We may have gotten ahead of ourselves in our excitement to see an effort to modernize (and enhance?!) North Carolina's Business Court. Our first clue was that a Senate Bill (SB 853) was filed with no companion bill in the House. Another clue is that the bill was not the result of interim study committee vetting -- in fact, we were not the only ones surprised to see the bill filed. We've heard members of the House were also surprised. Uh oh. I also have not been able to confirm the involvement of any outside group in the drafting of the bill aside from the NC Chamber. Although the Chamber is having a pretty good run this session.

A long ago Speaker's Staffer (not me) once said, "The opposing party is our adversary. The opposing Chamber is our enemy." Think about that along with your news reports.

So today we looked through the Senate Budget for clues (looking for some Business Court "enhancement" opportunity) and found a new take on last year's attempt to abolish 4 Special Superior Court Judges by phasing them out between now and 2016 upon resignation, retirement, or end of term for that Judge but no mention of shifting those resources or expanding the Business Court.

If you're looking to modernize and enhance the North Carolina Business Court you have work to do.