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RALEIGH — A bill aimed at protecting the right to hang laundry on a clothesline fell victim to dry, or at least drying, humor Tuesday.

Sponsored by Greensboro Democrat Rep. Pricey Harrison, the measure would have prohibited cities and counties from adopting blanket bans on clotheslines.

The Senate Commerce Committee rejected the measure on a voice vote.

“It’s been a real problem for folks who feel pretty adamantly they want to use clotheslines,” Harrison said. “It’s their small step that they can take toward the global warming issue.”

The bill passed the House  100-14 in May.

But senators said the idea didn’t wash.

“I also think we ought to let cities and counties to elect local ordinances that govern these types of things…we just can’t legislate everything,” said Sen. Malcolm Graham, a Charlotte Democrat.

Other senators tittered at the idea of undies flapping in the breeze alongside beachfront vacation homes.

“I can just see Clark stringing up his underwear on the line right outside the beach house,” said Sen. Debbie Clary (R-Cherryville), referring to Democratic colleague Clark Jenkins of Tarboro.

Despite the mirth, Harrison said the issue was a serious one. Between 10 percent and 25 percent of a home’s electric bill can be the result of a household dryer, she said.
 

Originally, Harrison said she wanted to prohibit homeowners associations from restricting clotheslines in their covenants. Line-dryers have more problems with those agreements than with local ordinances, Harrison said, but she removed that provision to help the bill pass the House.

In the Senate Commerce Committee on Tuesday, Sen. William Purcell (D-Laurinburg) defended the bill, saying that his wife insists cotton sheets should never go in the dryer. Also, he said, using clotheslines could save energy.

But even as staff members explained the bill, senators held audible side conversations full of underwear jokes that made it clear the measure would fail. The voice vote wasn’t even close enough for the committee chairman to call for a show of hands.

Without some extraordinary legislative wrangling, this bill will be hung up until the new legislature convenes in 2011.

Contact Mark Binker at (919) 832-5549 or mark.binker@news-record.com