Loser-Pays Bill Arouses House Panel

RALEIGH—A bill that would require courts to award attorney’s fees to the press and citizens who win public-record lawsuits against the state aroused spirited debate during a House committee hearing Thursday. John Bussian, legislative and First Amendment counsel for the North Carolina Press Association, told members of the House Judiciary 1 Committee that despite changes that government lawyers want, the legislation “is a good bill the way it’s presently worded” and that “no opposing words were given” in Senate committee hearings that had been conducted on the bill.