SB 32 Employers Must Use Federal E-Verify Program which would have required all NC employers to participate in the demonstrably flawed federal Basic Pilot/E-Verify system failed in the Appropriations Committee yesterday. The ACLU has opposed this type of legislation at the federal and state level since its inception. E-verify requires that employers run new hires through the Social Security Administration database which was never designed for such a purpose. If the data submitted to the employer and the data in the SSA database doesn't match, the employee cannot begin work.

The Senate voted 25-18 to concur in the House version of SB 461 Racial Justice Act today. The Racial Justice Act will allow a capital defendant to challenge his or her sentence of death if s/he can prove that race played a substantial role in the sentence or the prosecutor's decision to seek death. Importantly, the bill would allow the use of statistical evidence to prove racial discrimination which is currently not allowed. The Senate version of the bill prevented state-wide statistics from being used in favor of statistics for the judicial districts.

On Monday evening the Senate concurred 40-6 in the House version of SB 464 Prevent Racial Profiling, an ACLU-NC priority bill. The bill has been sent to the Governor and awaits her signature. However, progress on racial justice is still slow at the General Assembly. SB 461 Racial Justice Act was calendared to be heard yesterday, but was removed and recalendared for today. This vote is to concur in House changes to the bill, which the ACLU supports. The vote is expected to be close and hopefully will happen this afternoon during the Senate's 3 pm session.

It looks like the NC General Assembly may be reaching the end of session. A budget deal was announced at the end of last week and the new budget and finance package will be unveiled today. Typically that signals that the House and Senate will start tying up loose ends in preparation for adjournment until next spring. Unless any new conflicts over the budget arise, it is expected that the legislature will adjourn sometime next week, but that doesn't mean our work is done.

SB 464 Prevent Racial Profiling

On Wednesday, the House passed SB 464 Prevent Racial Profiling with strong bipartisan support. This bill strengthens N.C.'s current "driving while black" statute. Two amendments were run on the part of the bill that deals with placing children when their parent or other supervising adult is arrested. These amendments were defeated. However, a couple of minor changes were made, so the bill returns to the Senate for concurrence.

Last week produced very little action on the ACLU-NC's priority legislation as negotiations continued on the budget. However, SB 920 Probation Reform did pass two committees and has been calendared on the House floor this evening. This bill will make all probationers subject to warrantless searches by probation officers and law enforcement officers. The bill originally also gave probation officers access to the juvenile records of adult offender. Juvenile records contain a great deal of personal and private information about young offenders and their families which is why they are sealed.

The House Judiciary I committee passed SB 464 Prevent Racial Profiling yesterday in committee. The debate continued to be around whether law enforcement should be responsible for minor children when an adult who is supervising them is arrested. More on this bill and the debate was posted last week. The bill toughens up NC's existing "driving while black" statute. We expect this bill to be heard on the House floor next Wednesday.

SB 461 Racial Justice Act passed 3rd reading in the House with only a half hour of debate last night. The final vote was 61-54. There were a couple of main objections to the bill. One was the possible costs that allowing a defendant to challenge his sentence of death if he could show that race played a substantial role in that sentence might have. Many Republicans argued that every defendant would file an appeal and it would clog the court systems. The costs of the bill should it become law cannot be accurately determined, but, as the bill sponsors said, this is about fairness.

Yesterday, the House passed SB 464 Racial Justice Act 61-55. The House has to vote on the bill again this afternoon before it can return to the Senate for concurrence.

Every bill receives three readings in both chambers. The second reading is generally considered the most important because usually it is the only electronic vote that puts legislators on the record. However, with controversial bills like the Racial Justice Act, 3rd reading can be just as important.

Senate Bill 461 Racial Justice Act is on the NC House Calendar tomorrow at 3 p.m. We expect the vote to be close and the bill will certainly engender a good deal of debate on the floor. You can listen to the debate online by clicking on the "Chamber Audio" link on the North Carolina General Assembly home page .