N.C. Senator Ellie Kinnaird's Newsletter

August 7, 2011 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Ellie Kinnaird

Greetings from the North Carolina Senate,

For years, Rep. Alice Bordsen, with whom I have worked on Justice and Public Safety issues, and a bi-partisan group of legislators, put forward a bill that would expunge from their criminal records nonviolent offenses committed when they were minors. The bill would help people who committed minor (and stupid), nonviolent crimes during their youth, to clear their record. Without such relief, their felony record follows them through life, preventing them from getting a decent job, entering certain professions and receiving Pell grants. This year the bill was successful. It will expunge non-violent felonies and may be filed four years after the date of the conviction when all conditions of restitution or parole are fulfilled. It only expunges nonviolent felonies - but not serious felonies, such as felony assaults, sex crimes and certain drug felonies involving methamphetamines, heroin, or cocaine. Now it is possible for those who committed crimes as unthinking young people to move forward without a felony record. Many who work in prison ministries know what a difference this will make as they strive to help prisoners re-enter the community.

In one of the more interesting partisan surprises of the last session, a freshman Republican member introduced a bill that would take away an exemption from fishing licenses given to people who are on various government social service subsistence. The senator who introduced the bill saw the exemption as an example of government subsidizing lazy, poor people and it seemed to speak to the new “less government” message. But in an usual turn of events, a long-time Republican member from the coast, fought the bill. She said that many of the people being helped were coastal workers who are barely surviving in this economy and this was a source of food for them. Amazingly, the bill went down in defeat. I commend her for her for sticking up for her hardworking but struggling constituents.

For an insight into what seems an illogical procedure that occurs often in the legislature, the following is the saga of a bill’s unusual journey toward passage. The bill started in the Senate as a measure to strengthen laws prohibiting cockfighting. But when it got to the House, it morphed into “Deeds of Trust/Modernize Procedures.” How could this happen? A bill that starts out dealing with one subject and ends up as a totally different bill occurs all the time. Here is the explanation: a bill cannot be introduced after the deadline set for introduction of bills early in the session. But if another bill that was introduced on time has passed in one chamber, it is there for the taking. That means the other chamber can take the contents out of a bill and put anything into it the legislator wants. In this case, someone in the House wanted to pass his bill on Deeds of Trust but hadn’t introduced it on time. So he took the contents out of the cockfighting bill that had passed in the Senate and put his Deeds of Trust content into it. But before it finished its journey, it morphed one more time into a Castle Doctrine bill (to allow people in their own homes to shoot intruders) before finally returning to Deeds of Trust. It then passed the House in its final form; the Senate concurred and was signed by the governor. Maybe the cockfighting bill will come back in 2012-13 session. And the Castle Doctrine passed through its own metamorphous. And who knows what new life it might take on again in this mysterious process.

In another similar maneuver, a bill that started out as a House bill to “Designate the Shelby Livermush Festival as the Official Livermush Festival” ended up changed to a bill to deal with a serious problem. Local governments collect email lists when citizens request information of staff and elected officials. The local government then uses those email addresses to notify people of upcoming meetings and events. All communication with a public body are public records by law and available to anyone to access. There are concerns that the publically listed email addresses could be used by others for identify theft or to harass people. Unfortunately, this bill, and others like it, did not pass this session, but it is a problem that still needs to be addressed.

One of the valuable programs funded by the legislature is the North Carolina Housing Finance Agency. This agency uses state and federal funds to provide affordable housing for the disabled and elderly. This year in the 26 counties awarded the funds, 6,900 construction related jobs will be created and 2,452 privately owned, privately-managed affordable apartment will be built. In Hillsborough, Hampton Pointe received a $720,000 loan for new affordable housing. The state money allowed them to draw down $463,592 in federal funds and the rest will be financed by local banks. In Carrboro, Community Alternatives for Supportive Abodes (CASA) will acquire and rehabilitate the Club Nova Apartments which are affordable housing for persons who are disabled by chronic mental illness. Club Nova has been a life-line for the chronically mentally ill in our community and these apartments enable them to live independently.

In a final note, congratulations to the residents of Orange County who reduced their landfill waste by 56% in 2009-10.

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 •