Here are some new bills introduced in the legislature affecting freedom and individual rights that may be of interest:

1) Criminalizing Internet Libel (Sponsor: Senator Goss): SB 46 

Key
language: “It is unlawful for any person to communicate by transmission
through an electronic medium any false, defamatory statement that is
libelous or slanderous.”

Quick Analysis: Libel already is a tort
(people can sue for libel and be awarded damages).  I have no
idea why Internet libel is somehow worse than non-electronic libel.

2) Broadening Price Gouging Law (Sponsor: Senator Goss): SB 49

Key Change: As if the price gouging law wasn’t bad enough, Goss wants
to take out the requirement that an emergency has to have occurred to
trigger the “price gouging.”

Quick Analysis: Goss basically wants the government to decide in every
business transaction whether people are getting charged too much. 
This is not a price-gouging law, it is an economy-wide price
control law.

3) Three-Fifths Vote to Levy Taxes (Sponsor: Rep. Blust): HB 44

Key Language:  “No law shall be enacted to impose any tax upon the
people of the State, except by an act adopted by a vote of three‑fifths
of the members of each house of the General Assembly. This subsection
applies to laws increasing a tax rate and laws levying a new tax but
not to a law repealing or restricting a specific tax preference or a
law authorizing one or more local taxing units to levy a tax.”

Quick Analysis: This would be a change to the NC Constitution.  Sounds good to me.

Rep. Blust introduced several other interesting bills dealing with governmental reform–here are two of them:

– Line Item Veto: HB 48
– Citizen-Initiated  Referenda: HB 47

4) Taxpayer Financing for State Treasurer: SB 20

Quick Analysis: Expands unconstitutional process to state treasurer.  In addition:

– Taxpayer financing compels taxpayers to support speech and candidates
they oppose.  For example, let’s say you oppose abortion and don’t
want to support a judge that supports abortion (and vice-versa).
 Guess what, you have no choice ? as long as you pay taxes, you
will be supporting that judge.

– There is very little public support for these programs by evidence
that about 93 percent of taxpayers don’t do the $3 check-off for judicial
races (this is a box on state tax returns that people can check to
divert $3 of their taxes to the judicial taxpayer-financing 
program. This $3 doesn’t increase taxes in any way, yet
people still don’t check the box).

– In tough economic times, politicians think tax dollars shouldn’t go
back to the citizens in the form of tax cuts, but instead should be
given directly to politicians to make their lives easier (i.e. welfare
for politicians).

– Protects incumbents because it equalizes funding thereby helping the
incumbent that has built-in advantages over competitors (such as name
recognition).