RALEIGH – Spending, schools, property rights, and taxes led the debate in the North Carolina General Assembly this week.

The Senate passed a second bill cutting spending this year after Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed Senate Bill 13, the legislature’s initial attempt. Democrats in the House staked out opposition to expanding charter schools. Bills limiting involuntary annexation advanced. And a taxpayer bill of rights was filed in the House.

Cutting state spending

The spending bill, Senate Bill 109, passed the Senate unanimously. It gives Perdue the ability to cut spending this year by almost $538 million. She had asked for $400 million in authority, but she objected to an additional $138 million in cuts from S.B. 13, which resulted from diverting spending from tobacco settlement funds and other programs supporting economic development projects.

“The governor didn’t like the savings we proposed in Senate Bill 13,” Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said in a news release. “To responsibly balance next year’s budget, we have to cut spending now. Just saying no is not an option.”

The bill is likely to move through the House next week.

Expanding charter schools

Senate Bill 8, removing the 100-school cap on charter schools in North Carolina, moved into the House Tuesday. It’s an expansive bill that does much more than lift the cap. It would establish a commission to oversee charter schools, change the application process to open a charter school, make more state money available to charter schools for building, equipment, and more.

There was heated debate in the Senate on the bill, but it passed by a veto-proof margin of 33-17.

The bill has been referred to the House Committee on Education. Democrats in the House are preparing to fight the bill. They say it threatens to deprive the other public schools in the state of the resources they need.

“The Republican leadership has decided to bankrupt our schools in order to cater to the most narrow elements within their party,” said Rep. Tricia Cotham, D-Mecklenburg. “We will not stand by while the Republicans dismantle the institution that has been the cornerstone of the American dream.”

During debate in the Senate, Republicans said the charter schools offer an alternative to parents who are dissatisfied with traditional public schools. Charter school operators also said they offer opportunities for students left behind in district schools. Charters operate on shoestring budgets, and Sen. Richard Stevens, R-Wake, the bill’s sponsor in the Senate, said charter schools deserve more support.

“They’ve got to beg, borrow, get loans, rent, use the church basements, whatever many times for their facilities particularly in the early days,” Stevens said.

Perdue also expressed apprehension with the charter school bill. She has not indicated whether she would veto it.

A couple of other education-related bills moved in the legislature. House Bill 48 limits standardized testing in public schools to only those required by the federal government or as a condition of receiving a federal grant. It passed the Senate Thursday with bipartisan support after passing the House two weeks ago.

Another bill, Senate Bill 74, stumbled on its way to passage. It would allow community colleges to opt out of participating in the William D. Ford Federal Direct Loan Program. The bill was awaiting a final vote in the Senate before being pulled from the calendar and sent back to an Appropriations subcommittee.

Limiting involuntary annexation

The General Assembly also took several steps to limit involuntary annexation in the state. Current state law gives property owners in unincorporated areas little ability to fight municipalities that seek to annex property outside their boundaries. Cities say they provide necessary services. Opponents say annexation burdens them with unwanted taxes and denies them a voice in the process.

The Senate took its second vote on SB-27 to stop cities from conducting involuntary annexations through July 2012. The moratorium would then give Republican leaders an opportunity to review and adjust the laws governing annexation. A third vote is on Monday’s calendar.

“We don’t think government officials should have unrestricted control over someone’s private property,” said Berger following the second vote. “This is the first step in restoring fair policies to protect private property.”

Representatives from two cities currently undergoing involuntary annexations also advanced bills to stop them. The first, House Bill 5, is sponsored by Rep. Stephen LaRoque, R-Lenoir. It would repeal retroactively an annexation ordinance passed by Kinston in 2009. H.B. 5 passed the house Wednesday and was sent to a Senate committee Thursday.

The other local bill is House Bill 37, sponsored by Rep. Rayne Brown, R-Davidson. “I do not believe city governments should have uncontrolled determination of their boundaries,” Brown said when she introduced the bill. “The process, which is heavily weighted to their advantage is archaic, undemocratic and un-American.”

Brown’s bill is similar to LaRoque’s. It would repeal retroactively annexation ordinances passed by the Lexington City Council in 2008.

Taxpayer protection

North Carolina taxpayers could soon see state spending relief under a constitutional amendment to restrict the growth of government. Rep. John Blust, R-Guilford, introduced House Bill 188, Taxpayer Bill of Rights bill, this week. It is in the House Judiciary Committee.

H.B. 188 includes several major provisions. First, it would add a constitutional amendment tying to state spending to population growth plus inflation; a two-thirds vote of the General Assembly would be required to increase spending beyond that limit. Next, it would allow for excess tax collections to be returned to taxpayers under some circumstances.

“There is no limitation on the ability of politicians to try to win votes through spending other peoples’ money,” Blust said earlier this week.

The measure faces long odds. To get H.B. 188 on the 2012 ballot, it must receive a three-fifths majority in both chambers. Berger has said he may not urge passage in hopes of avoiding a “California-style ballot” filled with initiatives that year. Democrats oppose the bill.

Anthony Greco is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.