I just got done interning in the North Carolina House of
Representatives. Before I went, I knew, of course, what I had been
taught in Civics class Sophomore year of high school - the House met,
debated and voted on bills that had been approved by committees, which
were then passed to the Senate, if they hadn’t been there already, then
signed by the Governor. I learned so much more, and I will share some
of the more interesting points with you.
already decided. Even if it is something contentious, like extending a
.25c sales tax for 30 days (H.B 2044, which was the Continuing Budget
Authority, which made sure the State kept running while House and
Senate committees bickered on the budget for 07-08 Fiscal Year.) on
which the vote appears to be close, everyone knew what was really going
to happen.
to committee meetings. There, the Senators or Representatives actually
learn what is going on behind the technical jargon of the bill about
40% Slopes and NC GS maps (H.B. 1756, which was pretty confusing, I
must admit). Sometimes, it’s pretty boring, with Representatives
wondering, publicly, if the Dept. of Transportation realized that their
printout of a proposed Blue Ridge Parkway specialized motorcycle
license plate (S.B. 1036) was larger than life size. They also
occasionally let rules of decorum totally fall to the wayside while
they make fun of Sen. Ellie Kinniard (D-Orange) behind her back for
proposing that a bill (S.B. 1359) to allow motorcyclists to run red
lights that don’t detect their presence because the light is induced by
weight or a magnetic sensor also include bicycles. Plus, you might end
up on TV - you could see me staring off into space while standing
behind one of the speakers in a committee meeting on Legislative Week
in Review on WUNC.
an ice cream maker and makes (read: tells pages to make) ice cream for
all legislators and staff who want it. But sometimes, Eastern North
Carolinians bring hog shit in a wading pool to impress upon the
legislators to get hog farmers who spray waste or store it in cesspools
to clean up their act.
legislators really love to honor people. Every day, they’d spend 15 to
30 minutes honoring dead guys, radio DJs, Highway Patrol cadets, the
National Guard or other random people. It’s nice, I’m sure, but it gets
annoying when the clerk is reading for 30 minutes: “Whereas, W.W.
Finlator was a really nice guy. Whereas, W.W. Finlator was pastor at
First… zzzzz….”
time on ceremony and their pages looked funny, standing perpendicular
to the Senators, who were sitting at funny curved desks. But maybe I’m
biased because Sen. Clodfelter spent 35 minutes talking about S.B. 3
which would set a very low minimum for renewable energy/energy
efficiency measures and would allow power companies to raise their
rates to build new power plants, even if they don’t actually build
them. Did his horribly long-winded speech do any good? I suppose not,
because all the Senators were all surfing the internet or asleep.
However, the bill did pass 97-1, with our friendly, principled Sen.
Kinniard voting against.
Even on the floor, during Session, legislators aren’t paying attention.
They are either having side conversations, getting pages to buy them
milkshakes from the cafeteria in the basement, eating from the massive
bowls of candy they have on their desks, or using their laptops.
Cross-posted on my website: Durham Political Youth, and my Newsvine blog
.
That was really interesting. How did you get that internship? I would love to intern at my state legislature.
http://www.progressiveu.org/user/bamers
I just emailed my legislator (Paul Luebke, if you by some twist of fate live in my district), introduced myself, and asked if he would be willing to take me on as an intern. He said yes, and off I went. I'm sure most legislators all over the country would be willing to take on interested students.
It's a great learning experience, really.
That was an incredibly interesting view inside the lesgislature. Here in Michigan the local news stations did live broadcasting for an hour or two of the Michigan legislature battling to keep the state government from closing down. It was also fascinating. And I think you are right--more citizens should contact their senatores and reps. It's a civic duty in many cases I feel.
The budget fiasco of Michigan. I hate to say I live here sometimes.
http://www.progressiveu.org/user/bamers