SENATOR JERRY TILLMAN SENATE MAJORITY WHIP

SENATE UPDATE
July 27 , 2011 Historic Days in Raleigh Monday was a historic day for the North Carolina General Assembly. The House voted to override 3 of Gov. Perdues vetoes. The bills, Senate Bill 781 the Regulatory Reform bill, Senate Bill 33 - the Medical Malpractice Reform bill, and Senate Bill 496 the Medicaid/Health Choice Provider Requirement bill were all overridden with bi-partisan support. The vetoes of all 3 of these bills had already been overridden in the Senate, so all 3 became law immediately. Adding to Mondays history was the voting on redistricting maps. The Senate gave its approval to the map for its 50 seats and passed proposed boundaries for 13 congressional districts. The House approved a map for its 120 members. Every 10 years, based on the results of the US Census, districts are redrawn to reflect population growth. We believe the process and the results have been fair and comply with the mandates of the Voting Rights Act. More work will be done on redistricting today in the Senate, and we hope to have this work completed in both chambers of the General Assembly by weeks end. Tuesday afternoon, with strong bi-partisan support, the House voted to override House Bill 854 the Abortion Womans Right To Know Act. The veto override will now come to the Senate on this bill, where it will be overridden and become law. Thank you to all of you who have emailed and called about this very important piece of legislation. Also, the House voted to override Governor Perdue's veto of Senate Bill 532-Employment Security Commission/Jobs Reform. The veto on this bill was overridden in the Senate last week, and the bill becomes law. This brings the override total to 5 in the past two days. Spirited debate is an understatement when describing the Houses consideration of overriding the veto of House Bill 351 the Restore Confidence in Government bill. This bill is commonly known as the Voter ID bill. When the dust settled, partisanship prevailed and the veto was sustained. The veto override was placed back on the House calendar through a motion to reconsider. Will an override vote come up again on this bill? Time will tell The House has 3 bills on todays calendar to consider for a veto override. House Bill 482 The Water Supply Line/Water Violation Waivers bill, Senate Bill 709 The Energy Jobs Act bill, and Senate Bill 727 the No Dues Checkoff For School Employees bill. How will the

votes to override the vetoes go on these bills? We will see Debt Ceiling Consequences What are the consequences of failing to act on the debt ceiling? Weve heard predictions of dire and devastating consequences with worldwide repercussions. They may be true, I dont know. What I do know is this: if we dont fix what got us to this point, we will revisit it again soon You will see It must be done now, and it must be done right. Where is the leadership? Who will step forward and say, stop the spending. Borrowing 42 cents on every dollar we spend will never, and I do mean never, get us out of the hole were in. Any 5th grader can figure this one out. Yet the President and members of Congress are still more concerned about preserving their dug in positions than solving the problem. The right thinking and right doing people could solve this problem in short order. Will it happen? Will a real meaningful and long lasting solution be found? I hate to say it but I doubt it. Our credit rating may well be downgraded even if a solution is offered this week. It has to be one with iron clad guaranteed cuts, not reductions in the rate of spending, not hollow promises of spending cuts over ten or fifteen years. There must be spending cuts now in the current budget. Standard and Poor and Moodys are not easily fooled. They know real from makebelieve. You will see Remember what one congress can do another congress can easily undo. Ive learned not to trust long range promises. Take this to the bank. If the problem is not fixed now it may never be fixed or it may very well be too late to fix. Civitas Poll: McCrory vs. Perdue While not having formally announced his candidacy for governor, Republican Pat McCrory leads Democratic Gov. Perdue by 20 percent among North Carolina voters, according to a new poll released by the Civitas Institute. The poll also found voters in both parties divided on who they would pick if their respective primaries for governor were today. Fifty-five percent of North Carolina voters said they are leaning or would vote for McCrory if the election for governor was today and the candidates were Pat McCrory, the Republican, or Perdue, the Democrat. Thirty-five percent said they are leaning or would vote for Perdue, and 8 percent said they are undecided. These numbers have remained largely stagnant since a December 2010 Civitas poll when McCrory led Perdue 52 percent to 36 percent in a potential gubernatorial matchup. McCrory leads among 89 percent of Republicans and garners the key Unaffiliated vote by a 61 percent 27 percent margin. Democrats support Perdue by 61 percent to 27 percent. Gov. Perdues numbers have not improved much despite the overwhelming media attention she received this legislative session, said Civitas Institute President Francis De Luca.

Potential voters in both primaries are still not settled on who they would vote for if the gubernatorial primaries were today. Among Republican and Unaffiliated voters, 43 percent said they are leaning or would vote for McCrory, 32 percent are undecided, and 21 percent said they are leaning or would vote for someone else. Among Democratic and Unaffiliated voters, 40 percent said they are leaning or would vote for someone else if the Democratic primary for governor was today. Forty-one percent said they are leaning or would vote for Perdue, and 17 percent are undecided. While McCrory may have a lead on Perdue overall, voters in both parties have not solidified on a gubernatorial nominee if there is a primary battle, added De Luca. E-Verify The Legislature recently passed E-Verify legislation. It is far from a perfect bill. It is however, a good beginning. Refinements are needed and I believe you will see them either in the coming short session or in the subsequent long session in 2013. My thoughts on the current state of E-Verify: Senate Republicans are unequivocally opposed to illegal immigration and are committed to enforcing our laws. We are working hard to ensure illegal immigrants dont take scarce jobs away from American citizens and those in this country legally. That is why we support legislation expanding requirements for employers to use the federal E-Verify database to check workers immigration status. After hearing from members of our states business and farming communities, we modified the House version of the bill to address a number of serious concerns relating to uncertainties involved with the statewide implementation of E-Verify. Before expanding this important measure to all private-sector companies, and because of the complexity of compliance for many small businesses, its critical that we get this right not just on paper, but in practical terms. The Senate version of the bill requires employers with state-funded construction contracts to use the E-verify system when employing more than 25 workers. We believe this is a great first step since these employers are paying their workers with state tax dollars. We will continue to work closely with the House to expand the E-Verify program beyond the public sector in the near future. We will work to remove incentives for illegal immigration and restrict illegal immigrants from taking advantage of public

services paid for by North Carolina taxpayers. Caylees Law I am filing legislation to make it a felony to fail to report a missing child to law enforcement within 24 hours of learning the child is missing. You will hear more about this as the legislation progresses. The bill is not eligible for introduction and committee hearings until the next long session. I will however file it in the coming short session (May 2012). My thanks to the many of you who have shared your concerns with me about this issue. Worth Noting Todays Charlotte Observer reports that Charlotte-Mecklenburg schools are actually hiring nearly 500 more school-based staff than last year. Yes, you read that right, hiring nearly 500 more school-based staff then last year. After all of the lefts draconian, devastating, worseever rhetoric about the GOP budget, the truth once again wins out. Here is a snapshot of reality: 1,500 CMS' estimate of jobs lost under a 10 percent state budget cut. 320 Actual layoffs CMS made due to state cuts. No teachers were on the list. 484 Additional schoolbased employees for this year over the last one. The article goes on to say that the Charlotte-Mecklenburg school system actually expects to have a net increase of teachers this school year compared to last year. The data CMS provided shows 145 of the new positions for next year will be teachers, and 164 will be teacher assistants. The Democrats rhetoric of disaster is just not true. By the way, Guilford County announced yesterday that they have found a $10 million dollar surplus in their school budget. An article at www.watchdog.org says, the tale of found money at GCS could be repeated in other school districts, if the dire stories of fiscal ruin spun during the General Assemblys budget debate fail to materialize. Friends when you hear the left screaming that the sky is falling, theres a good chance you can believe just the opposite. Rasmussen Poll Barack Obama vs. Rick Perry National Survey of 1,000 likely votes. July 6-7, 2011 Barack Obama 44% Rick Perry 39% Barack Obama vs. Michele Bachmann National Survey of 1,000 likely votes. July 8-9, 2011 Barack Obama 46%

Michele Bachmann 39% Quote Try not to become a man of success but a man of value. Albert Einstein Senator Jerry Tillman can be reached on Facebook Are you on Facebook? You can reach Senator Jerry Tillman by clicking this link. http://www.facebook.com/jerrywtillman Once you get to Jerrys page, just hit the like button at the top of the page and youll start getting updates during the week. If you don't have a Facebook account, you can sign up for an account so you can start getting Jerry's updates. Then tell your friends and neighbors who might want to know what Jerry is doing in Raleigh for the folks in Randolph and Montgomery counties. Again, just click: http://www.facebook.com/jerrywtillman To connect today. You Can Follow Senator Tillman on Twitter Go to http://www.twitter.com/jerrytillman and sign up to follow Senator Tillman.

SENATOR JERRY TILLMAN SENATE MAJORITY WHIP 628 Legislative Office Building Raleigh, NC 27601-2808 Phone: 919.733.5870 Fax: 919.754.3339 jerryt@ncleg.net

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