N.C. Senator Ellie Kinnaird's Newsletter

April 7, 2009 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Ellie Kinnaird

Each year, in addition to the bills that affect the whole state, the legislature also considers a number of local bills, which are bills specific to a city, county, or series of municipalities. To be classified as a local bill, it must affect less than 15 counties. The North Carolina Constitution spells out what can and cannot be a local bill and they are usually non-controversial in nature. They become law once passed by the Senate and House and do not require the Governor’s signature and cannot be vetoed by the Governor. I wanted to take a moment to share with you a few local bills I’ve introduced this session:

Senate Bill 395 Carrboro Housing Discrimination
Senate Bill 475 Amend Carrboro Charter/Conserve Energy/Water
Other local legislation will be introduced by the House.

Last week in the Senate, we passed a few measures that might be of interest to you. First, we passed a bill that will protect domestic violence shelters and their employees from unwarranted lawsuits. These safe places provide an invaluable service to those in need of protection and, as long as they are performing their duties correctly, they should not get tied up in the court system unnecessarily.

We also debated and passed a controversial initiative that would require insurance and registration of mopeds. I felt it was unnecessarily restrictive for a vehicle with limited speed and is used by people who have lost their drivers license.

The Governor signed into law this week the Senate bill creating Grandfather Mountain State Park.

We are moving closer to introducing and debating the Senate budget. While Governor Perdue’s budget recommendations were a very good starting point, the proposed Senate budget will have some differences from the Governor’s. We are required to balance the budget; this will require cuts and some will be painful. But it is important that we keep our state moving forward. In the coming weeks, I will provide a full update on the Senate budget.

As always, please feel free to contact me to share your opinions on any other issue you feel is important, and thank you for the opportunity to serve you in the Senate. I hope you have a nice week.

Paid for by Ellie Kinnaird for Senate • PO Box 668, Carrboro, NC 27510 • 919-929-1607 •