State economy flourished in 2019
The General Fund budget has run a $542 million surplus halfway through the fiscal year. Keep in mind that revenues and expenditures don’t distribute evenly across all 12 months, however.
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Category: Opinion
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People of North Carolina, don’t despair: We have a budget
Don’t despair North Carolina, despite continuing cries the state is without a budget — even after months of consternation, frustration, accusations, political wrangling, and dead–end negotiations. We do, indeed, have a budget. Granted, it’s not one …
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Allowing Leandro report to dictate education in N.C. unwise at best
Earlier this week, Judge David Lee convened a status conference with the plaintiffs and defendants from the ongoing Leandro v. State of North Carolina lawsuit. The case focuses on the state’s constitutional duty to provide “an opportunity for a sound basic education” to…
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Take action on affordable housing
On average, incomes have gone up faster than housing prices. But builders are producing disproportionately more capacity aimed at upper-income people than they are capacity for those of low and moderate incomes.
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Partisan battle extends beyond suburbs
Neither Democrats no Republicans are content simply to clasp national coattails. And both are courting voters who live in urban townhouses, rural ranch houses, and everything in between.
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Cooperation key in freeing farmers from federal overreach over land, water
When President Trump speaks to the American Farm Bureau Federation’s annual convention Sunday, I’ll be listening for next steps in his plan to free North Carolina farmers from the devastating overreach of Obama administration rules that expanded the definition of private land that…
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No more water’s edge: All politics are domestic
Most presidents have an intelligible foreign policy. For some it’s bold enough to earn a grandiose name — think George H.W. Bush’s “New World Order” — or at least be labeled “doctrine.” James Monroe’s was to keep other powers out…
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Child poverty falls dramatically
The official poverty measure leaves out free health care, free housing, free food, and other public assistance other than cash. It relies on data from income-tax returns and thus leaves out significant off-the-books income.
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Prudence needed on voter ID
Most North Carolinians believe voter ID is a reasonable precaution against a low-probability but catastrophic event. It would be prudent for politicians and judges to accept that and move on.
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Health policy at General Assembly: 2019 in review
It was a tumultuous year for lawmakers in the General Assembly. Lasting well into October, this ‘long session’ was unusually long compared to years past. As will be the case in the 2020 election cycle, health care dominated the issues discussed during policymaking in this session. Many bills related…