This week, Senators Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell; Todd Johnson, R-Union; and Buck Newton, R-Wilson, filed a bill that would end allowing state employees to automatically pay association dues straight from their paychecks. This would apply to members of employee associations like the state’s two largest, the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) and the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC).
North Carolina Senate Bill 47, titled “State Emps./No Payroll Dues Deduction,” proposes repealing the provision that allows state employees to authorize payroll deductions for payments to employees’ associations. Specifically, it seeks to amend G.S. 143B-426.40A by removing subsection (g), which currently permits such payroll deductions for members of qualifying employees’ associations, those who have more than 2,000 members.
“The repeal of the payroll dues deduction is long overdue,” said Brian Balfour, Senior vice president of Research for the John Locke Foundation. “State government should not have been providing this service to employee associations, using taxpayer dollars to help funnel state worker’s dollars to associations that are often highly political. This bill would make it somewhat more difficult for these associations to collect dues, which is why they will be outraged about it. Member dues is the source of their political power, not to mention what pays the often lofty salaries of the associations’ leadership.”
If enacted, this change would eliminate the option for state employees to have association dues automatically deducted from their paychecks. According to a North Carolina State Auditor’s report filed in the fall and reporting 2023 data, the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) has 40,181 members, while the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE) has 25,679 members. An addition ten associations serve various other employee groups in the state.