They’re finally gone. Early this morning about 4:30 or so, the General Assembly adjourned. They left a lot of damage in their wake, but it could have been worse.

On the down side, our pubic schools continue to be underfunded and our teachers underpaid. In a blatantly discriminatory move, they’ve allowed magistrates to opt out of marrying gay couples. They privatized Medicaid despite having a system that was working, saving money, and providing good service. An anti-environmental bill that passed last night stripped away protections and monitoring because they were working. The GOP again raised taxes on poor and middle-class families by expanding sales taxes on services but exempting services most used by upper income people and businesses. They passed a bill that will allow leaders of the legislature to essentially run their own parties and take unlimited contributions from a variety of sources including corporations. I’m sure there was more bad stuff but that’s what I remember without digging.

Not much really good legislation passed, but some bad legislation was stopped. At the end of the session, when mischief and bad ideas flourish, the Senate tried to pass a bill that would syphon money from traditional public schools and give it to charters. The House bottled it up at least until next spring. Another Senate bill that would have restricted the power of local government also died in the house. The House also blocked a sales tax redistribution plan that would have harmed cities while managing to get some increased funding to rural areas. They restored a portion of the film credits that will help keep the movie industry in Wilmington. The House also protected teaching assistants that the Senate wanted to eliminate. We will get to vote on a bond referendum that would fund some much needed infrastructure improvements.

The big take away from the session is that House Speaker Tim Moore is a serious player. He served as the counter balance to Phil Berger’s Senate that his predecessor, U. S. Senator Thom Tillis, never could. While the Senate is full of ideologues who would remake North Carolina into a free-market utopia, Moore is a conservative pragmatist who wants government to function. Having Moore as a counterpart is a setback for the Senate after years of outmaneuvering the overly ambition Tillis.

Pat McCrory, for his part, comes out just as he went in. He’s a hapless politician with limited skills who was more of a spectator than a participant. The Senate and House control the state.

Thomas Mills is the founder and publisher of PoliticsNC.com. Before beginning PoliticsNC, Thomas spent twenty years as a political and public affairs consultant. Learn more >