THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, May 14, 1996 TAG: 9605140284
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: BY MASON PETERS, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: RALEIGH LENGTH: Medium: 70 lines
If they're pushed into a corner and tied to a chair, most North Carolina legislators will admit they have a fine time at the so-called ``short session'' of the General Assembly.
Short sessions, like the one that brought the state's regional senators and representatives back to Raleigh on Monday, are usually anything but short.
The biennial final meeting that wraps up a General Assembly's tour of duty is supposed to clean up a few loose ends and then hustle the members out of town in plenty of time to go home and run for re-election in November.
But in the past, the gavel to adjourn has rarely fallen in either house before June 30, when the fiscal year ends.
So why did the legislators seem so pleased to be back at work on Monday?
Money, money, money.
That's what the short session is all about.
The in-house phrase is ``budget adjustment.''
The legislators at a short session are supposed to concentrate only on money bills that need adjusting because of an increase or decrease in revenue or expenditure. But shrewd legislators on various appropriations committees can sometimes manipulate the budget adjustments to help specific areas of the state.
According to Sylvia Fink, the principal clerk of the Senate, there are mighty few non-budget bills in carry-over legislation from the first meeting of this General Assembly that may be considered at this ``short session.''
An exception to the budget-only rule about new legislation, Fink said, would be a bill that had passed one branch of the legislature.
The money-only restriction on new bills is an opening that pleases Rep. William C. Owens Jr., D-Pasquotank.``Funding for local projects has sometimes been diverted even though the earlier legislation specifically orders counties or communities to spend the money,'' said Owens.
These are budget bills, Owens said, and he intends to straighten things out so communities won't be ordered to spend money they don't have.
But mainly the legislators are glad to be back at work because a short session is a no-nonsense meeting at which experienced professionals can fine-tune budget legislation without the daily distraction of an agenda full of hometown favors.
In the Senate, particularly, the atmosphere is clubby. The Senate remains firmly in control of Democrats, and it shows.
When the Senate convened to start the short session in the upper house, Sen. J. Richard Conder, the Democratic majority leader from Rockingham, rose to inform the senators that the session was starting on the birthday of Sen. Marc Basnight, D-Dare.
Basnight happens to be the president pro tempore of the Senate and probably the second most powerful political leader in the state, behind only Gov. James B. Hunt Jr.
While the legislators adjourned quickly to continue their reunion in private offices, one man struggled to keep his responsibilities under control.
Outside of the General Assembly building Sam Yelverton poked and pushed to train the tendrils of a sprouting plant to grab a handrail.
``I've been the groundskeeper around here for 11 years,'' said Yelverton. ``This is a mandevilla vine, and soon it will curl along that handrail - I hope.'' ILLUSTRATION: KAREN TAM color photo
Rep. Robin Hayes, left, and Rep. Cherie Berry compared short session
notes Monday as the legislature convened.
by CNB