A governor's task force on eugenics released its final report today and recommended paying $50,000 to each living victim of a program that sterilized thousands of N.C. residents over 45 years.

The report finalized the task force's vote from two weeks ago. It sets a baseline for N.C. legislators to work from as they tackle the issue in the spring. House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Cornelius, has said he wants to vote on a bill during the legislature's "short session" in May.

Between 1929 and 1974, the N.C. Eugenics Board authorized sterilizing almost 7,600 people. Some were mentally ill or dangerous; most were classified as "feebleminded," which was intended to mean an IQ of less than 70. In practice, the state sterilized many people for being poor, sexually active, or members of large families. Some were as young as 10.

Mecklenburg County, especially under longtime welfare director Wallace Kuralt, sterilized more people than any other N.C. county by far.

The state estimates that 1,500 to 2,000 victims are still alive. So far, the N.C. Justice for Sterilization Victims Foundation - a state clearinghouse to find and help victims - has matched just 72 people to state records.

The five-member task force had first talked about recommending $20,000 to victims, but raised the amount after victims and family members spoke in meetings and said the amount wasn't enough.

"We have struggled with finding a balance between the amount of money a man or woman deserves for the pain and hardship they endured and the political and economic realities the state faces this year," the report says. "No amount of money can adequately pay for the harm done to these citizens, but financial compensation and other services we recommend will nonetheless provide meaningful assistance."

The task force made three other recommendations: providing mental-health services for victims who need it; expanding the sterilization victims' foundation; and building exhibits to help people learn about North Carolina's eugenics history.

Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat, and Tillis, a Republican, have agreed that eugenics victims deserve some sort of compensation. The libertarian John Locke Foundation and the NAACP also have supported the idea.

Tillis is holding a town hall meeting on the eugenics issue at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Government Center, 600 E. Fourth St.