Tag: DanielleC- Government

 

My final day at the General Assembly began in the car, as I heard over the radio that the Governor had called for an Extra Session where the House was supposed to convene to draw up new districts, in compliance with a Supreme Court ruling. When I arrived at the General Assembly, Rep. Martin explained that although it was an order from the Governor, the House could simply adjourn and because Republicans have a super majority, it can be done. But until the Extra Session, which was scheduled for 2 pm, there was the regular Session where the focus of discussion would be on the omnibus gun bill that passed its second reading yesterday. There was some debate before it was eventually passed, and now it has to go through the Senate. After words, between the two Sessions, Rep. Martin held a staff meeting where each staff went over each project they were working on. Until now, I hadn’t realized how much was going on in the office at once. There were constituent issues, where Rep. Martin’s staff guided people through the bureaucracy to find the right people to help them, and there were multiple bills that he was sponsoring or helping to construct that needed work. The Extra Session was eventually, as Rep. Martin predicted, adjourned. A Rep stood up to make a motion to adjourn on the grounds that the Governor’s order to convene was unconstitutional, and the motion was passed and it was over. A Session that should have taken weeks was over in less than 10 minutes. Soon, it was time to leave for the last time. The past two weeks have been super interesting and entertaining. I’ve learned a lot and am grateful I got the opportunity to work with a great Representative and staff.

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.

Today went by much faster than the past two days, as life was breathed back into the General Assembly after a long weekend. However, it was clear very early in the day that it wasn’t going to be an ideal situation, with the AC being broken the whole day. Apparently the part is being shipped from California so hopefully tomorrow it’ll be cooler. Although I had Session, and a few meetings to sit in on, the main highlight of the day was speaking to Mary Beth Wooten, who works at the Department of Health and Human Services over the phone. Like I stated yesterday, Mr. Hailey set up the call when Rep. Martin found out that I had a possible interest in public health. Ms. Wooten began by telling me the difference between public health and just health. That public health was assessing the health of a population, which ranged from communicable diseases to passing laws about smoking in restaurants to the fluoride in the tap water. She explained to me how her experience in clinical practice translates well to her job in DHHS. But she also suggested other ways of becoming a public health professional. She told me about how she works with the various departments within DHHS, such as women and children and epidemiology. She also spoke about how involved the DHHS has to be in politics. With each new healthcare plan comes adjusted funding for their department, so they have to remain vigilant about future legislation, on a national and state level. The DHHS has many lesions to the General Assembly who are advocating for the DHHS. Overall, my conversation with Ms. Wooten was very informative and very interesting to hear about from a person currently working as a public health professional.

Today was another slow day, for some reason there are no Committee meetings Mondays. I mostly did some mundane office work like retrieve and open the mail, and check the schedule for the following day. We went over what meetings I was going to go to Tuesday and even set up a phone conference for me. I have a tentative interest in public health, so Rep Martin had suggested talking to some one from Department of Heath and Human Services. I will be speaking to them tomorrow over the phone. Afterwords, we just looked over emails and went through voicemails and responded to them.

Fridays are always slow days for the state government, so going in, I knew that there wouldn’t be a lot of work related to bills. Rep. Grier Martin was not in his office because he had reserve duty, because he’ still active in the military. His legislative assistant and the other intern were in, doing some office work. I was able to answer emails to concerned constituents, and even make phone calls to schedule appointments. It was a slow day, since there was nothing on the legislative agenda, but hopefully next week there will be more bills to be discussed.

I had a painful start to my day, as soon as I got out of my car, I hadn’t even opened the door all the way, I was stung by a flying insect I didn’t even get a good look at, and my hand swelled up and turned red immediately. I wandered around the building until I found the cafeteria and got ice (and some weird looks). While this was no means a learning experience it was certainly a highlight of my day. The only thing happening that day was another session, where the House of Reps would be voting on a few bills, and eventually the budget. As I took my seat, the Speaker informed everyone that the session would most likely go on until midnight, as they have to nitpick the entire budget, so I only saw the discussion on the individual bills. The bills on the docket included important issues, like one on the sex offender registry and a telecommunications box that was a potential carcinogen. To my surprise, however, the most contentious debate was over the bill I mentioned in day 1, about interior designers and architects. So many reps would ramble on about the issue, blowing it, in my opinion, out of proportion. I spoke with Representative Martin afterwards about it and he agreed that many important issues don’t get the debate they deserve because so much focus is on industry-related bills, and from what the reporter told me yesterday, this often has to do with which side (interior designers or architects) have the most money or influence in the General Assembly. Outside of the very heated debate about windows and low bearing walls, the members seemed pretty friendly with each other. One pulled out a basket of fruit to share, another said there was donuts in his office anyone could grab. And another made a point of personal preference, stood up, and gave a speech about his fellow rep and to wish him a happy birthday, and told everyone that “he loved chocolate”, after which everyone who had chocolate candy on their desk gave him some of theirs. It was honestly the cutest thing I’ve ever witnessed. Although I was annoyed by the interior designer bill, it was nice to see how nice the 120 members could be to each other.

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!

 

After arriving around 9 am to Representative Grier Martin’s office in the General assembly, I was welcomed by his legislative assistant, Christopher Hailey. He showed me around the main General Assembly building as well as the legislative office building nearby. There was a protest going on in the main building, which was supposed to be concerning the changes to the Pension and Retirement section of the budget, but ended up being about the efforts to repeal and replace Obamacare. They began by giving speeches in front of the doors to the House Floor (pictured above), then they marched through to the Speaker’s office, chanting, and we watched them get arrested and filed out the door. Afterwards, I helped out with answering emails to constituents, and looked over Representative Martin’s calendar for the day. At 11:30, Rep. Martin came from Caucus and met with a constituent who was an architect and was concerned about  a bill that was up for a vote that would allow interior designers to be able to sign off on building plans. The architect argued that this would cause safety code violations as interior designers are unqualified. He was oddly very passionate. We then headed to lunch. I then accompanied Mr. Hailey to a committee meeting to approve the Pension and Retirement section of the budget. Things were tense between the committee chair and a senior member, as he wasn’t allowed to add amendments or a recount of the final vote. The meeting was genuinely interesting and provided insight into how strong of a hold the Republicans have of the state legislature.  At 3 pm, the final Session of the day began.  Sessions are where the House meets to vote on a bill. Before it begins, the Speaker reads out who Reps have “extended courtesy”, or invited to the session. Then you have to stand up and wave as the General Assembly also stands and claps for you for some reason. My name was called and I was mortified. Next, bills were read and voted on, including the architecture bill which was on today’s schedule but was tabled for Thursday. I can’t wait for tomorrow, when the budget is going to be the main focus!

I’m so excited to start my internship at the general assembly!