Are you kidding me? It's July 28th. And they have done almost nothing:
The General Assembly finished its work for the year early Friday after agreeing to new lobbying and ethics rules for legislators and executive branch officials, capping a session that saw video poker machines banned and the minimum wage raised.
Wrapping up a 2 1/2-month session that began with the state riding on a roughly $2 billion budget surplus, lawmakers adjourned at 1:09 a.m. Not likely to return for regular business until a new Legislature is seated in January, House and Senate members hugged and shook hands after the two chambers dismissed members simultaneously.
Democrats _ in the majority in both the House and Senate _ said they were pleased with what was accomplished, including large state employees raises, a surge in education spending and even some tax cuts.
"They worked really hard, hit the ground running on opening day (and) did what we said we were going to do, and now we're going to go home very proud and hold our heads high," House Speaker Jim Black, D-Mecklenburg, told reporters at a news conference surrounded by more than 30 other Democrats.
Two and a half months of work, woop-de-do. This is what you get with Democrats in charge. If their major accomplishments are seeing "video poker machines banned and the minimum wage raised," they didn't do a whole lot.
Of course, on the bright side, the less they are in session the less they can screw up North Carolina. Granted, they do not get paid a whole lot for the job by the State, but you just know that they get a lot of perks. Almost $14,000 is not bad for 2 1/2 months work.
