With the budget beginning to wrap up, the legislature was trying to pass last minute bills before the end of the year. So, I went to a Senate committee meeting to see where such a bill would originate. Before a committee votes on a bill, they first have a discussion on it, where someone introduces the bill, and Senators or Reps have the opportunity to ask questions. The public is also welcome along with anyone from the “industry”, professionals who are knowledgeable about the subject being discussed. In this case, it was the regulation of self-driving cars. Although the actual use of self-driving cars is a decade or two away, the sponsor of the bill wanted a head start. He presented the bill to the Committee of Transportation in the Senate, where they asked questions about the bill I hadn’t even dream of, and there were representatives of General Motors, Uber, Lyft, Toyota, and other companies there to comment and express their support or their disapproval. There is supposed to be a vote tomorrow. The bill is in its very first stages, and Mr. Hailey mentioned that by the time self-driving cars become open to the public, it would be scrapped for something different and more specific anyway. Later in the day I also attended Session. The calendar was packed with controversial bills, like an energy bill that had something to do with expanding solar energy (it passed), and an omnibus gun bill, whose main provision would allow citizens to carry concealed weapons without a permit. Because of the nature of the bills, the gallery, where the public sits, was packed, and I had to stand for the majority of the time. The energy bill had some debate, and most of it I didn’t fully understand. But I had to leave before the debate on the gun bill was done, it went on for so long. The Rep who introduced the bill made sure to go through each part of the bill carefully and talked about how he believed the bill wouldn’t affect present law very much. In response, another Rep stood up and stated reasons why he believed it would be a massive change to gun laws in North Carolina. Others asked clarifying questions, and other just gave their opinion. I checked the website, and it passed its second reading, which means it has one more to pass the house and then it moves to the Senate for committees and 3 readings. Seeing specific bills go up for a vote and watching it go through the lawmaking process is really cool to see up close.