It was Arts Day at the General Assembly Wednesday, as evidenced by the ongoing performances under a white tent standing on Halifax Mall, but one legislator used the occurrence to highlight his criticism of the process by which some legislative works are created.

“It’s Arts Day, so y’all will forgive me for being arty here today,” Sen. Mike Woodard, D-Durham, said, after referring to the 1950s Japanese cinema classic “Rashômon” during a meeting of the Senate Health Care Committee. The movie is the story of four people having different perspectives on a murder in which each played some role, he said. 

Woodard said he thought of the film as he read the proposed committee substitute for House Bill 681, which includes changes that would allow nurse practitioners to work without the supervision of a physician and make changes to requirements related to the work of nurse anesthesiologists. Both are topics that have been debated for years, he said. Like the characters in “Rashômon,” the stakeholders should come together in a room to compare perspectives. 

Instead, Woodard said, the two complex issues have been amended to a bill that would otherwise have bipartisan support. “When are we going to grab the bull by the horns and take on some of these issues and not try to put them in a short session, not try to amend it to a new piece of legislation that we need to move forward?” Woodard asked.

Earlier in the day, one provision of a proposed committee substitute for House Bill 385 didn’t make it out of the starting gate as it was immediately removed by amendment before the Senate Agriculture, Energy and Environment Committee discussed the bill.

One section of the substitute — titled “Various Energy/Environmental Changes” — would require a 25-foot buffer for some agricultural activities near streams classified as trout waters. Sen. Brent Jackson, R-Sampson, said the idea is bad for agriculture and has been turned back several times already. “You know where the moles keep popping up in the holes and you keep hitting it?” Jackson said. “This amendment over the past two or three years just keeps popping up.”

Another section of the substitute proposal would require the Department of Environmental Quality to report quarterly on applications for permits required for natural gas pipelines and gas-fired electric generation facilities. “What we’re trying to do here is simply take the politics out of permitting,” Sen. Paul Newton, R-Cabarrus, said. “Permitting should be scientific.”

Also, hostile foreign governments would be prohibited from acquiring quartz mining operations and lands containing high-purity quartz. Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, said Mitchell County supplies the world’s highest-purity quartz. “I’ll just say to everyone, if you have an electronic device, you’re welcome,” Hise said. “You have a piece of Mitchell County with you here.”

Out on the mall, Nate McGaha, executive director of Arts North Carolina, said Arts Day 2024 is a rally in support of the nonprofit arts and culture sector as well as comprehensive arts education. “We’re asking for more funding for the North Carolina general grants program and asking [the legislature] to pass policy that will ensure that every elementary school student has access to both visual art and performing art and music,” McGaha said. Arts North Carolina has compiled a list of specific legislative requests.

Ahead of an anticipated vote from the University of North Carolina Board of Governors to divest from diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives on Thursday, a workforce development committee was proposed at a news conference to counter that decision. This committee would relocate current DEI staff to other programming areas and develop a UNC systemwide strategic plan of inclusivity with metrics for universities to model their decisions. “North Carolina has been No. 1 for the last two years when it comes to business,” Rep. Maria Cervania, D-Wake, said. “We will not remain and maintain this title if we go further in divesting from important DEI programs.”

There’s high demand and need for free period products in schools, according to Rep. Julie von Haefen, D-Wake. A news conference was hosted to honor Period Poverty Awareness Week and garner support for the Menstrual Equity for All Act (House Bill 622). According to von Haefen, the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction awarded grants of up to $5,000 to 66 public school units in 2022. Following the success of that initiative, the department received 149 applications a year later but could fund only 64 schools. “Prior to the pandemic, four out of five students reported missing school or knowing someone missing school due to not having period products,” von Haefen read from a report released by Weldon City Schools, where over 10% of the school population identifies as homeless.

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