Among the new bills introduced in the legislature this week is a cap on the motor fuel tax (HB399). The flat tax rate on a gallon of gas is 17.5 cents. The variable wholesale rate is 3.5 cents per gallon or 7 percent of the average whosesale price, which slides upward with that price. The new [...]
New bill would prohibit random police checkpoints
Republican Representative Glen Bradley introduced a bill to put a stop to police checking stations (HB375). Any roadblocks would have to have the purpose of finding a person who is named in an arrest warrant. But a driver could be stopped if the person committed an implied consent offense and had been warned by an officer [...]
Smart cards, mental health workers bill of rights and liquor sales on Sundays among new bills introduced
Republican Senator Fletcher Hartsell introduced a bill to set up a pilot program using biometric Smart Cards to fight fraud in Medicaid (SB307). The Department of Health and Human Services would determine the scope of the program and it would be for a year. Fingerprint and card readers would be distributed throughout the counties involved. [...]
Bill would allow a murder charge for the death of an unborn child
Republican Representative Dale Folwell introduced HB215 that would create a penalty of life in prison without parole for the murder of an unborn child. The bill also lists lower class felonies for such offenses as assault and manslaughter. It could not be applied to abortions. Folwell had relatives of murdered unborns speak at a press conference. Below [...]
Another Murder on Our Watch
The recent murder of Valerie Hamilton, the 23-year-old daughter of Concord’s Police Chief, serves as a stark reminder of North Carolina’s correctional system failures. Hamilton’s murder eerily resembles the 2008 murder of UNC Student Body President Eve Carson. The chief suspect in her death, Michael Neal Harvey, was on probation for multiple criminal infractions, including [...]
