Rep. Susi Hamilton, who sponsored legislation that will provide compensation to the victims of the sterilization and asexualization programs, speaks with Rep. Kelly Alexander (Mecklenburg Co.) on the first day of the long legislative session in Raleigh, N.C. Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2013.

A local lawmaker is one of the primary sponsors of legislation in the N.C. House to compensate victims of the state's former eugenics program, which during parts of the last century sterilized residents deemed unfit to reproduce.

Rep. Susi Hamilton, D-New Hanover; House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg; Rep. Larry Hall, D-Durham; and Rep. Paul Stam, R-Wake, introduced the bill Wednesday to provide tax-free payments of $50,000 per eugenics victim. A $10 million fund has been set up by the Department of the State Treasurer, according to Hamilton's release.

"This long-overdue act of compensation is a way to acknowledge that we were wrong, our policies inhumane, and that we as a legislative body acknowledge that and want to do all that we can to make it right," Hamilton said in a statement. "We can never give back what we have taken away, but we can make an attempt at compensation. It is the very least we can do."

The N.C. Eugenics Board implemented a program of involuntary sterilization that took place in all 100 counties between 1929 and 1974. By the end of the program, nearly 7,600 documented people were sterilized. The program was aimed at creating a better society by weeding out people many of them poor women who were deemed feeble-minded or otherwise defective.

As of late October, the N.C. Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation said it had verified 186 victims of the former Eugenics Board in 61 counties, including 168 who were still alive. There are three victims in New Hanover County who have come forward and been verified by the foundation, and one each in Brunswick and Pender counties.

Hamilton said North Carolina is the only state offering to compensate victims of eugenics programs.

"North Carolina stands for justice, equality and opportunity for all its citizens," Hamilton said.

Tillis, leader of the 120-member House, said in an interview last month that the stripping of people's ability to reproduce by the former N.C. Eugenics Board is akin to other "government takings," such as people's properties through eminent domain.

During the 2012 legislative session, the Republican-controlled House approved the bill. Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue also recommended the payments in her budget proposal, and Gov. Pat McCrory supports payments to victims.

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Rep. Susi Hamilton sponsors bill to compensate eugenics victims