A state commission tasked with writing layman's summaries of the six proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot this November will meet at the end of the month.

The Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission will accept suggested versions of these summaries until next Wednesday at 5 p.m. They can be mailed to addresses below or emailed to addresses that will be up soon on the commission's web page.

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The commission's work may be controversial, given the charged partisan atmosphere over these amendments and North Carolina politics in general. The commission set its meeting for July 31 at 9:30 a.m. but allowed for the possibility that two more days of meetings will follow.

The commission consists of two Democrats, Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Attorney General Josh Stein, and one Republican, General Assembly Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble.

The meeting is open to the public, but it is not a public hearing. It will be held at Campbell University's law school building, Room 105, 225 Hillsborough St. in downtown Raleigh.

The General Assembly voted last month to put six amendments on the ballot, including one requiring voters to present photo identification. These won't be written into the constitution unless a majority of voters approve, and most of the amendments authorize the General Assembly to fill in details later, including the sorts of acceptable ID that voters could present.

The legislature will come back into session after Thanksgiving to handle that. Democrats, who hope to break the veto-proof GOP majority in this November's legislative elections, have criticized the plan for including a lame-duck session.

The commission will write a short caption to appear on the ballot and a longer paragraph or two for each amendment that will be available at local boards of elections to anyone who requests them. The aim, laid out in state law, is to explain each amendment "in simple and commonly used language."

Some of these proposed amendments had bipartisan support, but most passed on the strength of the Republican Party's super-majorities in both chambers. The six are:

  • House Bill 913, which would shift appointment powers on state boards and commissions from the governor to the General Assembly
    • Senate Bill 814, which would have the legislature, not the governor, fill judicial vacancies between elections
      • House Bill 1092, which would require photo ID at the polls
        • House Bill 551, which would expand court notice requirements for crime victims
          • Senate Bill 677, which would guarantee the right to hunt and fish via undefined "traditional methods"
            • Senate Bill 75, which would lower the constitutional cap on corporate and individual income taxes from 10 percent to 7 percent

              Suggested summaries can be sent to the to the following addresses:

              Attention: Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission

              NC Department of the Secretary of State

              PO Box 29622

              Raleigh, NC 27626-0622

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              Attention: Constitutional Amendments Publication Commission

              NC Department of the Secretary of State

              2 South Salisbury St.

              Raleigh, NC 27601-2903