Lawmakers have studying to do during their break

Publication Date: 2006-08-04

• Author:Mark Binker
• Publication:Greensboro News-Record

...What's known around the legislature as the "study bill" gives it new life.

As the name implies, the measure authorizes a series of legislative commissions and committees to delve into topics ranging from health care to hemp laws.

The reports and recommendations of those groups form the basis of new legislation that is introduced in the next legislative term. Bills with the imprimatur of a study committee often move more easily through the sometimes chaotic world of the legislature.

"I think sometimes, if you do a study, you get a leg up on having people understand the issue," said Rep. Hugh Holliman...

Holliman also sponsored another health-related study, this one on smoking. Early in the legislature's past two-year term, he had sponsored a bill to limit smoking in restaurants. That bill failed.

The study, which Holliman said may or may not get staffed, would look at restricting smoking in a number of places. His ambition, Holliman said, is to write a bill that would ban or limit smoking anywhere people worked, from restaurants to cubical-filled rooms.

"I'm a lung cancer survivor and I lost a sister to lung cancer," Holliman said. "I really feel like people have a right to a clean workplace.