news-record.com

I'm Twittering the Monday night House session, but my friends at the Associated Press are writing some real journalism...or at least filing some briefs. From the AP:

• BIGGER BUDGET: Days after North Carolina's budget became law, legislators increased the $19 billion spending plan for this year by nearly $7 million. The state House voted 84-30 to approve adjustments to the budget Gov. Beverly Perdue signed into law on Friday. The changes would leave less than $4 million unspent at the end of the year ending June 30, 2010. One major change delays closing of a Moore County incarceration center for delinquent juveniles by 10 months. The revisions increase the chances Perdue will have to make spending cuts later. She is responsible to make sure the state budget balances every year. Perdue forced state employees to take unpaid time off in May and June to balance last year's budget.
   
• HANDICAPPED PARKING: Lawmakers are getting tough on people who abuse handicapped parking permits. The House voted 110-3 on new rules for the use of the placards displayed in car windows showing the owner has special parking privileges. The bill directs the Division of Motor Vehicles to redesign the handicapped parking placard so that the expiration date is visible from at least 20 feet. The DMV would issue a registration card along with each placard issued. A law officer then could make sure the placard and the ID card match up and that the handicapped person issued the permit is the vehicle's operator or passenger. Lawmakers believe displaying the expiration dates will allow expired or revoked placards to be collected.
   
• TRANSIT TAXES: Legislators have given final approval for a plan that would pour millions of dollars in new taxes and fees into beefing up public transit systems. The state House voted 73-40 on legislation raising sales taxes and vehicle registration fees in the state's second- and third-largest metropolitan areas by more than $150 million a year. The effort to pump more money into an alternative to cars would allow Wake, Orange, Durham, Guilford and Forsyth counties to collect a half-cent sales tax. Other counties could raise the sales tax by a quarter-cent for public transit. Authorities could increase the local portion of the tax on vehicle registrations by up to $7 per vehicle to $10.
   
• PAPER MONEY: Legislators want to give a Canadian paper company up to $9 million to help it retool its paper mill near Plymouth. The House voted 72-41 for final approval that would give Montreal-based Domtar Corp. the money supporters said was needed to keep the company from laying off 320 employees. A state Commerce Department official said they are paid an average salary of about $70,000 a year. Domtar plans to stop making white office paper at its Plymouth plant in favor of turning the area's loblolly pine trees into the absorbent fluff used in diapers. Supporters say more than 1,000 addition logging jobs in eastern North Carolina are at risk if the Domtar plant shuts down. A similar bill failed in the House last week.