ROANOKE RAPIDS – Angela Bryant, who represents House District 7, which includes Halifax and Nash counties has several bills she is passionate about getting through the legislative process this session.

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She is currently involved in sponsoring or co-sponsoring more than 130 bills.

She wants the Healthy Youth Act (HB 88) passed for several reasons. “It provides parents with a choice for abstinence-based comprehensive sex education along with the choice they already have for abstinence-only sex education. We have an explosion of HIV infections, teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases in our district. Our children's lives are at stake and our parents deserve a choice for abstinence-based comprehensive sex education for our children to save their lives and help them make informed choices about their behavior and activities,” Bryant said.

She would also like to see the School Violence Prevention Act (H548), or “Bullying Bill," passed. “It is important because bullying is a major cause of school violence and is also a reason that many children gravitate to gangs, and I want our children to be safe in school.”

“I am also concerned about the State Health Plan and getting the best outcome we can for our employees and retirees,” Bryant said. “I am also a sponsor of bills to strengthen child labor laws and also to improve parental notification and involvement procedures when a long term suspension or expulsion is recommended for their children.”

“I hope we can maintain some safety net for our community programs for youth to help continue our dropout prevention and youth development efforts. I also am co-sponsor of a bill to eliminate the state requirement of the high school graduation project and allow local school boards the option to have one if they would like,” Bryant said. ”I believe that requirement will hinder high school graduation for some and will take teacher focus, time and energy away from helping students meet core requirements.”

Bryant also wants to protect funding for senior centers and for community care for disabled elders. “I am also concerned about the state health plan and getting the best outcome we can for our employees and retirees. I am also a sponsor of bills to strengthen child labor laws and also to improve parental notification and involvement procedures when a long term suspension or expulsion is recommended for their children.”

“As best we can, I hope we can maintain some safety net for our community programs for youth to help continue our dropout prevention and youth development efforts. I also am co-sponsor of a bill to eliminate the state requirement of the high school graduation project and allow local school boards the option to have one if they would like. I believe that requirement will hinder high school graduation for some and will take teacher focus, time and energy away from helping students meet core requirements.”

Bryant is also co-sponsor of a bill to ask The UNC Board of Governors and Department of Public Instruction to study raising the compulsory school age to 17 or 18. “The feasibility, impact on graduation rates, fiscal impact, appropriate strategies for addressing the needs of at risk youth in that process and the planning required is very important and I hope that study gets passed.”

As far as funding bills for the North Carolina Center for Automotive Research is concerned, Bryant is also hopeful. “Specifically targeted economic development funding is going to be a real challenge. We have to see how the federal stimulus money flows and how that might help and how the economic development funding is packaged this time. Hopefully, NCCAR will qualify for some of the funding programs already developed,” Bryant said.

With deadlines for new bills for 2009 approaching, Bryant has a few more bills in the works. “We have to have local bills into bill drafting on Wednesday and public bills by Mar. 26 and appropriations and finance bills by April 22. “I'm working on bill to improve gun storage safety and to encourage unloaded (gun) storage. I’m also looking at some issues involving use of 911 funds for our counties. We also are preparing a bill to protect the (grass) carp in Lake Gaston.”