Insko's priorities include voting

Rep. Verla Insko might not have been worried about ballot-counting on Election Day — she ran unopposed — but the Orange County Democrat has made accurate vote-tallying a priority in her first week back at the legislature.

“I’ve spent a long time working on electronic voting,” she said Friday, settling in behind her desk in the Legislative Building. She had been working on a bill to require a paper trail for computerized ballots. “I think it’s a key time to address that issue.”

Regulating electronic voting is the first item on Insko’s agenda, but it certainly won’t be the most contentious.

Heading into her fifth term, she seems to relish the challenge of representing one of the most left-leaning districts in a solidly red state.

“You really have to believe there’s a role for the loyal opposition,” she said. “I think a lot of my satisfaction comes sometimes from stopping bad bills, but also making sure somebody’s out there standing up and saying the right things.”

For Insko, saying the right things has meant consistent advocacy of a larger governmental role in health care. Improving the mental-health system, she said, will be her overarching focus this term.

“I would like to get increased funding and better oversight,” Insko said. “I’ve been heavily involved in the reform effort, and I feel responsible for monitoring that to make sure it’s going OK.”

Insko said she hopes to be named chairwoman of the appropriations subcommittee on health and human services, a role that would give her significant influence in setting funding priorities for state health care programs.

Last session, she served as a member of that committee and as co-chairwoman of the health committee.

Being chairwoman of an appropriations subcommittee would give her more opportunities to make an influence, Insko said.

The N.C. House will determine committee assignments in the next few weeks. Insko said she expects that Democrats will use their enlarged majority to end the power-sharing agreement that has kept more controversial items off the legislative agenda.

“We’ve got the votes, so I think we’ll take our chairmanships,” she said, adding that some key committees might include Republican co-chairmen.

Insko said she is more hopeful about prospects for change now that Democrats are firmly in control of the General Assembly.

“The younger members who have been elected — I think they’re more progressive than the people they’ve replaced,” she said.

If North Carolina’s legislature is shifting to the left, it is bucking the national trend. State governments are being asked to do more without any increase in resources, Insko said.

“Every year that I’ve been over here, it’s like our job is broader. We’re getting more and more responsibility for things.”

She cited Medicaid as one area where the state’s burden has increased in recent years. Because North Carolina’s per-capita income has risen in recent years, the share of Medicaid paid by the federal government has declined, forcing the state to pick up a greater share of the cost.

County governments must cover 5 percent of the program’s cost, but that is something Insko says she would like to change. “We will have a bill introduced this year that will, over five years, have the state take over the county share,” she said.

Barry Jacobs, vice chairman of the Orange County Board of Commissioners, said Insko’s previous work in county government is an asset in the legislature.

“It’s nice having somebody there who’s been a commissioner, so they actually understand what we face,” he said. “She very much understands and appreciates what it’s like to be a local elected official.”

Insko served on the Orange County board from 1990-94.

Acknowledging that the state's budget will be tight this year, Insko said she hopes for a 50-cent increase in the cigarette tax and a curb on tax breaks for businesses.

“We continue to take money out of our revenue stream by this sort of backdoor appropriation,” she said, referring to tax incentives used to lure companies to the state.

Admittedly, Insko will have a difficult time advancing all of her priorities in a legislature that is both budget-crunched and more conservative than her constituency.

“If you’re not really philosophically in line with the majority, you really have to work.”

Contact the State & National Editor at stntdesk@unc.edu.