Here are some of the transportation funding and policy changes outlined in the proposed Senate budget (PDF) released Sunday. Some of these are new proposals, and others were previously aired this spring in separate legislation:

Try to acquire federal land around Oregon Inlet: The Oregon Inlet Land Acquisition Task Force is established to study the state's options for acquiring land around the Oregon Inlet from the National Park Service and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service so the state can preserve the navigability of Oregon Inlet.

Charge tolls on all ferries: Order the state Department of Transportation to begin collecting tolls on all seven ferry routes by November 1, with rates high enough to generate $5 million to $10 million a year in revenues. This would include tolls on the two routes that the General Assembly said last year would stay toll-free: Hatteras Inlet and Currituck Sound. [MORE] ...

During his first campaign for governor in 2008, Republican Pat McCrory hammered his opponent, Bev Perdue, on her ties to major Democratic Party fundraisers on the state Board of Transportation.

McCrory vowed repeatedly in 2008 that he would never appoint campaign fundraisers to the transportation board if he was elected governor.

But that's what he did after he won the 2012 election.

Mike Smith, a Raleigh real estate executive, was sworn into office Thursday (eighth from the left in photo, above) as one of Gov. McCrory's first appointees to the transportation board. Smith reports on campaign disclosure forms that he personally collected $106,000 for McCrory's 2012 campaign. (See copy of his disclosure form, below.) A second appointee, Wilmington lawyer Mike Lee, said he had rounded up $500 as a McCrory fundraiser.... [MORE]

Gov. Pat McCrory's campaign raised $156,394 with the help of nine men and a woman who will take their seats Thursday as his appointees to the state Board of Transportation, according to financial disclosure statements released Wednesday by McCrory's office.

The governor's top helper among the group is Michael C. Smith of Raleigh, president of Kane Realty Corp., the developer of North Hills. Smith is the new transportation board representative for Division 5, seven Triangle-area counties including Durham and Wake.

Smith is the only one of the 10 new board members who reports no campaign contributions directly from himself to McCrory. But he says he worked as a campaign fundraiser, bringing in $106,000 from other donors to McCrory, and his brother gave $250. ... [MORE]

House and Senate members on the Joint Transportation Oversight Committee say they still have not been given a chance to review 10 new appointees to the state Board of Transportation, as required by state law. But Gov. Pat McCrory is moving ahead with plans to install them at the April 3 board meeting.

On March 1, McCrory sent the 10 names, along with documents that disclose how much money each appointee contributed to the governor's election campaign -- to the House and Senate clerks, the House speaker and the Senate president pro tempore. He didn't send the packets to members of the oversight committee, as was done by previous governors.

“In the past they were mailed directly to us, each member, from the governor’s offices," said Sen. Clark Jenkins, a Tarboro Democrat who serves on the oversight committee and previously was its chairman. “I think the governor’s office should go a little bit further than leaving some sort of notice at the clerk’s office and the chambers’ leadership offices. I think it should go to the oversight committee."

McCrory has sole authority to make appointments to the 19-member board. But the law provides for review by the House-Senate committee of the new members and their campaign financial disclosure statements before they are sworn in: ... [MORE]

Gov. Pat McCrory has picked 10 new members for the 19-member state Board of Transportation, and he's hoping to seat them at the board's next meeting April 4. But the governor could be forced to cancel the April meeting -- just as he canceled the March meeting-- because he still hasn't submitted his appointee list to a legislative committee responsible for reviewing it.

McCrory did submit a letter (see copy, below) March 1 to Denise Weeks, the principal House clerk, and he copied it to House Speaker Thom Tillis and Senate leader Phil Berger. But he didn't send it to any members of the House-Senate Joint Transportation Oversight Committee, which is responsible under state law for reviewing the names. ... [MORE]

Republican Gov. Pat McCrory named 10 men to the state Board of Transportation on Monday, including several developers and a former state Republican Party chairman.

4/3/13 update: This list has been updated, below, with additional biographical information. Some of the campaign finance info here is now outdated. The newest campaign contribution totals are reflected in this 4/3/13 blog post.

Most of the new appointees are Republicans. All of them except Michael C. Smith of Raleigh contributed to McCrory's 2012 campaign -- a total of $32,544 from nine of the appointees and, in a few cases, their wives. (4/3/13 update: See new info for Smith.)

State law requires the Republican governor to have a board that includes at least three Democrats. State election records show that new appointee Dwight D. Stone of Greensboro is a Democrat.

3/13/03 update: These numbers are changed by the withdrawal of Dwight Stone and his replacement by Cheryl McQueary, a Republican, in Division 7.

So let's make this list: nine men, one woman, none of them Democrats. ... [MORE]