N.C. Senator Ellie Kinnaird's Newsletter

August 23, 2010 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Ellie Kinnaird

Greetings from the North Carolina Senate,

Interesting facts:

1. The state budget has increased .4 percent ($92 million)
2. Population has grown 7.3 percent (650,000)
3. K-12 enrollment inched up 2.9 percent (41,000)
4. UNC enrollment grew 9.8 percent (20,000)
5. Community college enrollment jumped 27.7 percent (53,000)

I am pleased to inform you that the North Carolina General Assembly has closed the short session for 2010 and I will be back working in the district for the remainder of the year. During the interim, I am on the Energy Policy Commission, the Environmental Review Commission, Youth Accountability Commission to raise the age when juveniles are charged as adults to 18, children and Youth Commission, The Justice Reinvestment Act to reduce prison population and the Institute of Medicine Commission to study health care delivery. The next session begins in January.

I strongly supported the Government Ethics and Campaign Reform Act of 2010 (H 961), which received near-unanimous bipartisan passage. This sends a strong message that we demand honesty and accountability in state government.

Here are a few highlights of the bill, which was sent to the Governor to be signed into law:

Bans coercion for political support or contributions related to state contractors and those regulated by the state

Bans favors and rewards including promises of future employment in exchange for help with state contracts

Increases penalty for campaign contribution violations (giving in the name of another and the corporate contribution ban) from misdemeanor to felony

New technology to improve campaign finance database and two new Elections Inspectors for State Board of Elections

Establishes extensive campaign contributions database easily searchable by geographic location, occupation, employer, contributor, within an election cycle and over a period of time

NC Open Book: single, searchable database of all state contracts and grants over $10K

Open government salary records: Make complete salary history a public record

Lobbying fine and statistics published annually by Secretary of State

Requires the government to pay plaintiffs’ legal fees in cases where they are found to have violated open records laws

DNA LEGISLATION

I opposed a bill giving law enforcement the authority to collect DNA samples from anyone arrested for a felony. While some claim that DNA is the 21st Century fingerprint it is much more. It can reveal great amounts of information about a person. And remember, this DNA was not taken to match to a crime scene DNA, but to see if any other crime in the data base matches. It flies in the face of presumed innocence and the 4th Amendment right to secure in our persons against unwarranted searches. If the person refuses to give up his DNA, he or she will remain in jail until they comply, which is against the 8th Amendment right to reasonable bail.

We also passed legislation to:

Remove cap for damages industry is responsible for in the event of an oil spill off North Carolina’s coast

Make sure teachers dismissed for misconduct cannot hide that when seeking teaching jobs in other districts

Reform and provide more ethics oversight to local Alcoholic Beverage Control boards

To end it with a lighter note, remember when I told you about the Pork Industry killed the puppy mill bill because it was supported by the Humane Society, Pete Andrews suggested we tell them hot dogs are made of pork and not puppies.

As always, please feel free to contact me to share your opinions about these initiatives or any other issue you feel is important, and thank you for the opportunity to serve you in the Senate.

Paid for by Ellie Kinnaird for Senate • Campaign Address: PO Box 668, Carrboro, NC 27510 • 919-918-3432
Legislative Office Address: Room 628 LOB, 300 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27603 •