Pricey Harrison, Red Clay Citizen and "signing the jacket"

Last month, Joe Guarino referenced a blog post by Red Clay Citizen, bringing to our attention Greensboro's Pricey Harrison co-sponsoring a bill that would allow convicted criminals to attend community college tuition-free upon their release from prison.

Amid the debate on the merits of the bill confusion arose over whether or not Harrison was, in fact, a cosponsor. While Red Clay author Jeff Mixon reported that she was, the online version of the bill did not -- at least, not by the time it came to our attention.

Ed Cone talked to Harrison and reported in the comments at Joe's that she had "signed the jacket," what he described as something legislators can do on "bills they might sponsor."

I talked to the State Legislature's web master and the House Principal Clerk's office for clarification. Here's the scoop.

There is no "might" involved. House members may sign on as co-sponsors of a bill electronically or by signing the jacket containing the bill (there is no electronic option in the senate). Once signed, electronically or psychically, the legislator is a co-sponsor.

The bill, with its sponsors and cosponsors, is then published to the General Assembly web site. If a lawmaker subsequently changes her mind, she may request that her name be removed as a co-sponsor. Sometimes this results in a new version of the bill being posted online, with the older version still reflecting the previous co-sponsorship. Sometimes, the lawmaker's name is simply removed from the version posted online with no online record remaining that the lawmaker ever was a co-sponsor.

In the case of this bill. Harrison's signature is not legible on on the bill's jacket, but there is an illegible signature scratched out. It appears as if Harrison originally singed on to co-sponsor this bill, changed her mind and the bill on the website was updated only by removing her name, leaving no record of her original co-sponsorship online and only her conversation with Ed and the scratched out signature as indications of her original co-sponsorship.

This caused a lot of confusion and some unjustified insinuation by me towards Jeff Mixon, for which I apologize.

[NOTE OF GRATITUDE: Thank you to the very kind, open and helpful state staff who helped me to understand this process and the details surrounding this bill in particular.]