NORTH CAROLINA: IT'S THE LAW - AS OF TODAY, JANUARY 1, 2008

FAYETTE OBSERVER,
January 1, 2008

It's the Law - As of Today
By John Ramsey
Staff writer

Starting today, bars and restaurants will have to recycle all those empty beer and wine bottles left from New Year’s bashes. Life insurance salesmen will find their jobs tougher on Army grounds. Smokers in state buildings will have to find an outdoors spot to indulge their habit. These are among the new state laws that took effect on the first day of the yeartake effect today.

Keep your butt outside

• Smoking is prohibited in buildings owned or leased by the state. The ban also extends to state psychiatric facilities.

Who’s your daddy?

• Adopted children will have an easier time finding information about their biological parents with this law change. County Social Services departments and adoption agencies act as third parties to help find family health information, and adopted adults can use the agencies to find their birth parents as long as all parties give written consent. Nicole Callahan with the National Council for Adoption said the change is better than a mandatory openness law but worse than a mutual consent registry.

Taming Loan Sharks

• In response to the national subprime mortgage crisis, the state is making it tougher for lenders to issue loans that consumers likely can’t pay back. The law forces lenders to do more work to ensure that customers can afford loans and will prohibit prepayment penalties, which keep people from refinancing a bad loan. The bill also gives consumers more rights when working with mortgage brokers. “It’s definitely a step forward,” said Al Ripley, counsel for consumer and housing affairs at the N.C. Justice Center. “It will help protect home buyers or people refinancing their mortgages from subprime predatory loans.”

Don’t come knocking

• The activity of life insurance salesmen will be regulated on Army bases. Door-to-door solicitation will be prohibited, as will making appointments at barracks. “The bottom line is, we just don’t think they should be taken advantage of,” said state Rep. Marvin Lucas, one of the law’s primary sponsors. “We think that the commanders are well in charge and know fully what these guys may need ... not somebody coming door-to-door.”

Bob Barker would be proud

• A new law requires 20 cents of every rabies tag sold to go to spay and neuter programs for pets.

Protect your neck

• All motorcycle riders will be required to wear safety-approved helmets attached with a strap, a law that doesn’t sit well with many bikers. John McKenzie, a salesman at Sandhills Cycle Center in Pinehurst, said more than half of his customers have complained about the new rule. “A lot of them think it should be a matter of choice,” he said. “To me it restricts your vision and your hearing some too. ... I’m just as comfortable riding without a helmet.” Bikers around the state have planned rides today ito protest the law.

Green bars

• The New Year’s partyers won’t be the only people waking up to a headache this morning. Bars and restaurants will be required to recycle glass, a law that many bar managers understand in theory but dislike in practice. Smaller bars will have to make room for extra trash cans, and trash cans will all be located behind the bar to keep staff from having to dig through the trash the next day. “I think it’s a good thing, but at the same time, trying to get everything organized, it’s a little bit hectic,” said Dana Donner, manager at The Pour House. “It’s kind of a pain in the butt.”

Residency question

• People arrested for a felony or driving under the influence in North Carolina after today will be asked if they are legal U.S. residents. Latino and civil liberties groups have said the law encourages racial profiling.

Gold Star Plates

• The state will make it easier to get Gold Star license plates by eliminating a rule that required 300 applications and by waiving the fee for them. Gold Stars are issued to family members of military men and women killed in the line of duty.

Check yes or no

• Anyone planning to run for office in North Carolina will have to answer a question common on job applications: “Have you ever been convicted of a felony?”

Link to article