Legislative and Policy
Highlighting state and national legislative news, focusing on some of the most important policy issues of the day.
Have you ever heard of Marcus Reymond Robinson? He is the man who was convicted of kidnapping 17-year-old high-school student Erik Tornblom and shooting him in the face with a sawed-off shotgun during a robbery that netted a grand total of $27. In 1994, Robinson was sentenced to death in
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Recently, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down down several portions of Arizona’s immigration bill, holding that three of the four challenged sections were preempted by federal law. Federal preemption severely limits what state and local governments can do in terms of creating laws intended to
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At the end of last month, The Supreme Court ruled on SB 1070, Arizona’s controversial immigration law. Parts of the law were upheld, but the Court held that others were preempted by federal immigration law and were struck down. Some have considered the Arizona law to be the broadest and
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Amid the frenzy over the much-anticipated Supreme Court decision regarding the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act, the Court handed down its decision in American Tradition Partnership, Inc. v. Bullock. The American public and media, with laser focus on the Court’s decision
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On July 3, 2012, the North Carolina legislature adjourned sine die – with no appointed date for resumption – bringing the two-year legislative session to an end. State lawmakers passed significant legislation affecting everything from municipal annexations to allowing table games at
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A bill to create a public-private partnership between the North Carolina Department of Natural Resources (DENR) and the North Carolina Zoological Society did not garner enough support to pass the legislature during the short session, but we have not heard the last on this issue. Dr. David Jones,
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One does not simply look at a ten day forecast and expect the 10th day to be exactly as predicted, because forecasts are subject to change. It is with this basic notion in mind that many North Carolinians have questioned the purpose of House Bill 819, short titled Coastal Management Policies.
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If House Bill 1104 becomes law, North Carolina will become the tenth state to grant tax credits for donations to what are called “scholarship funding organizations” – nonprofit organizations that give scholarships or tuition grants to economically disadvantaged children in public schools to
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According to a recent New York Court of Appeals decision, merely viewing child pornographic material online, without creating or downloading it, is not sufficient to constitute procurement or possession of child pornography for the purposes of New York Penal Law. The purposeful viewing of child
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The Fourth Amendment, originally adopted in the Bill of Rights in response to abuse of the writ of assistance (a type of general search warrant) during the American Revolution, contains the well-known prohibition against unreasonable searches and seizures. The rights granted by this amendment
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In a previous article, the Campbell Law Observer discussed the recent changes to North Carolina’s “castle doctrine,” which created a statutory presumption of a reasonable fear of imminent death or serious bodily harm when a person uses deadly force to defend himself in his home, vehicle, or
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In 2009, North Carolina Senate Bill 460 (SB 460), sponsored by Senator Don Davis, made its first appearance in the state legislative session. The so-called “puppy-mill bill” sought to define and regulate commercial breeders within the state. The bill would have defined a commercial breeder
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Why North Carolina? North Carolina is situated in the middle of a controversial debate about the extraction of natural gas, which can be used as an energy resource. Hydraulic fracturing, known colloquially as fracking, has been the center of discussion among community leaders, lawmakers, and
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