Representative Carl Ford – District 76
Fourteenth Week of the 2015 Long Session
At 2:00 AM, Thursday morning the House concluded its final voting session in preparation of the crossover deadline. As I indicated in earlier newsletters, after 5:00 on Thursday, unless a bill has a fiscal impact or has crossed from one chamber to the other, it dies. In other words, it represents the first major hurdle in our 2015 calendar and weeds-out a significant number of bills from further discussion this year.
I was able to get a significant number of my bills passed in the House, including my municipal elections bill, the Auto Salvage Dealer Protection Act, and the Debts to Judgment Debtors. From now on, my colleagues and I will work with our Senate counterparts keep our bills moving in our respective chambers, which involves a lot of horse trading. Expect to hear news on a House budget soon, our chamber’s prize stallion. Few bills will see any action in either chamber until that process gets moving in earnest.
Bill Updates
“Restoring Proper Justice Act” – House Bill 774
Currently, the Courts have ruled that the death penalty, or capital punishment, is a constitutionally valid punishment for the most severe crimes perpetrated against our society. Over a century of court cases and legislation guide our justice system in order to make the process efficient in dispensing justice yet humane.
Currently, lethal injection is the sole method of execution in most states, including North Carolina, and is the sole method protected by the Supreme Court. Yet, in 2006, the North Carolina Medical Board announced that doctors could not ethically participate in executions beyond certifying an inmate’s death, which is statutorily required to ensure the practice is carried out humanely. Due to this situation and a few other legal and international matters, no executions have been carried out since 2006.
Yet, the people of North Carolina made it clear that the death penalty is proper justice for capital offenses. On Wednesday, I voted in favor of HB 774, which allows a specific number of licensed, credentialed medical professionals to oversee lethal injections in lieu of physicians. I believe that when a jury of our peers rules that a convicted capital offender should face the death penalty, it is our responsibility as legislators to ensure that the process is not prohibited by unnecessary regulation. The bill was sent to the Senate on Thursday morning.
“Elevating Teachers Package” – House Bills 660, 661, 902
This Wednesday, the House passed three bills which make up our “Elevating Teachers Package.” These bills continue the legislature’s commitment to high-quality, competitive, and market-focused education in North Carolina. We believe these bills, all receiving significant bipartisan support, will ensure our children benefit from 21st century innovation and technology.
The Transition to Personalized Digital Learning (660) bill will close the gap in access to education opportunities by accelerating the statewide transition to effective digital learning options. The Teacher Recruitment Scholarships (661) bill establishes a recruitment and scholarship program to attract and retain high quality teachers to our classrooms. The program targets students in colleges of education and mid-career professionals to our STEM classrooms and is expected to recruit 1,000 teachers per year to our hard-to-staff schools. Finally, the Transforming Principal Preparation (902) establishes a grant program to support innovation in principal preparation programs. We believe that leadership matters, and principal recruitment can dramatically impact every student in every school.
These bills were received by the Senate on Thursday and were sent to various holding Committees in preparation of budget negotiations.
Thank you for taking the time to read about the work I was able to accomplish this week for Cabarrus and Rowan. Expect to hear big news as the 152nd resumes its legislative session and budget process.
Please share this newsletter with your friends and family in the district. And please remember to tune into the Houses’ Weekly Republican Address on YouTube and Town Hall Thursdays on Twitter. If you have any questions or concerns, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
God Bless,
Carl
Legislative Office: (919) 733-5881
District Office: (704) 305-3541
carl.ford@ncleg.net
