Legislative Newsletters

July 18, 2008

Greetings from Raleigh,

I am pleased to inform you that the North Carolina General Assembly has closed the short session for 2008 and I will be back working in the district until the next session begins in January. We worked through numerous proposals this week that are very important to the people of North Carolina and the time we have spent was well worth it. Next week I will summarize the highlights of the session, but this week I want to note a few important areas.

The Governor signed the 2008 budget into law. This budget makes strong investments in education, economic development, health care, and public safety while keeping our commitment to fiscal responsibility. The budget adjustments are our main responsibility during the short session and I was proud of our final product.

This year, ensuring public safety has been at the top of our agenda. Earlier, I told you about gang prevention legislation that I supported that is now law. The Senate and House sent the Governor another important measure to stop the spread of gangs. This new law will make it a felony to participate in criminal gang activity and increase penalties for those who commit crimes while engaged in gang activity, increase penalties for those using a deadly weapon during criminal gang activity, and criminalize recruitment of gang members.

The Senate and House also worked out minor differences in Jessica’s Law to protect our kids from sexual predators and sent it to the Governor to be signed into law. Also, we passed legislation to bar convicted sexual offenders from using social networking websites such as Facebook and MySpace and increased penalties for exploitation of minors and for child pornography. The legislation awaits the Governor’s signature.

In light of the shootings at Virginia Tech last year, we passed legislation keep people who have been deemed mentally incompetent from purchasing a firearm. The House passed the measure as well and it was sent to the Governor.

This week, we also addressed the drought. The measure we passed gives the Governor more authority during water shortages to ensure local governments are reducing water usage. I want to assure you that this legislation will not affect private wells in any way, despite some misinformation floating around to the contrary. This year’s budget also provided funding for water resource projects in light of the drought and we have worked to assist farmers affected as well.

As you can see, it was a busy final week in Raleigh. I’ll be back in touch for a session wrap-up.

As always, please feel free to contact me to share your opinions about these initiatives or any other issue you feel is important, and thank you for the opportunity to serve you in the Senate.

Yours very truly,

Joe Sam Queen

Representing the 47th Senate District of North Carolina

Avery, Haywood, Madison. McDowell, Mitchell, and Yancey

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My office contact information in Raleigh is:

Phone (919) 733-3460

Email: joeq@ncleg.net

Address: 16 West Jones Street

1117 Legislative Building

Raleigh, NC 27601-2808

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