THURSDAY, August 31, 2006 — Citing a state budget that "overall is the best budget we've had at least in the last four to five years" and other decisions that left him scratching his head, political insider Chris Fitzsimon gave his assessment last Wednesday of the North Carolina General Assembly and this year's legislative session.

Fitzsimon, director of NC Policy Watch, a liberal-leaning public policy advocacy group, spoke Aug. 23 to a quarterly meeting of the Committee of 100 in Sanford.

Evaluating the year's session apparently wasn't easy for the pundit, possibly because the legislature was so erratic. Nearly every commendation offered by Fitzsimon was followed by a criticism, and the polar nature of the general assembly's decisions apparently were mirrored by the way it conducted the people's business.

During the first half, Fitzsimon said, lawmakers did some good things and acted in full public view, likely because of political and fundraising scandals currently engulfing Democratic House Speaker James Black of Mecklenburg County. "There weren't a lot of the special provisions, the secret provisions, that were snuck in the budget," said Fitzsimon about the session's opening weeks. "There were some, but far fewer than we've seen in recent years."

But the last month of the session was far different, he said, with lawmakers reverting to "the old days" — committee meetings held without notice and provisions quickly introduced and approved in legislation without time for public review. "That leads to very little accountability," he said, "and that's one of the worst things I think that we can have in public debates."

After citing his own list of policy concerns, the regular television panelist on NC Spin tackled several, saying the legislature "made progress in some of those areas, ignored some and went the wrong way on some of them."


Mental Health

A significant amount of money — about $100 million — was provided for mental health services, something Fitzsimon applauded as a "down payment" on what is needed. On the other hand, the legislature did not provide funding for communities to build services that would treat people locally.

Reform in mental health is needed, he believes, but the particular approach being taken has been a disaster. "There's a crisis in North Carolina when we're literally, in the urban areas of North Carolina, taking people with mental illness to homeless shelters, dropping them off and saying, 'See you later.'"


Education

Fitzsimon commended the legislature for spending money to assist low-wealth and struggling schools and to provide an average 8-percent pay raise for teachers. But, again, his verdict was mixed, saying that legislators took back $30 million the schools had been saving through a sales tax rebate, even as they were touting new money budgeted for operating expenses.

"I think the education budget was very good overall," Fizsimon said, "but a tad bit dishonest."


Economic Development

The legislature reaffirmed two economic development programs used to attract business and industry. Lawmakers allowed a one-time increase in the Job Development Investment Grant program, annual grants to new and expanding business based on the amount of withholding taxes paid by new employees, and rewrote the William S. Lee Quality Jobs and Business Expansion Act, providing tax credits for local investment.

The entire issue of economic incentives could be heating up in the legislature, because of recent events in Holly Springs — where the town promised more money to attract one company than it had available.

"When we start getting to the point where we not only have states competing with states for companies and giving incentives, but counties inside North Carolina competing for incentives — and now we have towns promising money they don't have in the town budget — we really have gotten to the point where we had better figure out a policy that makes some sense," Fitzsimon said.

"Otherwise," he continued, "we're not only playing a dangerous game, but mortgaging the future of our tax base and mortgaging a lot of the things we're going to need to pay for the growth we have."


State Courts

In a move that was widely applauded, the pundit said, legislators began to upgrade the state court system — enhancing facilities and adding personnel, including parole officers and assistant district attorneys. Alternative sentencing programs received some additional funding — but, Fitzsimon believes, not enough.


Lobbying Reform

In what he described as a "medium step" in lobbying reform, Fitzsimon said lawmakers banned lobbyists from giving money to legislators, eliminated the policy of blank checks that has embroiled House Speaker Black in scandal, stopped the personal use of campaign funds and created an ethics commission.

But, like other issues this year, there was a downside. Of everything that took place this summer, Fitzsimon said, his biggest disappointment was that it remains legal for lobbyists to give fundraisers for legislators — even in the lobbyists' own living rooms.

"If you want to influence a legislator," the policy analyst explained, "invite him over to your house and raise $50,000 for him for the election. And then when the session starts, go see him. I'll bet you that they'll let you in."


In Other Action

Other significant legislation cited by Fitzsimon:

* Additional money was provided for Smart Start, an educational program for children under six.

* An Innocence Commission was created to give another hearing to inmates claiming to be innocent of the crimes for which they were convicted.

* The state minimum wage was raised by one dollar to $6.15 per hour.

* Tougher driver's license requirements were passed as a way to combat illegal immigration. Fitzsimon, though, believes that any meaningful solution to illegal immigration would need to be crafted at the federal level.

* Video poker was banned.

* The state gasoline tax, highest in the region, was capped at its current level.