A bill to modernize the state's banking law, a move that former state banking commissioner Joseph Smith Jr. advocated for years, is being considered by the House after sailing through the Senate.

With bipartisan support and the endorsement of both the banking industry and consumer advocacy groups, the "Banking Law Modernization Act" was approved unanimously by the Senate -- 47-0 -- on Wednesday.

"It's pretty technical. It's pretty boring. Everyone agrees on it," said Chris Kukla, senior counsel for government affairs at the consumer-oriented Center for Responsible Lending.

Kukla served on the  Joint Legislative Study Commission on the Modernization of North Carolina Banking Laws that was formed last year to study the issue. The committee found that a considerable chunk of the state law regulating banks had been on the books for more than 70 years.

The committee concluded that modernization was needed to ensure that the state's banks can effectively compete in a technology-driven industry and "to avoid duplication with federal law and to maintain North Carolina's reputation among the most progressive banking states in the nation."

N.C. Employment Security Commission Chairwoman Lynn Holmes said today that, at the direction of Gov. Bev Perdue, she is suspending certain provisions of a bill passed this summer because they do not comply with federal law.

Senate Bill 532 made a number of changes to the state's employment security commission. Perdue vetoed the legislation, but the legislature overrode it. 

Opponents warned that flaws in the law would lead to improper denial of unemployment benefits for those out of work and increased state and federal unemployment tax rates for businesses.

The bill's supporters said the concerns are overblown, and that the Department of Labor has never sanctioned a state so that unemployment tax rates rise.

Solar industry workers plan to come to the General Assembly in Raleigh on Wednesday to make a final plea to lawmakers to support a pair of bills that would boost solar power in the state.

The bills have been stuck in committees without a vote since they were introduced earlier in the legislature earlier this year.

One of the bills would allow solar energy producers to sell electricity directly to businesses and homeowners, a practice not allowed under state law. The other bill would double the amount of solar power electric utilities have to buy to meet a 2007 state mandate for green energy.

Advocates of socially responsible capitalism are hoping North Carolina becomes one of the few states in the nation that gives businesses legal permission to fulfill moral obligations -- to the poor or to the environment -- at the expense of their own shareholders.

Legislation recently introduced in the N.C. General Assembly could get its first vote as early as Tuesday in a Senate judiciary committee. The bill would allow a business to turn idealistic mission statements into legally enforceable documents by diverting company profits to humanitarian goals.

The bill has been in the works for more than a year by the B Lab, a Pennsylvania group that promotes socially responsible entrepreneurship. Nationwide, 381 companies have incorporated themselves as B corporations, with 13 in this state.

Conservation advocates have long complained that the system is rigged to reward electric utilities and their customers for wasting energy.

So conservationists have come up with an alternative: Charge heavy users of electricity a higher rate than those who use less, not unlike the concept of progressive taxation.

Such a proposal has been introduced in the N.C. General Assembly on behalf of the Canary Coalition, a group in Sylva, about 300 miles west of Raleigh and 50 miles west of Asheville. It's not clear if the proposal can gain any traction in the state legislature.

"It would raise peoples' rates who don't do anything to conserve in energy efficiency," said Avram Friedman, the Canary Coalition's executive director.

North Carolina's business lobby kicked off this year's legislative session with an ambitious to-do list in a Republican-controlled statehouse.

The N.C. Chamber feted its members Tuesday at the N.C. Museum of History in downtown Raleigh with speakers, legislators and hors d' oeuvres.

The group hopes to achieve goals that were out-of-reach in past years when Democrats controlled both houses of the General Assembly.

"It's a new era," said Lew Ebert, the chamber's president and CEO. Ebert said the chamber will be pushing for a pro-growth, pro-jobs agenda.

Tomorrow at noon UNC-TV will broadcast the opening session of the North Carolina House of Representatives live, followed at approximately 1:30pm by taped coverage of the opening of the North Carolina Senate.

Weekly coverage of the legislature on "North Carolina Now Legislative Review" begins on Friday, January 28, at 7:30pm on UNC-TV.

Think it's a pain to e-cycle? Before you throw that gadget or computer into the trash, check out the new bill the General Assembly passed.

There was much gnashing of teeth a couple of weeks ago when university officials across the UNC system realized that the Senate and House budget proposals didn't offer enough "building reserves" funding to open all the new facilities set to open in the next year.

But following a front-page story in the News & Observer on the issue, legislators quickly pledged to pony up the funding to open massive new buildings like a $92 million science complex at UNC-Chapel Hill.

And the final state budget does indeed include that money - $19 million in recurring funds and an additional $4.8 million in one-time dollars.

UNC system President Erskine Bowles stops just short of turning cartwheels today, so pleased he appears to be at the final state budget rolling out this week.

Bowles has reason to be happy. The final budget cut to public universities is $70 million, far less than the $175 million the State House had proposed.

The House proposal would have forced the elimination of 1,700 positions across the university. It isn't yet clear how many jobs will be lost to the approved $70 million cut because a provision allowing state campuses to increase tuition up to $750 complicates the math.

A tuition hike would increase revenue for campuses, but it isn't yet clear, officials say, whether campuses want to raise those rates.

Here's what Bowles has to say about the state budget.

“Legislators really stood up for our University and our 225,000 students in these hard times when money is scarce. On a relative basis and particularly considering the economic climate, the 2010-11 state budget we received from the General Assembly was nothing short of remarkable.

We knew there were going to be significant cuts in every part of state government, and the University took its fair share. But the legislature really worked hard to help us protect the quality of education we can deliver to our students. While there were targeted cuts to various University programs, the legislature held additional management flexibility cuts to $70 million.

In the end, the General Assembly also committed to fully fund the University’s requests for need-based financial aid, enrollment growth, and operating reserves for new buildings. It also adopted the Board of Governors’ alternative tuition plan for the coming year and authorized additional tuition increases to help offset the impact of budget cuts. Importantly, the final budget does not include a provision that would have effectively capped University enrollment growth and denied access to qualified North Carolinians.

This tangible show of support is vitally important to the economic future of North Carolina. The Board of Governors, our boards of trustees, faculty, staff, and most importantly, our students join me in thanking the General Assembly for this remarkable show of confidence in our public universities.”