Public views split on government size
Government budgeting is more challenging than fashioning a budget for your own household precisely because the costs and benefits aren’t directly aligned.
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Category: Spending & Taxes
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Cooper, NCGA leaders still at odds after sit-down meeting over budget
UPDATED, 2:40 p.m. to include statement from Senate leader Phil Berger’s office. Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper finally sat down with Republican legislative leaders Wednesday, June 19, less than two weeks before the end of the fiscal year, to negotiate a budget. But the chief…
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Distillery reform ‘game-changer’ passes key Senate committee
A bill that would align laws for North Carolina craft distilleries more closely with rules governing wine and craft beer easily cleared the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday, June 18. It now heads to Senate Rules. Senate Bill 290, Distiller Regulatory Reform Bill,…
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Slowing the growth of N.C.’s criminal code
North Carolina’s criminal code is a muddled, archaic monstrosity. The laws that govern criminal behavior are often unclear, encouraging senseless litigation and allowing bad actors to slip through the cracks. Many of these laws predate the American Revolution. And thanks to years of inattention, these laws are scattered throughout thousands…
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Senate passes Farm Bill, bringing legal hemp in N.C. one step closer
North Carolina lawmakers want farmers to grow more hemp. Senate Bill 315, the North Carolina Farm Bill of 2019, passed the Senate June 17 by a 31-14 vote. S.B. 315 officially authorizes and regulates statewide hemp farming, among other things. That’s a big deal for agriculture across…
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State’s biggest independent physicians clinic network signs onto Folwell’s Clear Pricing Project
State Treasurer Dale Folwell has reeled in a big fish. With a deadline just 13 days away, Community Care Physician Network, North Carolina’s largest network of independent physician clinics, announced Monday, June 17, it signed on to the State Health Plan’s…
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Farm Bill could make N.C. pioneer in legal development of industrial hemp
Andrew Ross, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Afghanistan, in January was working private security for a cross-country delivery of hemp. Ross’s task was simple: Guard a truckload of state-approved industrial hemp, grown in Kentucky, and bound for Colorado. Ross was pulled over…
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Americans should be skeptical of single-payer promises
Ten years ago, the passage of Obamacare vastly increased the federal government’s role in our health–care system. The health care overhaul was sold to the American people as a solution for skyrocketing costs and high uninsured rates. While some uninsured gained coverage, the law…
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Bill requiring safe disposal of spent solar panels gets Senate committee hearing
If all the solar panels from industrial-scale electric plants in North Carolina were laid end to end, they would stretch from Raleigh to San Francisco and back nearly four times. Yet the state has no plan to handle the 475,000 tons of panels once they wear out and…
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Senate votes to repeal Map Act, bill goes to governor
The Map Act’s days may be numbered. State senators voted June 12 to repeal the Map Act, the law allowing the N.C. Department of Transportation to freeze development on property within a highway corridor. The vote was unanimous. “This act has been a…