About two months ago, two veteran Charlotte Observer reporters set out to find Mecklenburg County victims of North Carolina's eugenics program. State records show 485 people from Mecklenburg were sterilized in the program, which was most active from 1946 to 1968, so our reporters built a database, chased leads and, as of Friday, have been able to confirm none of those victims.

Part of the struggle comes from time - it's difficult to track down people who lived here a half-century ago or more and may have moved several times.

But there's another reason we haven't yet found anybody: The victims of eugenics are dying, as is our chance to make some attempt at bringing them justice.

Last week, N.C. House Speaker Thom Tillis spoke words that have been decades in the making. "The victims of state-sponsored eugenics need to have it made right," said Tillis, a Mecklenburg Republican, and he added that the legislature should vote next year on a plan to compensate survivors among the 7,600 people who were sterilized.

It's a sentiment we welcome, and it's a significant departure from years past. In 2002, a Winston-Salem Journal series revealed that the state Eugenics Commission, which had the power to order sterilizations for people deemed mentally defective, epileptic or feeble-minded, often did so with consent that was forced or otherwise questionable. Officials refused to release patients from institutions until they were sterilized, and a disproportionate number of blacks were victims.

And also: Children as young as 10 were sterilized.

Since that series, the General Assembly has regularly contemplated bills that would compensate those victims. Committees have heard from anguished victims. Lawmakers have rued the wrong. Still, shamefully, no eugenics bills have made it out of committee.

Despite Tillis' encouraging words, there's still uncertainty surrounding compensation. Tillis said lawmakers will have to determine if victims' families - or only victims - will be compensated. There's also the issue of money - Tillis understandably declined to name a compensation figure, but the most common is $20,000 - proposed by Rep. Larry Womble, a Winston-Salem Democrat, and House Majority Leader Paul Stam of Apex.

Some victims have protested that $20,000 is too little, and we agree that there's no figure that can match the atrocity they endured. We believe, however, that any reasonable compensation should be accompanied by health care.

The state estimates 1,500 or more eugenics victims are still living. That's a $30 million compensation cost, if that many came forward and were paid $20,000 each. Thus far, however, only 34 people who have submitted claims for compensation have matched Eugenics Board records, so the total of victims seeking restitution likely will be low.

No matter. There are times to punch the calculator and see what things cost. There are times to do what's right and make those calculations later. That time has already passed for so many victims of forced sterilization. Let's get this settled quickly for the rest.