Last Sunday, after enjoying a hike on an isolated section of the Mountains-to-Sea trail, I returned to Raleigh intent on drafting more one-shot budget bills to fund various programs and projects impacted by the economic fallout from the COVID-19 pandemic. My expectation for the week didn’t include helicopters in the sky and loud bursts of […]
A $24 billion compromise state budget proposal that provides pay raises supported by the State Employees Association of North Carolina and injects billions of dollars into school construction passed the first of two votes in the state House of Representatives on Wednesday. House Bill 966, the 2019 Appropriations Act, also provides pay raises for teachers, […]
The NC House’s Rules allow a House member to introduce, with a few exceptions, up to 15 “public bills” — proposed laws of general application — while there is no limit on the number of local bills that can be filed. The Senate has no limit on the number of bills — public or local — […]
Starting the legislative session is much like turning on a copy machine. You turn on the machine, and one isn’t immediately able to make copies. With the legislature, after everyone takes their oaths of office and receives their assigned seats on the floor, designated offices, and committee assignments, legislation doesn’t immediately get enacted. Bills have […]
Legislation to provide emergency flexibility to schools and elections boards in the aftermath of Hurricane Florence, as well as establishing a new recovery fund from the state’s record savings reserve, unanimously passed the North Carolina House of Representatives on Tuesday. As a senior budget writer, Representative McGrady had a large part in crafting the new […]
The North Carolina General Assembly will convene Tuesday, October 2, 2018 to begin considering disaster relief legislation in support of victims of Hurricane Florence. Lawmakers supported calling the extra session next week to address pressing needs for education communities, provide policy flexibility to storm victims, and prepare for a fourth disaster recovery act since 2016 […]
During election season, candidates are called upon to answer issue-oriented questionnaires from various groups and news organizations, sometimes more than a dozen over the course of just a few weeks. Recently, Representative McGrady and other candidates were given the opportunity to provide detailed answers to a series of thoughtful questions from local ABC affiliate WLOS […]
New school safety reforms advancing peer-to-peer student support programs, facility vulnerability assessments, and resource officer training programs unanimously passed the North Carolina House of Representatives yesterday. House Bill 938 contains recommendations of the state House Select Committee on School Safety to improve classroom security and protect students. All schools with grades six or higher, and […]
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 […]
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, […]
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 […]
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 […]
Planning your summer vacation and looking for some light beach reading? Joseph Coletti over at the John Locke Foundation has you covered with a comprehensive analysis of this year’s state budget: A New State Budget Based On Time-Tested Principles In his 1985 address to the North Carolina Foundation for Research and Economic Education (NC FREE), […]
Having overridden Governor Cooper’s veto of the budget, the General Assembly concluded its work just past 2:00 am on June 30, and headed home. The legislature had rocked along at a fairly slow pace until the last few weeks, but then completed its work in a series of long days and nights. More legislation was […]
Lieutenant Governor Dan Forest lays out the facts on public education spending contained in the General Assembly’s 2017-2018 Biennium Budget.
With a bipartisan majority of 76 to 43, the North Carolina House of Representatives voted yesterday to override the governor’s recent budget veto. The budget, now state law, enacts another round of middle-class tax cuts, a fourth consecutive teacher pay raise, and a record-high savings reserve. “The governor chose partisanship over the people of North […]
The North Carolina General Assembly gave its overwhelming approval yesterday to a $23 billion state budget that, among other things, increases education investments by more than $700 million, raises teacher pay for the fourth consecutive year, provides needed disaster relief to communities affected by Hurricane Matthew, helps lower-income people by further expanding the state’s zero-tax bracket, and adds $363.9 million to the state’s savings reserve account. […]
The State’s budget comes in two parts: Senate Bill 257 [The Appropriations Act of 2017], the actual law, and the so-called “Money Report” which shows all of the various appropriations by the numbers. SB257 is 438 pages long, and although not sequentially numbered, the Money Report is even longer. The Money Report is relatively easy […]
After two weeks of negotiations between Senate and House conferees, the compromise budget was introduced late last night, starting the clock on when the House can take up the bill. Under Senate rules, the Senate can take up the bill immediately, and it will likely take up the bill today and tomorrow. Under House rules, […]
Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) held a joint press conference Monday to announce details of the roughly $23 billion budget and tax relief agreement reached between the state House and Senate. As a result of responsible budgeting decisions, millions of middle-class families and job-creating small businesses will keep more […]
The North Carolina House of Representatives released highlights of its balanced budget proposal for the 2017-2018 biennium on Thursday, submitting a plan that continues to advance successful government investment strategies contributing to revenue surpluses, rainy day reserves, rapid economic and population growth this decade. The budget highlights released on Thursday were provided to area appropriations subcommittees […]
A bipartisan bill has been introduced in the House to directly help victims of human trafficking and to establish a pilot program to educate students and law enforcement officers on ways to recognize the signs of trafficking activity. Human trafficking is the illegal practice of buying and selling people for the purposes of their forced […]
Over the past two weeks, legislators’ energies were focused on passing bills to meet the “crossover” deadline — the date on which bills die if they haven’t passed from one chamber to another. While there are some bills that don’t need to meet crossover, such as bills having to do with spending, a significant number […]
With an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 109 to 8, the North Carolina House yesterday afternoon passed the “BRIGHT Futures Act” (House Bill 68) to accelerate the build-out of digital infrastructure in rural and other underserved areas of our state. Representative McGrady co-sponsored the bill. The goal is to bring greater economic prosperity to more folks by way of a […]
With The Bathroom Bill Gone, Here Are 5 Things Happening In North Carolina For The Media To Cover by Patrick Gleason Between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels beating Gonzaga to win the men’s college basketball national championship on Monday, and the North Carolina General Assembly last Thursday repealing House Bill 2, commonly referred […]
A bill sponsored by Representative McGrady giving North Carolina’s school districts more flexibility in setting their own calendars passed the House earlier this week with an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 108 to 6. House Bill 375 allows a school board to schedule its school opening date to coincide with the opening date of an area […]
Last week was so hectic, with legislators in and out of meetings and sessions to secure the votes for House Bill 142 — the repeal of HB2, that legislators seemed exhausted this week even with looming bill-filing and crossover deadlines. Most activity occurred in committees where legislators pushed their bills through committees with the goal […]
My apologies for letting two months go by between communications. While lobbyists complained of a slow start to the legislative session, that isn’t my perspective. I’ve been busy from day one. Initially, some probably weren’t sure what exactly kept me so busy, but with the filing of House Bill 186 [Repeal HB2/State Nondiscrimination Policies], that should have […]
The following piece was written by North Carolina House Majority Leader John Bell and first appeared in the North State Journal on February 8, 2016. What We’ve Done for North Carolina North Carolina was once a state that was defined by slow economic growth, high unemployment, burdensome taxes, and massive federal debt. Our great state […]
The North Carolina House of Representatives voted unanimously today to pass House Bill 13, providing local school districts with the flexibility they requested for class size scheduling in kindergarten through the third grade. Representative McGrady was the primary sponsor of the legislation. “House Bill 13 provides flexibility to local school boards as to how they […]