|
Friday Fax – Legislative Update
March 18, 2005
Methamphetamines, Methamphetamines and more Methamphetamines.
This was the phrase of the week throughout the halls of the General Assembly as legislators and lobbyists asked us over and over again about the Attorney General's proposals to restrict access to cold medicine. While NCRMA was firmly focused on preserving the rights of all retailers to sell cold medicine with reasonable restrictions, we also had our hands in a number of other issues of importance to retailers.
1) Methamphetamines
2) ABC Permits
3) Violent Video Games
4) Wine-Tastings
5) Credit File Freezing
6) Prescription Drug Monitoring
7) Flashing Law to Be Amended
1) Methamphetamines
The week started and finished with the topic of methamphetamines. On Monday evening NCRMA met for more than two hours with the Attorney General's staff, State Bureau of Investigation, DEA and Representatives Phil Haire (D-Jackson) and Wilma Sherrill (R-Buncombe). While the Attorney General's staff pushed for removing all products containing pseduoephedrine (approximately 4,000) from the shelves of all retailers and requiring that these items be only sold behind the counter of a pharmacy, Representatives Haire and Sherrill were pushing for something more reasonable.
In anticipation of a bill being introduced in the Senate, we began making the rounds with House members to discuss the Attorney General's proposal and NCRMA's compromise position. We received a good response out of the House who felt NCRMA was being reasonable and that the Attorney General's proposal went too far, too fast.
On Thursday, NCRMA attended the Attorney General's press conference to announce the introduction of Senate Bill 658 by Senators Walter Dalton (D-Rutherford) and John Snow (D-Cherokee). Also in attendance were numerous sheriffs, EMS workers and district attorneys. We spent the rest of the day explaining to the media that the Attorney General's proposal would restrict consumer access and place an onerous burden on retailers.
Tonight, UNC Television's Legislative Week in Review will run a long story on this issue featuring interviews with the Attorney General, Senator Dalton, NCRMA Chairman Mike James and Fran Preston.
Due to the emotion swirling around this issue, NCRMA faces an uphill battle but certainly stands ready to fight.
See the bottom of this report for two editorials on this subject-matter - one positive and one negative.
2) ABC Permits
Again this week, NCRMA spent an enormous amount of time in discussions with Representatives Deborah Ross (D-Wake) and Rick Eddins (R-Wake) about proposed legislation that would give the ABC Commission additional authority to revoke alcohol permits of bad actors. Numerous "shot houses" have sprung up in debilitated areas of Raleigh that serve as a host for drugs, violence and prostitution. NCRMA has been very careful about extending this authority to the ABC Commission to make sure that good actors are not caught in the net as well. NCRMA has also been successful in removing a provision transferring some authority to determine suitable sites for alcohol permits to local governments. Representative Eddins and NCRMA were instrumental in getting Wake County ABC Officials to meet with Representative Ross to tell her that her proposal was overly broad and in the words of one of these officials "would make North Carolina a 'dry' state again." We are expecting another draft of this legislation for our review and comments on Monday.
Representative Bernard Allen (D-Wake) filed House Bill 808 which would transfer much of the state ABC Commission's authority to local governments to decide who gets a permit through zoning of businesses.
On a sad note, Representative John Hall (D-Halifax), Chairman of the ABC Committee, passed away at the age of 48 early Thursday morning after a recent illness. Representative Hall's death will be a great loss as he was well-liked and a genuinely good person.
3) Violent Video Games
On Tuesday, the Senate Commerce Committee will hear Senate Bill 2 - No Violent Video Games Sales to Minors. NCRMA has spent countless hours pulling together a coalition of retailers, hotels, the ACLU and software companies to oppose this unconstitutional legislation. Senator Julia Boseman (D-Wilmington) continues to press for a hearing on this bill even though similar legislation has been struck down by two United States Federal Appeals Courts and a Federal District Court .
Senator Boseman has not yet explained how a retailer is supposed to determine whether a video game is violent or not. Is John Madden Football or a Boxing Video game violent? Is a game that portrays a military battle violent? Under Senator Boseman's bill retailers could face criminal charges if they sold these games to minors. Senator Boseman has refused to acknowledge that retailers have adopted a voluntary rating system similar to the one used by the Motion Picture Industry and that children are already being carded when they try and buy games rated "Mature."
Again, this is another difficult issue - democrat senators want to help Senator Boseman and republican senators feel like they are trapped in a proverbial "family values" box.
4) Wine-Tastings
As we reported last week, NCRMA has worked out final language with the North Carolina Beer and Wine Wholesalers on legislation to allow wine tastings to resume in North Carolina . Representatives Jim Harrelll (D-Surry) and Pryor Gibson (D-Montgomery) will introduce this legislation in the next two weeks.
5) Credit File Freezing
Representative Alma Adams (D-Guilford) introduced file-freezing legislation this week that mirrors the bill previously introduced by republican representatives Tim Moore (R-Cleveland), Stephen LaRoque (R-Greene) and Bill McGee (R-Forsyth). Both bills allow individuals to "freeze" their credit reports.
We still anticipate Senator Dan Clodfelter (D-Mecklenburg) to introduce a much more comprehensive Identity Theft bill next week at the request of the Attorney General.
6) Prescription Drug Monitoring
On Thursday, NCRMA met with Attorney General Roy Cooper, Secretary of Health and Human Services Carmen Hooker Odom and Secretary of Crime Control Brian Beatty to discuss their proposed Prescription Monitoring Program. They would like pharmacists to transmit a copy of each controlled substance dispensed by a pharmacist to the Department of Health and Human Services for the Department, law enforcement and health care providers to access. The data could be sorted to look for patterns of abuse, doctor shopping and pharmacy shopping. NCRMA has defeated this legislation in past years, but the issue is gaining strength due to the support of Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight (D-Dare) and House Rules Chairman Bill Culpepper (D-Chowan) at the urging of their local sheriffs. NCRMA continues to have concerns with this legislation due to the increased workload and cost of providing this data.
7) Flashing Law to Be Amended
At NCRMA's request, Senator John Snow (D-Cherokee) will introduce legislation next week that will address a problem some stores are having in North Carolina - the flashing of children by an adult of the same sex in the stores, often in the toy section. Under North Carolina law, a person can only be charged with this crime if the victim is of the opposite sex. Judge Snow's bill will clarify the law and increase penalties when the victim is under the age of sixteen and the accused is over the age of eighteen.
‘TIL NEXT WEEK
Fran Preston
Andy Ellen
|
