The House passed the budget today by a vote of 66 to 44. Like yesterday, the vote was largely along partisan lines. The partisan vote relates to two things: first, the process used to pass the budget and, second, some of the spending or policy in the budget. In recent years, some number of Democrats […]
The budget bill totals 267 pages, and its accompanying Money Report which lists all the various appropriations for programs, projects and salaries runs an additional several hundred pages. Therefore, any effort to summarize what is in the budget will inevitably only hit the highlights. This article will provide budget highlights, with some emphasis on projects […]
It is no secret that for the past several weeks full Appropriations Chairs have been locked away working on a revision to the budget that was passed last year. That budget was a two-year budget, but priorities change. The school safety issue has become predominate. With the economy continuing to improve, pay raises for state […]
There hasn’t been a new, major road project in Henderson County since the widening of Upward Road about six or seven years ago. Suddenly, there are more than half a dozen projects being proposed, creating the biggest uproar since Duke Energy proposed a few dozen different routes for new electric lines through the county three […]
Since 2010, when voters put Republicans in charge of most state governments across the United States, North Carolina became one of about a half-dozen states where conservative reformers have frequently — and sometimes spectacularly — faced off with progressives in ways that have attracted significant national attention. In 2011, the new GOP-majority General Assembly defeated […]
Employment figures released earlier this week by the state Department of Commerce show that the number of people employed in North Carolina increased by a total of 85,879 throughout 2017, while the number of people unemployed decreased by 20,263 over the same year-long period. The employment growth data follows a positive revenue outlook released by the […]
Legislation passed unanimously during the long session makes it a serious crime to destroy or intentionally damage emergency equipment used by first responders. House Bill 98 automatically imposes a Class 1 misdemeanor charge on someone if they intentionally injure, destroy, remove, vandalize, tamper with, or interfere with machinery, equipment, or vehicles of a local fire […]
A law passed unanimously during the long session adds a new section to the North Carolina Driver’s Handbook. House Bill 21 requires that the 2018 edition of the handbook issued by the DMV include a description of traffic stop procedures and a set of tips for drivers on how best to interact with the police […]
A healthcare bill passed unanimously during the long session creates additional protections for people covered by health benefit plans. The bill also contains protections designed to help smaller pharmacies compete with large pharmaceutical companies. “This bill will assist independent pharmacies by allowing them to provide more information to their patients regarding the amount of the […]
North Carolina will send a statue of the late Reverend Billy Graham to represent our state in the United States Capitol in Washington, DC. The collection of 100 statues honors two notable people from each of the 50 states. House Bill 540, passed overwhelmingly by the General Assembly in 2015, authorizes that a statue of Reverend Graham be […]
The Reverend Billy Graham died just before 8am this morning. He was 99 years old. Born on November 7, 1918 in Charlotte, William F. Graham was of Scottish descent, the son of William Franklin and Morrow Coffey Graham. The Grahams were dairy farmers, and young Billy was reared on their farm approximately four miles from […]
Standing on the grounds of our state capitol in Raleigh is a life-sized statue of George Washington, whose birthday we remember in what has come to be known as “Presidents’ Day.” The bronze figure, by French sculptor Jean-Antoine Houdon, quietly tells a remarkable story that eclipses all the mythology that famously surrounds our nation’s first […]
In an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 104 to 112 vote Tuesday afternoon, the legislature passed legislation requiring money in a $58 million special fund be distributed to eight school districts in Eastern North Carolina that are along the path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. House Bill 90 drew praise from local education leaders in the pipeline’s corridor, […]
The future of self-driving cars is upon us, and the North Carolina General Assembly is, well, paving the way. With a bipartisan and near-unanimous vote during the short session, our state legislature passed House Bill 469 into law, regulating the operation of fully autonomous vehicles — if and when they become available in our state. […]
Fraud prevention laws recently enacted by the North Carolina General Assembly are guarding against identity theft and protecting millions in state revenue from scammers this tax season. The state Department of Revenue (DOR) attributed an 18% uptick in cases of identified fraud and a 20% uptick in savings for the 2016-2017 Fiscal Year to the […]
Legislators are hearing a lot about the class size issue. To read some letters to the editor (and most of my emails from people on the subject), one would assume that the legislature changed the rules and now needs to pay for the class size changes it has mandated. The problem with that narrative is […]
The legislature will be in session next week. What exactly is being taken up is unclear, although it appears it may include redistricting of some sort. The legislature is awaiting a decision from a three-judge panel of federal judges considering the constitutionality of legislative districts drawn after the original districts were found to be unconstitutional […]
North Carolina is one of sixteen states well-prepared for a financial recession according to an economic study released this month by researchers at Moody’s Analytics. North Carolina has a record $1.5 billion savings reserve and has significantly improved its tax structure under a Republican-led state legislature. Moody’s Analytics provides financial insights on capital markets and […]
The legislature was in session early in October to take up several bills and veto overrides and, after Governor Cooper vetoed one of the bills passed in that session, was back for a one day session mid-October to override the veto. The adjournment resolution is interesting in that we will reconvene “the 2017 Regular Session […]
The ability of voting groups to form a recognized political party in North Carolina just got a whole lot easier. Senate Bill 656, the Electoral Freedom Act of 2017, lowers the threshold for establishing a recognized political party in a number of ways. The bill also makes it easier for unaffiliated candidates to participate in […]
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released wage data estimating North Carolina had the fourth fastest household income growth in the nation during 2016. According to the Census Bureau study, North Carolina’s median household income was $50,584 in 2016 — up 4.5 percent from last year after adjusting for inflation. North Carolina’s wage growth ranked substantially […]
The recently completed two-day session resulted in the passage of several noteworthy laws and bills on regulatory reform, judicial redistricting, electronic notice and the budget. My focus is going to be on only two of those bills, but I’ll cover those other bills in future blogs. Senate Bill 16 [Business Regulatory Reform Act of 2017] […]
The Republicans have enjoyed majorities in both bodies of the General Assembly for nearly seven years now, and pretty soon Phil Berger and Tim Moore will be asking for two more. This is an appropriate time to assess their performance on the economy. Even under the Perdue and Cooper governorships, policy outputs were shaped greatly […]
The adjournment resolution, SJR 692, provides that bills “proposing an amendment or amendments to the North Carolina Constitution and containing no other matter” and bills “proposing an amendment or amendments to the North Carolina Constitution and containing no other matter other than statutory conforming changes to implement such bills” may be heard when the legislature […]
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has declared a State of Emergency for all 100 counties as the state prepares for almost certain impacts from Hurricane Irma early next week. “There is a lot we still don’t know about this storm, but we do know that North Carolina can expect to feel some sort of effects […]
This week, Rep. Chris Millis (R-Pender) resigned from the NC House. Resignations aren’t that usual, but this one is noteworthy because Millis was one of the younger Members, and cited the need to spend more time with family, when announcing his resignation. His resignation came after the legislature came back in session for the second […]
Twelve years ago today, former Governor Mike Easley signed legislation establishing the so-called “North Carolina Education Lottery.” From the very start, the proposal sharply divided the public; opponents considered the lottery a regressive, thinly-disguised tax on the poor — and the way the controversial bill became law is a case study in political shenanigans. During […]
North Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped once again to 4.1 percent in July, decreasing 0.1 percentage points from June and remaining below the national average of 4.3 percent. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, most economists consider full employment (otherwise known as the “Nonaccelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment,” or NAIRU) to be in […]
Four months after being overwhelmingly passed in the House, the Restore Campus Free Speech Act has become law. House Bill 527 is bipartisan ‘campus free speech’ legislation that strengthens standards for free expression in our state university system and mandates that all public universities “ensure the fullest degree of intellectual freedom and free expression.” HB527 […]
Bipartisan legislation overwhelmingly passed the General Assembly last month that takes steps to fix the ongoing challenges in North Carolina’s child welfare system. It was signed into law on June 21. “Rylan’s Law” (House Bill 630) was named after Rylan Ott, a Moore County toddler who drowned in a pond after he was put back […]