Anyone remember the old “Schoolhouse Rock” television bits that taught us all kinds of valuable lessons? Most memorable for me as a child was the “I’m Just a Bill” one. Now that I am an adult and have become more aware of how our state handles the creation of bills, my mind is blown. This is not what I imagined.

In simple terms, one would think a bill is drafted as an idea. It is sent to committees to evaluate the bill with regards to constitutionality and benefit to the community. One would think that the committee maintains the focus of that bill as stated, submits it to be voted on, then sends to the other side of legislature for the same process. Eventually, that vote for the bill occurs on both sides of the House and the Senate and it passes or fails. Wow – that sounds simple. But let’s talk this out in terms of what actually happens. Let’s use a very simple example that perhaps will help you see how bizarre and at times, quite unfair this entire process can be. How can the content of a bill change completely during its journey? Follow me on this –

1. Representative “Bob” comes up with the idea to allow Food Trucks to be available in school parking lots during lunch hour, since large schools don’t have enough cafeteria space for all the students. This will help reduce students leaving campus for lunch and will balance out the crowding problem. (Okay, there’s a purpose and benefit stated. Cool. Let’s call this “HB123: Food Truck Bill.”)

2. “HB123” goes into judicial committees for review. Representative “Sally” wants to change the wording and recommends that the bill include healthy options, such as fruits and vegetables become available for sale as well.

3. The bill gets added to the docket to be voted on TOMORROW and it is listed on the state website, but schools haven’t been notified of this recommendation. They are impacted, but they haven’t had time to weigh in on the impacts to budgets, government funding, parking lot crowding, or any other impacts to their schools. They want the ability to determine on a school-by-school basis if this will be allowed. Some parents call their representatives and try to voice their opinions, but they can’t get their representative to listen to them. The first question you are asked is, “What organization are you with?” Oh, no organization? You’re just a citizen. Hmmm. (In other words, you don’t have enough backing for us to really listen.)

4. So now a school board member (a person with a little more clout than a parent) shows up to a committee meeting and is granted their 2-3 minutes to speak against the bill, but they themselves get interrogated as to their qualifications to represent the school on food choices. Perhaps this speaker is overweight and doesn’t appear to exercise, so the lawmakers don’t consider this speaker a worthy, healthy person to represent the “children.” Basically, they are discredited to add valuable input.

5. You now have a bill that passed through committees quickly, without good feedback from those who will be impacted by the bill. The House votes this bill to pass.

6. The next big step – HB123 moves to the Senate side for vote.

7. Senate committees don’t like the wording of the bill, so they edit it. They really don’t like the food truck idea, but they like the idea of fruits and vegetables. The bill is rewritten to plant a vegetable garden and fruit trees on school campuses. The language about food trucks, the idea of reducing crowding in cafeterias, and reducing students leaving campuses for lunch are completely removed. (Wait, what? Our lawmakers just completely gutted this bill, even after it was voted on as originally written by the House?)

8. “HB123: Food Truck Bill” moves to the Senate floor for vote. Remember, this bill is no longer about food trucks at all. It’s about planting gardens. Completely different yet with the same title and reference number. (Mind blown….they didn’t talk about this in Schoolhouse Rock!)

9. The Senate passes the bill with the new wording.

10. The bill goes back to the House for vote – and remember, they’ve already voted on this once. Who knows, remembers, or cares that this bill is now completely different? They vote again. Bill passes. Guess you better find some dirt space on campuses for someone to plant gardens and maintain them now.

This is a simplified example, but this is exactly what happens time and time again. NCRSOL has seen this so many times. This is why this organization is so critical to the lawmaking process. They send advocates to these committees to try to correct the problematic language. They have legal experts weigh in. They work with non-profits who fight for fairness. So please, continue renewing your NCRSOL memberships. Continue your support of this organization. And spread the word.

And if there’s one last piece of advice I can give you, get to know who your Representatives and Senators are. Let them continually hear from you. Send emails frequently. Start reading up on the bills pertaining to SOs. Follow NCRSOL articles and updates.

What’s frustrating to ME as a taxpayer is knowing that we have given feedback to lawmakers that bills they are passing are NOT constitutional. We work with them to change the wording so that it is fair and makes sense. Yet, they pass them anyway. Ultimately, these elected officials are costing our state money because by passing bad laws, they are opening the state up for litigation. It is critical that we as individuals learn more about our elected officials, how they vote, and if they are really looking for fair and just laws that make sense.

I commend those in elected positions who are trying so diligently to do what’s right. Several have been open to listening to organizations like NCRSOL and educate themselves on other viewpoints. They use us to learn about things they didn’t previously know and to see how we can move forward together. We commend them for that and wish there were more like them. We need to be bold and be vocal to educate lawmakers on how these senseless laws are negatively impacting us.

Be the change you wish to see in the world. Be a Change Agent.

– Phoebe

It’s no joke.

This most recent Monday a UNANIMOUS Supreme Court declared unconstitutional a 2008 law that banned convicted sex offenders visiting social-networking websites that allow minors to become members or to create personal pages – including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or Capitol Broadcasting’s WRAL.com.

The unfortunate reality about the law the high court struck down is the laudable goal of protecting young children from sexual predators was overshadowed by enthusiasm for the upcoming general election and a desire to demonstrate candidates’ toughness and law-and-order bonafides. Little good comes from laws that have a genesis in election-year pandering. It is a truth that wears no partisan label.

The Senate bill was passed into law without a single dissenting vote in late summer 2008, amid campaigning for the general election. Sponsors included Walter Dalton, a Democrat running that year for lieutenant governor; Janet Cowell, a Democrat who was running for State Treasurer; Kay Hagan, a Democrat who later would successfully run for the U.S. Senate; as well as prominent Republicans like Tom Apodaca, who would become the powerful Senate Rules Committee chairman and Jerry Tillman who now chairs the Senate’s Finance Committee and the Joint State Lottery Oversight Committee.

The election-year posturing didn’t end with the elections of 2008. In November 2015, it was former State Supreme Court Justice Bob Edmunds, a Republican who was on the ballot for re-election, who wrote the wrong-headed state court opinion that upheld the law. He was proud enough to even brag about it: “You don’t have to guess what kind of justice I will be. My record is an open book,” Edmunds said in a campaign video citing the ruling he wrote. To their credit, two state justices — Cheri Beasley and Robin Hudson — dissented.

Democrat Roy Cooper, who was getting ready for his successful run for governor, hopped on the band wagon a year before the 2016 election: “I pushed for this law. … I am pleased that the (state Supreme) Court has agreed with our arguments to keep this law in place.” Cooper’s office didn’t issue any statement Monday, following the U.S. Supreme Court’s unanimous rejection of the law.

The ruling from the highest court of the land shouldn’t come as a surprise. To its credit, a three-judge panel (Rick Elmore, Chris Dillon and Martha Geer) of the State Court of Appeals in August 2013 ruled the law unconstitutional – and it was not a popular ruling.

In the more than eight years since the unconstitutional law went into effect the state has prosecuted more than 1,000 people for violating it, according to the U.S. Supreme Court’s opinion.

The plaintiff in this case, Lester Packingham, did nothing more than take to Facebook to post a thanks for getting a parking ticket dismissed.

It has taken nine years and four months for this bad law to have made its way through the legislative and legal process. The wasted time and money in the process, easily and sadly, amounts to millions – funds much better spent on enforcement and treatment of victims and perpetrators.

With the now clear guidance from the courts, state officials should take a more patient and thoughtful look at how to develop laws that provide access to appropriate online resources to those who are registered sex offenders. Just as important, these laws should include effective and legal ways to thwart sexual predators from inappropriate contact with youngsters via the internet and other cyber-avenues.

Since a new majority took control in 2011, more than a dozen laws passed by the General Assembly have been struck down by the federal courts. It is a sorry record that reflects a reckless disregard for our Constitution in favor of petty partisanship and the unbending desire to impose a rigid ideology on the state.

It is a wasteful pastime that gains nothing and leaves innocent victims in the wake.

If the politicians in office cannot restrain themselves from enacting unconstitutional laws, voters need to pick new ones who can.

Source: Editorial #8176, Capitol Broadcasting Corporation.