By JOHN THOMPSON
jthompson@TheCitizenNews.com

State Sen. Donzella James believes this year's General Assembly session will be remembered for a very long time.

With the battle over the state flag done, James said the legislators solved a problem that had been simmering a long time.

"This will go down in history. The flag issue was a 20-year battle," she said.

Although a small facsimile of the divisive flag is still on the new one, James said the new flag represents a very fair compromise and allowed legislators to move on to other issues.

James is also proud that her bill raising the minimum wage to $5.15 passed. The federal minimum wage is $5.15, but there was a small number of workers not covered under federal laws. James' bill insures that all workers will make at least the federal standard.

"I don't think it's a liveable wage, but it is a fair one," she said.

James also helped push through a bill that now makes pimping a felony in the state.

"There were a lot of these people who just paid their fine and were arrested sometimes 30 and 40 times a year," she said.

Pimps who are convicted now will face jail time and up to a $5,000 fines, she said.

The legislators also worked on election reform and hope to have the current system overhauled by the next general election.

James is hopeful that paper ballots will be eliminated and the state will be voting on machines similar to ATM machines.

Later on this year, the General Assembly will reconvene for a special session on redistricting. James believes the session could be especially divisive, since the state's population grew so much.

But she's hopeful that legislators will be able to work as well on the redistricting as they did on the flag.