Issue Briefs

Our Issue Briefs are designed to give you a quick overview of a specific issue, often one that is tied to a particular piece of legislation or proposed government action. Issue briefs are thoroughly researched and usually written by our government relations staff with input from research experts. We are beginning this feature on our website in April 2007, so prior issue briefs may not be listed. Check out our most recent issue briefs listed below by date published or select the subject category to the left that you would like to examine. Clicking on the title of the issue brief will initiate the process of downloading the issue brief in the PDF format. For more indepth analysis on numerous issues, visit the policy papers section of this website.

North Carolina's Ban on Video Gambling
Should Be Clarified to Focus on the Activity and Intent of Video Gambling
The gambling industry is exploiting the technicalities of North Carolina's existing ban on video gambling, and thereby violating the intent of the General Assembly to ban all video gambling statewide. The statute must be clarified to ban video gambling on the basis of intent and activity rather than logistics.

FDA Approved Contraceptive Methods
This document, prepared by the FDA, lists the approved methods of contraception. HB 88–Healthy Youth Act, if passed in its current form, would require that students be taught about all these methods as early as the seventh grade.

Ten Reasons to Keep Abstinence Education
Early sexual activity has a myriad of negative consequences for adolescents that go beyond sexually transmitted diseases (STDs) and teen pregnancy, which condoms cannot protect against.

SB 440, Which Codifies Gestational Surrogacy Agreements, Makes Bad Public Policy Worse
In 1987 the New Jersey Superior Court upheld a surrogacy agreement, stripped away all parental or visitation rights from the surrogate mother and allowed the intended parents to legally adopt the child. Within a year, the New Jersey Supreme Court reversed the decision of the lower court, nullified the contract, nullified the adoption rights of the intended parents and restored some visitation and parental rights to the surrogate parent.

As a consequence, many state legislatures took legislative action. Most states quickly prohibited or severely restricted surrogacy contracts. Some states went so far as to impose criminal fines or imprisonment for those individuals who arranged surrogate contracts. Other states passed laws allowing surrogacy contracts under judicial review. North Carolina has never enacted any laws pertaining to surrogacy contracts.

No Need to "Conform State Law to Lawrence v. Texas"
House Bill 100 proposes to “conform” North Carolina’s “crime against nature” statute to the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2003 decision in Lawrence v. Texas1, which struck down a Texas sodomy law criminalizing homosexual sexual activity. March 9, 2009.

Sunday Hunting Law Should Remain Intact
Repealing North Carolina’s prohibition on Sunday hunting would disrupt outdoor recreational activities, church services, family time, and wildlife rest while straining the resources of the Wildlife Resources Commission (WRC). In addition, a majority of both hunters and the public at large oppose repealing the ban on Sunday hunting. April 13, 2009.

"Healthy Youth Act" Would Put Adolescents & Teens At Risk
North Carolina public schools have a “no tolerance” policy when it comes to tobacco, alcohol and drug use. Our public schools teach adolescents and teens about the harms associated with these substances and strongly discourage students from using tobacco, alcohol and drugs. We would never accept an approach that assumes students are going to smoke, drink and do drugs and therefore should be educated about all of the forms of tobacco products, alcohol and illicit drugs; how those different substances can be ingested, injected, inhaled or otherwise consumed; and how students can “reduce the risk of harm” should they choose to engage in these high risk behaviors. February 10, 2009.

2007 Legislative Session Issue Briefs