Top priorities for lawmakers in next year’s session will be tax modernization and reforms to state regulations and the education system, House Speaker Thom Tillis said in a long-ranging interview with the Wilmington Star-News. “Those are going to be the three areas that are going to consume I’d say the overwhelming majority of the attention of the Legislature this year,” Tillis said. He made it clear that Republicans,with supermajorities in the House and Senate and a Republican governor unlikely to veto bills, would drive the agenda for the next two years.
Among the first controversial items on lawmakers’ plates when they return to Raleigh will be a bill to require photo identification to vote, Tillis said. The House and Senate passed a voter ID bill last year, but it was vetoed by Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue and Republicans couldn’t muster the votes to override it. But it won’t play out like that this year. A bill will be filed early in the session and move quickly, Tillis said. “There’s no question that (Gov.-elect Pat McCrory) will have a voter ID bill to sign or pass into law, probably by the April timeframe,” he said. The bill will be different than the one considered last year. Lawmakers, Tillis said, are looking at court cases around ID laws in other states and tweaking the legislation accordingly. “We want to implement it in a thoughtful way that makes it less likely that it’s going to be subjected to a legal challenge,” Tillis said. “It may even come in two parts and we’re working through that now.” On tax modernization efforts, Tillis noted that the state should be careful with any changes in the tax code as discussions over the fiscal cliff continue at the federal level and global economic uncertainty lingers.
Tillis said he planned to include Democrats in the legislative process. Soon after the November elections, Tillis picked up the phone to call House Democrats who had shown a willingness to work with the GOP during the previous session. Tillis said the phone calls marked a first step toward working with Democrats during the next two years. Another step, he said, would come when committee assignments are made during the next few weeks. Tillis said Democrats will get a chairmanship and some vice chairmanships on House committees, a sign that Republicans “have shown respect to a number of Democrats in terms of the roles that they’ll be able to play.”
by
Patrick Gannon
(WILMINGTON STAR-NEWS)
12/07/12
