Historic Session Ends with Success People of NC!
Representative Clary is proud of this year’s accomplishments…
July 28, 2003

Raleigh - The 2003 session of the General Assembly ended on Sunday, July 20, bringing to a close one of the most successful, and historic, sessions in recent memory. “We passed a responsible budget before the end of the fiscal year. That alone would be enough, but we also were able to get past partisan bickering and end this session in July,” said Rep. Clary. “I credit our leadership with getting us through this smoothly and maintaining a sense of cooperation.” Rep. Clary added. On February 5, the House elected Co-Speakers for the first time in North Carolina history. Speakers Richard Morgan and Jim Black, a Republican and Democrat respectively, have earned praise from their colleagues and North Carolinians from across the State.

Among the triumphs of this session are the passage of a fiscally responsible budget, protections for children who attend child-care facilities, and safeguards for victims of domestic abuse. “While I voted no to the final budget due to the inclusion of the extension of the sales tax, I am proud of the overall budget. I had made a commitment to my District not to vote for any additional tax burden and kept that pledge”, Clary said. The budget, which dominated this session, restored the State’s AAA bond rating, put $150 million into the Rainy Day fund, and provides funds to repair the State’s badly deteriorating facilities. According to Clary, “there was good news for taxpayers in the budget as well, it implements such family friendly initiatives as elimination of the marriage tax penalty and increases the child tax credit.”

“Speaker Black and I are very pleased with this session. We worked together and members who were interested in getting things done for the citizens of North Carolina worked with us,” said Speaker Richard T. Morgan. He further added, “Representative Clary was one of those members who came to Raleigh to get things done and move our State forward.”

One unresolved issue left for the legislature to tackle is that of legislative redistricting. The Supreme Court determined the previous map to be unconstitutional earlier this month. This fall, the General Assembly will reconvene to draw another map. In addition, select committees, study commissions and oversight boards will be meeting throughout the interim. The Appropriations committee will also be meeting to continue our work and discussions on zero-based budgeting. The short session will begin May 10, 2004 at noon.