Republican leaders in the North Carolina General Assembly say that budget negotiations are on track and that a final spending plan will be on Gov. Bev Perdue’s desk by early June.

In the interim, lawmakers are finding plenty to occupy themselves — much of it controversial — during the long session that reached its two-month anniversary on Wednesday. Among other issues debated this week, legislators squabbled over medical malpractice reform, strengthening access to public records, expanding protections for unborn children, and requiring voters present a valid ID at the polls.

Discussion over another touchy bill, this one to overhaul the state’s charter-schools law, was notably absent this week. After passing the Senate in late February, the charter-schools bill remains bottled up in the House Finance Committee while the kinks are worked out.

Before leaving down Thursday afternoon, the Senate elected eight new members to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors. The House is expected to make its own eight selections next week.

The same day, the Senate gave tentative approval to a bill that would transfer the State Health Plan from under the General Assembly’s jurisdiction to the state treasurer’s office. The measure also requires state employees to shoulder some of the burden for premiums and raises co-pays and deductibles.

On Wednesday, a House subcommittee heard debate on a measure prohibiting motorists from using cell phones unless they do so with a hands-free device. It’s uncertain what fate the bill faces, as Republican leaders in the House and Senate disagree on its merits.

Malpractice substitute

After facing a rancorous debate in the Senate, medical malpractice reform reared its head in a House committee this week. Lawmakers floated a proposed committee substitute Wednesday for Senate Bill 33, Medical Liability Reforms.

The House version lowers the cap on noneconomic damages for which plaintiffs are entitled from $500,000 to $250,000. Noneconomic damages are intangible losses, such as physical pain and emotional distress, arising from malpractice cases.

Aside from the cap, the most controversial part of S.B. 33 would set the standard for malpractice suits arising from emergency room visits at “gross negligence,” meaning a trial lawyer would have to prove that a physician had reckless disregard for the welfare of his or her patient. The House substitute leaves that provision intact.

But in a move already generating sparks, the House version would exempt drug manufacturers from liability in cases where their products had gained approval by federal regulators.

Further discussion is expected next week.

Unborn protections

Debate turned sour Thursday afternoon over House Bill 215, Unborn Victims of Violence Act/Ethen’s Law. The measure would expand protections for unborn children who die as a result of an assault on their mothers.

Although not specifically abortion-related, the bill has stoked tensions between pro-lifers and pro-choicers because it recognizes the humanity of the unborn from conception to birth.

Rep. Phillip Haire, D-Jackson, offered an amendment in committee and on the House floor to exclude the first trimester of pregnancy from the bill. It failed by a 68-42 vote.

Another amendment, this one offered by Wake County Democratic Rep. Deborah Ross, would have required that an assailant have knowledge of the woman’s pregnancy during commission of the assault. It failed 46-66.

After more than two years of debate, H.B. 215 passed the full House 74-35. Next stop: the Senate.

Sunshine, term limits delayed

Republicans postponed a vote on House Bill 87, Sunshine Amendment, until next week. The measure would codify North Carolina’s open-records law in the state constitution and raise the threshold that lawmakers would need to meet in future sessions to change it.

Democrats say the bill should be a statute, not an amendment. That’s raised doubts about whether House Republicans can secure the three-fifths majority needed to pass the bill as it stands.

The House also delayed action on House Bill 61, Speaker/Pro Tem Term Limits, a measure to term-limit top leaders in the House and Senate to two sessions. The goal is to end the kind of multiterm reigns of power that Democrats Marc Basnight and Jim Black enjoyed.

House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said the bill has bipartisan support, but he felt it best to delay the measure pending further discussion.

“Make no mistake about it — there is broad support for the term limits,” Tillis said.

Both H.B. 87 and H.B. 61 are scheduled for more debate, and possible votes, on Tuesday.

Holden holdup

One wrinkle this week didn’t involve major policy-change legislation, but a resolution pardoning Reconstruction-era Gov. William Holden, a Republican and the first state chief executive removed from office in U.S. history.

In the years following the Civil War, Holden used the state militia to crack down on Ku Klux Klan activity in Alamance and Caswell counties. That led to his impeachment by the General Assembly after Democrats regained control in the early 1870s.

The incident remains a sore spot for some North Carolinians. The resolution was on the fast track to victory this week before hitting a snag. An unidentified history buff left information on senators’ desks critical of Holden’s track record, drawn largely from historians critical of Republicans’ actions during Reconstruction who claimed Holden was corrupt and deserved impeachment.

Republicans quietly sent the resolution back to the Senate Rules Committee, where it could die or be brought back up for a more thorough debate.

David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.