Christian Action League of North Carolina, Inc.
809 Spring Forest Road, Ste 1000
Raleigh, N.C. 27609
(919.787.0606)

2005 Annual Report

The Christian Action League of North Carolina is a Christian public policy organization that addresses public policy and legislative issues from a Christian worldview. The Christian Action League has a full-time presence in the General Assembly of North Carolina and has garnered considerable respect from both the Republican and Democratic parties. The League's purpose is to assist the church in fulfilling Christ's command to be the "salt" and the "light" of the earth. The following report contains highlights from this year's ministry.

Advancing Kingdom Principles

• In 2004, the North Carolina General Assembly passed legislation for a specialty license plate with the Nation's motto, "In God We Trust" and a yellow ribbon with the phrase, "Support Our Troops" on it. Three hundred applications were necessary to launch the plates. This year, CAL fulfilled its promise to help garner the applications needed. In fact, on October 10th, Rev. Mark Creech, Executive Director of the CAL, was the three hundredth person to make application.
  
  
• CAL provides critical information regarding social and moral issues via it's interactive website www.christianactionleague.net. The website seeks to keep the church abreast of the latest developments in the culture war -- both from a national and statewide perspective. The website also provides educational materials, guest commentaries from some of the best columnists in North Carolina and a nationally syndicated editorial by CAL's Executive Director. Since June of 2003, CAL has had over 30,000 hits on it's website.
  
  
• Each week CAL publishes a "Weekly Email Issues Alert." This alert is essentially an Email Magazine, which is quite comprehensive in covering issues of moral import in the State legislature, politics, and other concerns. It covers matters of great social consequence to Judeo-Christian values in the following categories: N.C. General Assembly, N.C. Politics, N.C. News, U.S. Congress, Courts, Christianity/Pro-family/Religion, Abortion/Pro-Life, Alcohol/Drugs/Health, Education/Sex-Ed/Children, God and Country/National Security/ Politics, Pornography/Homosexuality/Immorality, and Gambling. Currently, over 2500 persons in North Carolina have subscribed to this service. Those interested in receiving the "Weekly Email Issues Alert" should go to CAL's website at www.christainactionleague.net and click on "Sign Up To Be A Beacon of Light."
  
  
• To promote Christian values in the home, church and the work place, CAL offers two beautiful prints of The Ten Commandments and God's Covenant with America. For a small donation, these prints can either be secured separately or together, simply as a print or framed. Those interested in the prints can view and acquire them via www.christianactionleague.net. Or by calling at 919.787.0606.
  
  
• Rev. Mark Creech, Executive Director of the CAL, has advanced Christian principles throughout North Carolina and the nation in numerous speaking engagements that included denominational meetings, church worship services, political rallies, revival meetings, legislative chapel services, press conferences, conventions and seminars.
  
  

Lobbying Activity

• Whenever an urgent legislative issue arises in the General Assembly of North Carolina, CAL typically responds by sending out an "Urgent Action Alert." These alerts are designed not simply to inform Christians, but to mobilize them at the grassroots level. Their purpose is to get constituents to put pressure on their lawmakers to vote on legislation a certain way. CAL's "Urgent Action Alerts" have been responsible for the success and failure of a number of pieces of legislation considered by members of the N.C. House and Senate. Persons receiving the "Weekly Email Issues Alert" will also receive "Urgent Action Alerts."
  
  
• This year CAL worked tirelessly to get State legislators to approve legislation for a Constitutional Amendment that would ban same-sex marriage in the Tar Heel State. Rev. Mark Creech, CAL's Executive Director, lead in a Pastor's briefing at the General Assembly on the subject. He also spoke at a rally of hundreds of people at the Halifax Mall in support of the amendment. The North Carolina Family Policy Council hosted both meetings. Despite the fact two pieces of legislation, one in the House and one in the Senate, (HB 55 -- Defense of Marriage and SB 8 -- Defense of Marriage) were introduced that would have defined marriage as "one man and one woman" in North Carolina's Constitution, the House and Senate leadership would not allow either measure to be heard in Committee.
  
  
• CAL has also been at the forefront of a push for a Federal Marriage Amendment to the U.S. Constitution by North Carolinians.
  
  
• After successfully beating back lottery legislation for 23 years, CAL was unable to stop the passage of a lottery measure that succeeded by one vote in each chamber. This year's efforts by CAL to defeat lottery legislation were reported widely by the press. Reports noted Rev. Mark Creech was the last person in the line of defense against the lottery. Creech drove over 200 miles on the day of the Senate vote to visit with Sen. John Garwood (R-North Wilkesboro), who was at home sick and the deciding vote on the measure. During that visit, CAL's Director convinced Sen. Garwood to pair his vote while absent from the General Assembly, keeping the lottery at bay with a one-vote margin of 25-24. But in the eleventh hour, influenced by the phone calls of high-powered legislative leaders and the myths of lottery promises, Sen. Garwood reversed his position to pair. The result was a 24-24 tie that Lieutenant Governor Beverly Perdue voted to break in favor of State-sponsored gambling. Governor Mike Easley wasted no time in signing HB 1023 -- North Carolina State Lottery Act the very next day.
  
  
• CAL hosted a group of twenty-five pastors, who came from across the State, to hold a press conference and meet with members of the General Assembly. Their purpose was to voice their opposition to a state-lottery and explain the reasons it would produce negative social and economic consequences. Associate Pastor Phillip Addison from Stony Point Baptist Church in Stony Point, N.C. summarized the sentiments of all the Pastors when he said, "The State should definitely not be in the business of promoting covetousness and greed. America was founded on Judeo-Christian values and citizens have a responsibility to act when elected officials are promoting immoral legislation."
  
  
• CAL was successful this year in pushing back legislation that would have allowed pari-mutuel gambling on horse racing at the Carolina Horse Park in Hoke County. The legislation, SB 9 -- Economic Development Horse Race was withdrawn from the Senate's Calendar twice and ultimately died in the Senate Commerce Committee.
  
  
• CAL continues to support legislation that would ban video poker in the State. This year, CAL lobbied for the passage of SB 6 -- Ban Video Poker/All But Reservations and HB 29, the companion bill in the House. Neither of these bills saw any action and an identical provision included in the Senate version of the budget was stripped out by the House.
  
  
• Except for it's efforts to defeat the lottery, no battle was as tough as the one waged this year by CAL to prevent the alcohol content in beer from being raised from 6% to 15%. HB 392 -- Amend Definition of a Malt Beverage in ABC Law passed the House by a large margin, 68-46. Rev. Mark Creech, CAL's Executive Director, did extensive research on the measure, pointing out its potential problems to lawmakers. He testified before two House Committees and one Senate Committee. After weeks of having to fight the measure single handedly, CAL's arguments convinced Sen. John Kerr (D-Pitt), Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, to pull the bill off the Senate floor and refer it to the Senate Finance Committee for further study. The legislation remained in the Senate Finance Committee for two weeks and was never considered. Nevertheless, the Senate leadership instructed Sen. Kerr to place the bill back on the Senate floor for consideration. Kerr refused, but Sen. David Hoyle (D-Gaston), also a Finance Committee Chairman, placed the bill back on the Senate floor and it passed 21-27. Rev. Creech pleaded with the Governor's office to veto the bill. Instead the Governor signed the legislation on August 13, 2005.
  
  
• CAL strongly opposed a measure to amend the alcoholic beverage control election law to allow towns or cities where a railroad passenger terminus exists to be eligible to hold malt beverage elections. CAL's Executive Director testified against HB 1416 -- An Act to Amend the Alcoholic Beverage Control Election Law in both the House ABC Committee and the Senate Commerce Committee. Rev. Mark Creech argued CAL was very much in favor of local option alcohol referenda. However, the proposed legislation was unconstitutional because it was a local act (local bill) that sought to regulate the trade of alcohol that couldn't be applied statewide. Its application was meant for and limited to Dillsboro, North Carolina, a small town with approximately 200 persons. Unfortunately, the bill passed in the House 79-39 and in the Senate 33-16.
  
  
• This year's efforts by CAL to raise taxes on cigarettes were successful. On August 4, budget conferees reached an agreement on a cigarette tax increase that calls for a 25 cents increase (to 30 cents per pack) on September 1. An additional 5 cents increase (to a total tax of 35 cents per pack) will take effect July 1, 2007. The CAL pushed for a 75 cents tax increase as proposed in HB 286 -- Increase Cigarette Tax. However, 25 cents increase will result in a 5.2 percent decrease in the youth smoking rate in North Carolina and will save 33,800 kids alive today from a lifetime of smoking and disease.
  
  
• CAL was the only faith-organization opposed to legislation calling for a two- year moratorium on executions in North Carolina. In July, the House Judiciary I Committee approved a Proposed Committee Substitute for HB 529 -- Suspend Executions for Two Years and changed its title to Study Death Penalty. The legislation supposedly was a compromise on the previously proposed death-penalty moratorium in North Carolina. Instead of calling for a blanket moratorium, the legislation essentially allowed for a condemned inmate to ask a trial court judge to postpone his execution until a study on the death penalty in North Carolina was concluded. In order to win a stay of execution, an inmate would have had to cite one of seven factors being examined by the death penalty study as affecting his/her own case. CAL's Executive Director, Rev. Mark Creech vigorously opposed the so-called compromise as well, saying it was deceptive. The problem with the measure, he told lawmakers, was it represented an "open season" on every death penalty case, no matter how carefully it had been decided in the courts. It was essentially a "de-facto moratorium." Proponents of the measure could never find enough votes in the House necessary for passage. The bill was withdrawn from the House Calendar three times and postponed four times. The legislation is eligible to be considered in 2006.
  
  
• CAL was rather ambivalent regarding legislation introduced by Sen. Julia Boseman (D-New Hanover) that would have banned obscene video games to minors. Rev. Mark Creech, CAL's Executive Director, testified before the Senate Commerce Committee that he was supportive of the bill's concept. Nevertheless, he had been in contact with the American Family Association's Law Center and had been informed that the way the legislation was crafted it would never meet constitutional muster. Creech later explained he was reluctant to support SB 2 -- No Violent/Obscene Video Game Sales to Minors for that reason. "I'm not sure it advances our cause for decency to support legislation that will likely fail in the courts," Creech told certain lawmakers. "That only makes such legislation more difficult to pass afterward," he said. The bill passed the Senate, but failed to make it through the House before adjournment. The legislation remains eligible for the 2006 session.
  
  
• CAL supported legislation that would have directed local boards of education to adopt policies to: (1) require the display of the U.S. and N.C. flags in all public school classrooms; (2) require the daily recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance; (3) provide for age-appropriate instruction on the meaning and historical significance of the U.S. flag and the Pledge of Allegiance and the values they represent, and (4) require instruction on the meaning and historical origins of the N.C. flag, the State motto and other State symbols. SB 1096 -- Flag, Pledge, and Symbols Taught in Schools passed unanimously in the Senate, but was never considered by the House.
  
  
• A bill that would have permitted stem cell research under limited circumstances in North Carolina was heard in the House Health Committee, but was not acted upon. CAL's Executive Director testified against HB 632 -- Stem Cell Research Health and Wellness Act, saying, "Certainly a society's moral compass is largely determined by its respect for the sanctity of human life. Every life is sacred, a precious and inviolable gift from our Creator, beginning at conception. It is one of the most profound signs of depravity in a culture when its government officials and leaders in the medical community sanction the practice of destroying pre-born life for the purpose of scientific experimentation."
  
  
• HB 505 -- WCR Study Sunday Hunting, which the CAL opposed this year, would have directed the North Carolina Wildlife Resources Committee to study whether the Sate should lift its ban on Sunday hunting. The bill passed a House Committee, but lost momentum and stalled in the House. The measure was ultimately included in HB 1269 -- The Studies Act of 2005, which failed to pass the General Assembly before it adjourned.
  
  
• CAL supported SB 972 -- Break Into Place of Worship, which was enacted by the Legislature this year. The bill creates a new Class G felony for "any person who wrongfully breaks or enters any building that is a place of religious worship with intent to commit any felony or larceny therein." The legislation was in response to a rash of break-ins and robberies in houses of worship across the State.
  
  
• One of the members of CAL's own Board of Directors serves in the N.C. House, Rep. Russel Capps (R-Wake). This year, Capps put forward two measures that CAL supported, one, which failed, and the other succeeded. HB 681 -- Religious Freedom Restoration Act would have protected an individual's right to the free exercise of religion from intrusion by the government, unless government can demonstrate a compelling interest to do otherwise, and even then government must use the least restrictive means of furthering that interest. The legislation would have allowed persons who believe their religious freedoms are burdened to seek legal remedy and, if successful in court, to recover legal costs. The legislation was referred to the House Judiciary I Committee and was never taken up for consideration. However, HB 829 -- Display of Official Governmental Flags, also introduced by Capps and supported by the CAL, did succeed. Circumstances have arisen where flying the American flag or other governmental flags; have been prohibited by some towns, cities, and counties by certain ordinances. The legislation guarantees the flying of such flags on private property.
  
  

Local Option Alcohol Referenda

• In 2005, CAL assisted one community in their efforts to defeat an ABC, Beer-Wine, and Liquor-By-The-Drink referendum. Unfortunately, the effort was a loss (the referendum succeeded), but by small margins.
  
  The Midland Alcohol Referendum Results
  Total Ballots Cast: 776
  FOR MALT BEVERAGE: 408
  AGAINST MALT BEVERAGE: 362
  FOR WINE: 403
  AGAINST WINE: 365
  FOR ABC STORE: 384
  AGAINST ABC STORE: 381
  FOR MIXED BEVERAGES: 400
  AGAINST MIXED BEVERAGES: 366
  
  At the time of this report, three alcohol referendums are pending in White Lake, Archdale, and Asheboro, North Carolina.
  
  

For a Better North Carolina,

Reverend Mark H. Creech
Executive Director

Reverend Coy Privette
President