Today I had to arrive a little early to get a seat at the Appropriations Committee meeting where they would be going over the budget for this year and the potential one for next year. I stayed for the Education and Health and Human Services section, which took 2 hours before I admittedly got bored and left. At 11:30 there was a free lunch provided by The North Carolina Optometric Society and the lobbying firm that was representing them. Apparently, like with the architect and the interior designers, optometrists and ophthalmologists have been at odds, in a “scope of practice” dispute and have been lobbying the General Assembly for a few years. After lunch, I spoke with Rep. Martin for a bit and went over what happened at the Appropriations meeting, and I got the chance to ask questions. He took me to the press corps to meet some of the reporters. He introduced me to Rose Hoban, a writer for North Carolina Health News. I followed back out to the lunch, which was still going on. I watched her take pictures of it for her article as she described the “scope of practice” disputes and how they’ve effected the medical industry. She also talked about the “giant river of money that flows under the General Assembly” and how lobbyists work to influence lawmakers. She stopped and talked to one of the lobbyists working at the lunch. She was very critical of his work, but they were pretty friendly. She was super interesting to talk to and I’m glad I got to meet her. After, she spoke with Rep. Martin and his Legislative Assistants and I about the situation in Washington. Soon, it was time for Appropriations to meet again to discuss amendments that had to be in by noon that day. This was far more entertaining than that morning as there was more debate and discussion. Reps tried to “steal’ money away from programs for their benefit, to the outrage of others. The meeting would go on far past when I was supposed to go home, so at 4 I called it a day. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow and what the budget ended up looking like!