Big news from North Carolina yesterday! After the House passed the Voter-Owned Elections Act (VOEA) earlier this week, the state Senate followed the House’s lead and approved the VOEA, which will bring Clean Elections campaign reform to three of North Carolina’s Council of State seats. Once the governor signs the bill, and it looks like he will, candidates for State Auditor, Insurance Commissioner and Superintendent of Public Instruction will have the opportunity to opt in to a full public financing for their campaigns. (Candidates for the Supreme and Appellate courts in the state do now.)

North Carolina, which has pioneered the judicial public financing program, has been looking to expand their Voter-Owned Elections policy to other offices. After a series of pay-to-play scandals, which just recently led to the conviction of former House Speaker Jim Black, the state is anxious to take action against corruption and this bill is a great first step. Just as judicial public financing paved the way for this bill, so too should this program lead to Clean Elections for all Council of State races and, eventually, legislative and statewide races.

Title V Abstinence-Only Funding Proposal to Reauthorize with Important Fixes

Yesterday, as part of the Congress’ consideration of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), the U.S. House proposed reauthorizing part of Title V of the Social Security Act, which provides states with $50 million in funding for abstinence-only-until-marriage programs. The program is set to expire next month. The proposed reauthorization has improvements that would:

* require funded programs to contain medically and scientifically accurate information;
* give states the flexibility to use funds for more comprehensive programs which discuss abstinence, but may also include information on birth control;
* require funded programs to have been proven effective at decreasing teen pregnancy, STD, and HIV/AIDS rates.

“We commend the Democratic leaders in the House for tackling this difficult issue and recognizing that the future will not hold unlimited federal funding for the failed and extreme abstinence-only-until-marriage industry,” said William Smith, vice president for public policy at the Sexuality Information and Education Council of the United States (SIECUS).

The measure passed the House 225-204. The Senate has not yet acted on Title V reauthorization.