Chuck McGrady
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1 Representative Chuck McGrady
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Rotunda dome in the Old Capitol Building
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Energy

A New Pipeline of Money to Public Schools

Posted on February 16, 2018 by admin in Cooper, Education, Energy

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, […]

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Good Week, Bad Week…Last Week!

Posted on July 6, 2017 by admin in Annexation, Appropriations, Beer, Budget, Business, Cooper, Economic Development, Education, Emergency Management, Energy, Environment, Ethics, Hard Cider, Local Government, McGrady, Municipal Government, Newsletters, Older People, Politics, Wine

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 […]

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The Home Stretch

Posted on June 26, 2017 by admin in Beer, Brunch, Business, Cooper, Courts, Elections, Emergency Management, Energy, Environment, Hard Cider, Justice, McGrady, Newsletters, Regulatory Reform, Wine

With both the House and Senate passing the budget with bipartisan and veto-proof majorities, they are each moving quickly to finish their work. Numerous bills are being taken up by both bodies, and the usually light Monday night calendar has been replaced by earlier sessions on Monday with lots of bills in the queue for […]

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Let it Grow! Let it Grow! Let it Grow!

Posted on December 28, 2016 by admin in Business, Economy, Energy, Jobs, Military, Regulatory Reform, Taxes, Unemployment

The following article is reposted from yesterday’s edition of the Raleigh News & Observer. It references a report prepared by Dr. Michael L. Walden, William Neal Reynolds Distinguished Professor, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics at North Carolina State University. You can read the entire report here. (Note: Dr. Walden’s report concerns North Carolina’s economic […]

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Details of the Budget Compromise

Posted on June 28, 2016 by admin in Agriculture, Appropriations, Budget, Business, Children, Civil Service, Economic Development, Education, Election Reform, Energy, Environment, Government Reform, Healthcare, Justice, Law Enforcement, Medicaid, Municipal Government, Older People, Public Employees, Public Safety, Tax Reform, Taxes, Transparency, Transportation, Water

Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) and House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) held a joint press conference yesterday to announce details of the $22.34 billion budget agreement reached between Senate and House conferees this past weekend. The compromise budget includes a responsible 2.8 percent spending increase and achieves both chambers’ shared goals with Governor Pat McCrory of […]

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With the End In Sight, What Is Moving?

Posted on June 28, 2016 by admin in Agriculture, Asheville, Budget, Coal Ash, Elections, Energy, Environment, Farming, Gun Rights, Immigration, McGrady, Military, N&O, Newsletters, Private Property Rights, Recreation, Regulatory Reform, Transportation, Water

As the legislative session winds down, legislators and lobbyists wonder when exactly the session will be over and what bills will be taken up before adjournment. Hardly a day goes by without some lobbyist frantically calling to find out whether I think some bill will be taken up in the House. A few years ago, […]

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House Passes Budget With Extraordinary Bipartisan Support

Posted on May 20, 2016 by admin in Agriculture, Appropriations, Budget, Business, Children, Civil Service, Economic Development, Education, Election Reform, Energy, Environment, Government Reform, Healthcare, Justice, Law Enforcement, Medicaid, Municipal Government, Older People, Public Employees, Public Safety, Tax Reform, Taxes, Transparency, Transportation, Water

Yesterday, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed its version of the state’s budget for the second year of this session’s biennium. The spending plan cleared the chamber by an overwhelming margin, with a bipartisan vote of 103-12. Representative McGrady, one of the House’s Chief Appropriations Chairs (largely responsible for crafting the plan) voted with every other […]

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Governor McCrory Reflects on 2015

Posted on December 31, 2015 by admin in Agriculture, Animal Welfare, Budget, Celebration, Children, Civil Service, Coal Ash, Courts, Crime, Disabilities, Economic Development, Economy, Education, Education Reform, Emergency Management, Employment, Energy, Environment, Farming, Federal Government, Government Reform, Health, Healthcare, History, Immigration, Jobs, McCrory, Medicaid, Military, Older People, Public Employees, Public Safety, Regulatory Reform, Tax Reform, Taxes, Transportation, Unemployment, Unemployment Reform, Utilities, Veterans, Water
https://youtu.be/6x8sVOSevSs
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A Final, Difficult Week

Posted on October 8, 2015 by admin in Agriculture, Children, Education, Energy, Environment, Healthcare, Hunting & Fishing, Insurance, McGrady, Medicaid, Newsletters, Regulatory Reform, UNC

The North Carolina House of Representatives took its last vote of the Long Session at 4:12 am on September 30.  The vote came on a technical corrections bill, Senate Bill 119 [GSC Technical Corrections 2015].  37 members weren’t around to vote and the bill passed because the remaining Members were assured that the bill just […]

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Update on Transmission Lines

Posted on October 8, 2015 by admin in Duke Power Plant Conversion, Energy, Environment

More time is needed to continue to carefully consider more than 9,000 comments received on the proposed transmission line and create a solution to deliver cleaner, reliable power to Western Carolinas, according to a press release from Duke Energy. The company is looking at all options that can meet the region’s power demand over the […]

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House Passes Biennium Budget

Posted on September 18, 2015 by admin in Agriculture, Appropriations, Budget, Business, Children, Civil Service, Economic Development, Education, Election Reform, Energy, Environment, Government Reform, Healthcare, Justice, Law Enforcement, Medicaid, Municipal Government, Older People, Public Employees, Public Safety, Tax Reform, Taxes, Transparency, Transportation, Water

Tonight, the North Carolina House of Representatives passed a bipartisan State Budget by a vote of 80-35. Representative McGrady, as one of the House’s Chief Appropriations Chairs largely responsible for crafting the budget, voted with all of his Republican colleagues and nine moderate Democrats in support of the plan. The budget, which covers funding for Fiscal Year 2015-2016 and Fiscal Year […]

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Highlights of the Proposed Budget

Posted on September 14, 2015 by admin in Agriculture, Appropriations, Budget, Business, Children, Civil Service, Economic Development, Education, Election Reform, Energy, Environment, Government Reform, Healthcare, Justice, Law Enforcement, Medicaid, Municipal Government, Older People, Public Employees, Public Safety, Tax Reform, Taxes, Transparency, Transportation, Water

Representative McGrady joined House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate Leader Phil Berger this afternoon at a joint press conference to announce details of the $21.735 billion budget agreement reached by members of the House and Senate this past weekend. As one of the “big chairs” of the House Appropriations Committee, Representative McGrady was one of just […]

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Understanding the Process for Locating Electric Transmission Lines in Henderson County

Posted on July 30, 2015 by admin in Duke Power Plant Conversion, Energy, Environment, McGrady, Newsletters

Duke Energy’s effort to inform the public about possible routes for a high-voltage power line didn’t satisfy most residents who attended the public information session at Blue Ridge Community College last Thursday. It was the third of three sessions that Duke Energy sponsored on the proposed new transmission line running from upstate South Carolina through […]

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So Much to Do and Too Little Time

Posted on July 28, 2015 by admin in Duke Power Plant Conversion, Energy, Environment, General Assembly, Healthcare, McGrady, Medicaid, Newsletters, Regulatory Reform

The best part of serving in the legislature is having the ability to positively affect the outcomes on a broad range of policy issues. The worst part, aside from dealing with sometimes petty politics, is that one rarely gets to catch one’s breath — at least if one is fully engaged. Returning to Raleigh on Sunday […]

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McGrady Steps on the Gas

Posted on June 11, 2015 by admin in Energy, Environment, McGrady, Utilities

Legislation allowing a coal-burning power plant in Buncombe County to convert to cleaner natural gas was approved in the General Assembly today and is now on its way to becoming law. Senate Bill 716, The Mountain Energy Act, would also allow Duke Energy extra time to clean up existing coal ash ponds while it reconfigures the […]

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Life in the House

Posted on May 28, 2015 by admin in Budget, Courts, Energy, Healthcare, McGrady, Medicaid, Newsletters

…after Passage of its Budget The last two weeks were mostly long days and late nights followed by early mornings. Having passed its budget at about 1:00 am last Friday, the House had a relatively easy week this week. Part of the reason for that was the Memorial Day holiday on Monday, but most of […]

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So What Are You Up to, Chuck?

Posted on March 27, 2015 by admin in Animal Welfare, Asheville, Beer, Business, Children, Education Reform, Election Reform, Energy, Environment, Hard Cider, Health, Healthcare, Insurance, Law, Local Government, McGrady, Newsletters, Recreation, Regulatory Reform, Taxes, Utilities, Water

Many of my constituents know that the closest thing I have to an office in Henderson County is the Underground Bakery Co. on Seventh Avenue in Hendersonville — and the most likely time to catch me there (when the legislature is in session) is on Friday or Saturday mornings. Typically, the folks I run into will apologize […]

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Tightening the Rules on Fracking

Posted on March 27, 2015 by admin in Consumer Protection, Economic Development, Energy, Environment, McGrady, Safety, Utilities, Water

When the legislature voted last session to allow permits to be issued for natural gas exploration and production to begin in North Carolina, they also created the Mining and Energy Commission to develop a regulatory framework for the process of hydraulic drilling and horizontal fracturing, also known as “fracking.” Once the draft regulations were presented to the General Assembly for […]

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High Profile Bills…

Posted on March 23, 2015 by admin in Energy, Health, McGrady, Newsletters, Utilities

This Thursday is the bill filing deadline for the Senate — meaning that, with a few exceptions, all bills that can be filed by senators must be filed by that date. Of course, there are other ways to get a matter considered, but for your rank-and-file senators, Thursday is a big day. One either gets one’s […]

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A Tempest in a Teapot

Posted on March 12, 2015 by admin in Energy, Environment, McGrady, Newsletters

After having a highly productive week last week, this week gave me heartburn. While accomplishing a lot on drafting legislation (in advance of filing deadlines on issues like autism and craft brewing, and working on thorny issues like the school calendar) action on the House floor bogged down over matters of not much substance. Committee […]

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Legislature Slowed by the Weather

Posted on February 23, 2015 by admin in Business, Coal Ash, Economic Development, Economy, Energy, McCrory, McGrady, Newsletters, Taxes

Winter weather was a big topic of conversation across North Carolina last week and affected us all in one way or another. The weather certainly affected the legislature. With some legislators having driving times of up to five hours or more, legislative leaders had a hard time getting committee meetings scheduled so that bills could […]

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That’s a lot of Sausage

Posted on January 23, 2015 by admin in Agriculture, Beer, Budget, Business, Children, Civil Service, Coal Ash, Consumer Protection, Courts, Crime, Disabilities, Economic Development, Economy, Education, Education Reform, Election Reform, Energy, Environment, Farming, Federal Government, Free Speech, Government Reform, Gun Rights, Healthcare, House of Representatives, Housing, Jobs, Justice, Law, Law Enforcement, Local Government, McGrady, Medicaid, Military, Municipal Government, Nonprofits, Older People, Open Government, Parental Choice, Privacy, Private Property Rights, Public Assistance, Public/private partnerships, Regulatory Reform, Safety, Sports, Tax Reform, Taxes, Technology, Transparency, Transportation, UNC, Unemployment, Unemployment Reform, Utilities, Veterans, Water, Zoning

There’s nothing quite more thrilling for state government geeks (like us) than the annual publication of the General Assembly’s Summaries of Substantive Ratified Legislation. This weedy tome, of which only a few hundred are printed, is produced at the end of each legislative session by the good folks of the Research Division. The Research Division is a non-partisan central office […]

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For the Record

Posted on October 28, 2014 by admin in Agriculture, Budget, Children, Coal Ash, Economic Development, Economy, Education, Education Reform, Election Reform, Energy, Environment, Farming, Federal Government, Government Reform, Gun Rights, Healthcare, Jobs, Local Government, McGrady, Medicaid, Military, Obamacare, Parental Choice, Private Property Rights, Regulatory Reform, Tax Reform, Taxes, Transportation, Unemployment, Unemployment Reform, Veterans

During the 2012 legislative session, Representative McGrady and his Republican colleagues in the General Assembly made a promise to fix government — a government which had left North Carolinians struggling under a faltering economy, crushing state debt, a bloated and inefficient bureaucracy, costly and over-burdensome regulations, and an outdated and confusing income tax structure. After 140 […]

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So When Is It Going To End?

Posted on June 20, 2014 by admin in Budget, Energy, Environment, McGrady, Medicaid, Newsletters, Regulatory Reform

The General Assembly has been in session for just over five weeks, and now the question is when is it going to be over?  No one, not even the most senior leaders, know the exact answer to that, but it is becoming clear that the end is in sight. How does one know? Well, there are “signs.” […]

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A Deceptively Quiet Week

Posted on June 6, 2014 by admin in Agriculture, Budget, Education, Energy, Environment, Farming, McGrady, Newsletters, Privacy, Regulatory Reform

To look at the House calendars this week, it would seem to have been a quiet week — particularly compared to the first two weeks, when a tax bill and an energy bill passed both houses and became law, and the Senate budget bill and a regulatory reform bill moved forward. But looks are sometimes deceiving. […]

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One Week Down

Posted on May 29, 2014 by admin in Children, Courts, Crime, Education, Energy, Environment, Food, Justice, Law Enforcement, McGrady, Newsletters, Regulatory Reform, Tax Reform, Taxes

The General Assembly didn’t take any time to get into full gear. The House opened by moving an omnibus tax bill and completed action on a bill that will send 16- and 17-year-old offenders to the juvenile justice system rather than the adult justice system.  The Senate approved an energy bill which would expedite hydraulic […]

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What Are You Working On, Chuck?

Posted on May 22, 2014 by admin in Beer, Budget, Education, Energy, Environment, Healthcare, Local Government, McCrory, McGrady, Newsletters, Private Property Rights, Regulatory Reform, Tax Reform, UNC

Having outlined what the “Short Session” is and how it proceeds and then discussed the upcoming issues, I figured I’d better talk about what I’m working on. My focus is on three things: 1) introducing and passing legislation sought by Henderson County local governments, 2) working on statewide issues that have been assigned to me, […]

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The Upcoming Legislative Session

Posted on May 14, 2014 by admin in Education, Energy, Environment, McGrady, Newsletters, Transportation

Part Two Today, at noon, the General Assembly convenes. While everyone expects this will truly be a “short session,” there is no consensus on what exactly that means or what to expect. Here are my guesses: Budget/Teacher and State Employee Pay Raises The main purpose of the Short Session is to tweak the two-year budget […]

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Helping Our Electric Cooperatives

Posted on July 17, 2013 by admin in Economic Development, Energy, Regulatory Reform

[youtube_sc url=”http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tenKnIx4ouY” width=”580″ modestbranding=”1″ autohide=”1″ fs=”1″ border=”1″ hd=”1″] A new law will help streamline the operations of electric membership corporations by exempting them from certain costly and unnecessary regulations. House Bill 223 passed with unanimous support in both chambers of the General Assembly and was signed into law by Governor McCrory on June 26. Electric membership […]

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The Legislative Session In Full Stride

Posted on April 29, 2013 by admin in Election Reform, Energy, Environment, General Assembly, Immigration, McGrady, Utilities

Last week was a week for moving one’s bills through the legislative process. With the Senate working on its budget, the House’s focus was on moving bills introduced by House members through House committees and onto the House floor. For me, it was a good week. House Bill 488 — Regionalization of Public Utilities — […]

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    The Budget & Redistricting Among Other Things

    October 23, 2019

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Recent Articles

  • The Budget & Redistricting Among Other Things
  • The House Veto Override
  • Budget Impasse Continues
  • From the Times-News
  • Budget Prospects After the Veto
  • More Than One Way to Pass a Law
  • 2019 Budget Passes First Vote in NC House
  • A statement from Rep. Chuck McGrady
  • Tax collections could lead to $700 million windfall
  • House Budget Meets the Crossover Deadline
  • McGrady Seeks to Modernize ABC System
  • Why Alcohol?
  • McGrady’s Bills
  • A Slow Start to the Long Session
  • The Start of the Legislative Session
  • House Enacts Voter ID With Veto Override
  • The End Is In Sight
  • The Endless Legislative Session
  • $793 Million for Florence Recovery
  • My Perspective on the Proposed Constitutional Amendments
  • Disaster Relief: What Comes Next
  • Hurricane Recovery Fund Approved in Bipartisan Vote
  • Legislature to Convene October 2 for Hurricane Relief
  • The WLOS Election Questionnaire
  • Constitutional Amendment Redux
  • State Revenues Exceed Forecast by Over $400 million
  • Hurricane Relief Committee to Investigate Recovery Delays
  • Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness
  • Revenue estimates $252.8 million ahead of targets
  • The Short Session Winds Down
  • Flag Day 2018
  • Remembering the Day that Saved the World
  • Houses Passes School Safety Programs
  • The Budget Passes and…Life After the Budget
  • The Budget: More Detail on What It Funds

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