Assembly today "an injustice to the people of High Point."

A committee of the Guilford County Commission held a hearing this evening to determine new district lines despite the fact that the NC House had only hours earlier approved a plan that became state law and imposed a map (link) by state fiat.

“It has been, as far as I’m concerned, a devastating day,” Rep. Alma Adams, a Greensboro Democrat, told the committee. Her Republican colleagues from the Guilford delegation, Reps. John Faircloth and John Blust, voted for the plan.

In a surreal hearing, Republican activists spoke from remarks that appeared to have been prepared before they knew that the Republican leadership in Raleigh had short-circuited the local process.

“Why would we want compact, cohesive, competitive and community-based districts?” asked Ernie Wittenborn, who is active with Conservatives for Guilford County. “In short, such districts would encourage large numbers of the electorate to become engaged in the process, thus improving the depth and width of our democratic process.”

His wife, Joanne, offered, “Some proposed district maps are an embarrassment. A glance at the proposed maps is all that is required to quickly identify gerrymandering. One of the speakers pointed out what good looks like. Chairman Alston’s map illustrates what bad looks like. Bad can be measured by rambling district lines, distorted neighborhood patterns, and obvious selectivity to ensure a predetermined outcome of elections.”

Jim Lewis encouraged the emasculated commission to demonstrate transparency and requested “the commissioners to explain the reasoning behind why they like one map over another and how this specific map could possibly benefit their constituents.”

Commissioner Bruce Davis, a Democrat who represents a majority-black district based in High Point, was taken aback by what he heard.

“Some of the comments that were made were that communities should be kept together, communities should not be separated or violated, or whatever terminology was used,” he said. “But the map that’s proposed that they’re celebrating – maybe they haven’t seen this map. Maybe they have not seen how it divides communities.”

Davis singled out for scorn District 2, which some commissioners joked should be considered an at-large seat because of the way it travels around the county.

“Under the proposal from the General Assembly, you’ve got District 2 coming from the east side of the county, wraps around High Point, comes up through the west side of High Point, goes through Jamestown and Greensboro, makes a fishhook somewhere around I-40. And that seems to be something to celebrate. Give me a break!”

One of the few speakers to strike a discordant note in the hearing was Keith Brown, a Republican from High Point, who had submitted a map (link) for consideration by the commission.

“One of the things that I didn’t do that everybody else wants to do – it just amazes me – is this High Point hook,” Brown said. “Everybody wants to come around High Point and split High Point three ways. My map actually guarantees that a High Point representative will be in that district.”

The Republican leadership in Raleigh gutted an unsuccessful house bill yesterday, inserted language for an omnibus local elections bill affecting Guilford, Mecklenburg, Buncombe and Lenoir counties, approved it in the Judiciary II committee and passed in through the Senate on two votes. A final Senate vote took place this morning, and then a House vote made it law.

Skip Alston, the Democratic chair of the board, noted that he had worked out a deal with NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger in June that would allow the commission to redraw its own district lines, but mandated that the number of seats and districts be reduced. The deal, reflected in a previous session law, set a deadline for the commission to produce a map, which was set to expire next month.

“I talked to Phil Berger, the president of the Senate, last night and he said the reason he did it is because he had gotten calls from constituents in Guilford County and some of our county commissioners saying they didn’t think they were going to get a fair process,” Alston recounted.

“I informed him that he made a promise,” Alston continued. “The only thing a politician really has is really the value of his word. When you give your word as a politician, then you better keep it. Mr. Berger gave us his word, and the state Senate gave us their word, and the state House gave us their word that they were allowing us to draw those lines…. I told him last night: ‘Shame on you. If you can’t keep your word to the people of Guilford County, you can’t keep your word to anybody.’”

Berger’s home precinct is in Eden, and his Senate district reaches down into rural Guilford County. A new Senate redistricting plan moves his district into urban parts of Greensboro, drawing in Democratic Sen. Don Vaughan. The intervention from Raleigh and disruption of Democratic leadership in Greensboro sets up a potential backlash next year when many Greensboro residents will be voting in Berger’s district.

“I understand where y’all are coming from,” said Commissioner Linda Shaw, the lone Republican on the redistricting committee. “The Republicans have been there. I’ve heard two wrongs don’t make a right. We do have Republican control in Raleigh. I hope we will look at this as a board and not as ‘get even.’ And let’s move forward…. This is the map, and I support the map. I would hope that we would move forward without lawsuits or anything else, Mr. Chair.”

County Attorney Mark Payne noted that the map approved by the General Assembly today appears to be the same as one submitted by Shaw to the local redistricting committee that was drawn by the NC Republican Party.

After the meeting, Shaw allowed that the maps were “very similar,” but said she didn’t believe they were the same. When the two maps were placed in front of her, she could not point out any differences. She protested that she had only received the map ultimately approved by the General Assembly yesterday on her Blackberry.

Shaw called the map she submitted to the county commission redistricting committee a “four-four” map, meaning that it would result in four seats held by Republicans and four seats held by Democrats.

Referring to the map approved by the General Assembly, she said, “This is supposed to be five favoring Republicans and three favoring Democrats. They told me the district they’ve got me in is leaning slightly Democratic.”

Shaw’s math doesn’t quite add up: The three minority-majority districts are considered a lock for Democrats. There are five remaining districts. A truer gauge may be voting history: A certain percentage of white Democrats in North Carolina can be expected to cross party lines and vote Republican.

Vaughan said today that the plan enacted by the General Assembly “packs” African-American voters into the three minority-majority precincts and that in two of them the African-American population is as high as 63 percent. Democratic lawmakers have charged that Republican redistricting plans demonstrate a pattern of “segregating” black voters to bleed them out of adjacent districts and maximize the odds for Republican candidates to win.

County Attorney Mark Payne said the county is required by law to submit the map approved by the General Assembly to the US Justice Department for preclearance under Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act.

Alston said the county commission might consider submitting an alternative map to the US Department of Justice, in case the federal government rejects the map imposed by Raleigh, and would consult with the county attorney about its options.

“We are a part of the state, and if the state tells us to do something, we will have to do it,” he said. “But at the same time we are also a part of the federal government. We have our rights there also. We will exercise those, whatever they might be. If there’s nothing we can do, then there’s nothing we can do. But at the same time we’re not going to not fight a fight that can be fought.”

Democratic commission Chairman Skip Alston accused NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger of breaking his word, while Republican Commissioner Linda Shaw, a onetime ally, defended the redistricting plan.

Constituents offer wide range of views on state regs

Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight asked for an extension on a state-mandated deadline to clean up the Haw River.

Greensboro Mayor Bill Knight was first in line to speak to members of the NC General Assembly’s Joint Regulatory Reform Committee during a hearing at GTCC in Jamestown on Monday.

“This is a meeting to meet you face to face and hear your concerns about the regulations that we in Raleigh put in place and think we’re doing a good thing,” said Rep. Marilyn Avila, a Wake County Republican who co-chairs the committee. “And most of the time we do, but unfortunately there are unintended consequences from rules that we put in place because we’re not forward thinking enough, or because we may not understand the issue to the degree that you do with it on the ground.”

A host of industry representatives and business people predictably streamed before the committee members asking for more regulatory leniency on their respective enterprises, but the surprise may have been the number of people who spoke out in favor of maintaining regulations, with a particular emphasis on the five-star daycare rating system and certification of childcare workers, increased energy efficiency requirements for the homebuilding industry and clean water enforcement.

“We are asking that these rules be extended by four years, to 2020, for compliance deadlines for wastewater discharge rule, for the adaptive management rule, which is also known as an existing development rule, and the new development rule,” said Knight referring to the Jordan Lake Rules, which requires local governments in the Haw River watershed, including Greensboro, and developers to reduce runoff of nitrogen and phosphorous.

Knight received some support from Jim Phillips, who is employed with design firm Anderson & Associates and who spoke on behalf of the Triad Real Estate and Building Industries Coalition.

“Many of the municipalities are challenged to find funding just to implement the rules,” Phillips said. “Developers also are hard pressed, particularly with the devaluation of property values. Pollution is not occurring at the rate it would have been projected and delay of implementation of the rules would certainly be of help to all involved.”

Haw Riverkeeper Elaine Chiosso spoke out against delaying implementation.

“Dirty water that ends up in the Jordan Lake gets there through dirty creeks,” she said, “and those include dirty creeks in Greensboro.”

Bill Sherrill, owner of Red Oak Brewery in Whitsett, asked the General Assembly to remove limitations on production and distribution of his product.

“I’m asking that the legislature do away with the artificial limitation on how much beer a small brewery can sell, produce and distribute,” he said. “We’ve been doing this for 20 years. Our product is a fresh product. It has no chemicals, no preservatives. It’s not filtered. It’s not pasteurized.”

Sherrill waved a site plan at the lawmakers, and told them that lifting the cap would allow him to create jobs and economic development in eastern Guilford County.

“If we can grow, we will create this village here,” he said. “We have all 12 acres, which will have an art museum, a beer hall, shops like the Homeland Creamery. We’re gonna put a deli there. We’ll have a motel and have a small restaurant. We’ll create over 200 jobs. Everyone says it’s small business that creates jobs. But when you come to the legislature and you don’t have the money that a lot of big businesses have you’re always at a disadvantage. I ask you all that you please allow us to grow. We don’t want money from the state; all we want to do is compete.”

Jeff Hyde, a cofounder of Conservatives for Guilford County, spoke out in support of Sherrill’s request, telling the Republican lawmakers on the committee that the Republican Party has a proud tradition of opposing “crony capitalism.”

“They are ready to grow,” Hyde said. “They are ready to create private-sector jobs with their own financing and their own vision. They don’t need any government stimulus. All they need is the opportunity that lifting the artificial cap on the production and distribution of their product would provide.”

At least eight people spoke out in support of state regulations designed to maintain clean water.

“One of my concerns… is finding out the amount of pollution in the Yadkin River — the lack of enforcement of the Clean Water Act,” said John Young, who owned a furniture store in High Point before retiring. “And as somebody who paid a lot of taxes in this state over many years I’m one that expected the Clean Water Act to be enforced by [the Department of Environment and Natural Resources] and the EPA. And I’ve come to realize today that there is a real lack of enforcement. So I’m here today to say that DENR doesn’t need less funds; they need more funds for protecting our water, protecting our environment and helping our state parks system.”

Ann Cassebaum of Alamance County said environmental regulation has protected the Haw River and led to the economic rebirth of the Haw River valley, including restored fish populations and revitalization of small towns such as Glen Cove and Saxapahaw.

Lance Sawyer, owner of First Street Draught House in Winston-Salem, argued that enforcement of clean water standards supports the small-scale beer, wine and food industries, while another speaker said preserving the state’s natural beauty is critical to continuing to attract retirees.

“The brewing industry, vineyards and slow food industry in North Carolina are growing by leaps and bounds,” Sawyer said.

“Do we want Colorado to have better beer than us?” he asked, drawing laughter from the audience and smiles from the lawmakers. “I don’t think so.”

At least four people said they were in favor of a five-star daycare rating the state has adopted, and some added that certification requirements for childcare workers have improved industry standards and helped daycare services flourish.

“As we expect teachers to excel, they do,” said Karen Lassiter, who owns three childcare centers in Guilford and Randolph counties. “And as we expect early childhood education teachers to excel, they do. And that is linked to better outcomes for our children.”

A handful of people said they support new requirements for homebuilders to meet new standards of energy efficiency that are scheduled to go into effect next year.

“In a nutshell this code is going to ask builders to reduce the leakage and improve insulation — and improve the way insulation is installed in new homes,” said Sam Zimmerman, a small residential builder. “I know it’s dry stuff. But it really does impact all of us, including the quality of homes built and how much homeowners pay after they buy a home.

“You look at most Habitat homes — particularly built in western North Carolina where I’m from, where it’s cold — they are all built to exceed these standards already today,” he added. “And that is not expensive or hard to do: They’ve got housewives and cheerleaders, anybody they can get up doing it.”

Zimmerman charged that large-tract builders want to avoid the regulation so they can squeeze out an extra thousand dollars or so in costs, but as a result homeowners are strapped with high energy bills for years to come. Another negative repercussion of building homes that heat inefficiently is pressure on energy companies to build additional power plants.

“All we have to do is build better homes,” Zimmerman said. “They cost a little bit more to build.”

Erik Anderson, president-elect of the NC Homebuilders Association, asked the lawmakers for more regulation — on his industry’s competitors.

“In the state of North Carolina, if you sign a contract for greater than $30,000, you have to have a general contractor’s license,” he said. There’s a lot of work done throughout the state of North Carolina by unlicensed contractors. One of the big issues is there’s something out there called the owners exemption, which means any person can build their own home without having a general contractors license. We’re not opposed to not allowing people to build their own home. What we would simply ask is that if we’re going to allow a homeowner to build their own home they should have the same training and pass the same tests and follow the same rules and regulations that we have to follow.”

Lolita Malave, president-elect of the Greensboro Regional Realtors Association, asked the General Assembly to repeal the protest petition, which allows neighboring property owners to trigger a requirement of a 75 percent majority vote for approval of a rezoning request if they file a valid protest petition.

“It is easier to change the US Constitution that it is to rezone your property under the protest petition,” Malave said. “The US Constitution can be changed with a simple-majority vote of the people or a two-thirds majority vote of Congress. By contrast, the owner of 5 percent of the land within 100 feet of a proposed land rezoning project can trigger a requirement for more than a super-majority vote. That equates to more than 75 percent of voters. It is absurd and unfair that such a small number of citizens can and do decide the fate of many.”

One speaker echoed Malave’s appeal, while another spoke in defense of the protest petition.

Five people asked lawmakers to curb requirements that hazardous waste companies maintain sufficient funds to pay for closure.

Other advocates for deregulation included

• A farmer who is concerned that E-verify program could reject an employee because of a name change due to a marriage, who argued that the H2A guest worker program prevents her family from hiring American teenagers at low wages because of a requirement that farmers only hire foreign workers if they cannot find people willing to work for $9.30 an hour, and who urged that funding for Legal Aid be cut because the agencies lawyers assist migrant workers with complaints against their employers;

• Fred Gregory, who asked lawmakers to scrap a requirement for annual car inspections, characterizing the regulation as a pact between radical environmentalists and auto repair shops;

• Steve Williams of Wilco-Hess in Winston-Salem, who complained about regulations on fuel storage
• Eliminate “redundant” regulations of public-sector More at Four program;

• A Duke Energy representative who called for the elimination of regulations on particulate matter emissions by power plants;

• Linda Harris of Townsend poultry, who asked lawmakers to lift a cap on weight restrictions for transporting animals to slaughterhouses;

• A duct tape manufacturer in Hickory, who spoke in favor of a moratorium on new regulations; and

• Ruth Foster, who called on the General Assembly to lift restrictions on raw milk.

Other speakers spoke out in favor of maintaining current regulations, including public health inspection of restaurants and a state prohibition against hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, a process of natural gas recovery that involves fracturing rocks.

“Through childcare regulations, our children are in safer environments,” said Dr. Teresa Bratton, a Greensboro pediatrician. “Through housing regulations we rarely see lead toxicity in our children. Due to power plant regulations we are limiting the amount of mercury that reaches our fish, and therefore we have a safer high-protein carp for our pregnant women with children. Due to car emissions inspections and due to school bus emissions inspections regulations we have more low-ozone days that our children can play outside.

“Please do not compromise our safety and health for a few pennies,” she added. “We will save more dollars in healthcare over the long run.”

Rep. Marilyn Avila and fellow committee members solicited ideas for rolling back government regulations during a hearing in Jamestown on Monday.