RALEIGH — The appropriations committee of the North Carolina House is expected to announce its version of a 2004-05 budget plan for the state in the coming days. The talk around the General Assembly for the past couple of weeks has been that House members have set spending targets for state departments significantly below those asked for by Gov. Mike Easley.
The Associated Press reported Monday night that a major area of savings in the House plan may be found in the Department of Health and Human Services. Appropriations leaders are reportedly willing to fund only half of Easley’s proposed expansion of More at Four, the preschool program, as well as lower growth in the state’s Medicaid program.
Unfortunately, the House is not expected to devote these savings to reducing North Carolina’s marginal tax rates to a competitive level. Instead, it is rumored, lawmakers will offer more funding for the repair and renovation of state buildings (a good idea, though probably not in this situation) and possible a higher average pay raise for state employees (ditto).
As the budget debate in Raleigh heats up — particularly with regard to health and human services programs — it is particularly timely that the organization I head, the John Locke Foundation, and one of its frequent sparring partners on the political left, the North Carolina Justice Center, had already planned the debut this Wednesday of a new joint project.
At 2 p.m. on Wednesday we will hold the first of a series of online debates on key issues facing North Carolina. Bearing the name “Raising the Issue,” this debate series will occur in real time. That is, for three hours on Wednesday afternoon debaters from the Locke Foundation and Justice Center will present arguments and respond to each other within the Locke Foundation’s Locker Room blog. Later, both organizations will post the entire exchange on their respective websites and encourage continued dialogue and conversation on other Internet sites and blogs as well as in print, radio, and in-person debates.
Getting to the “timely” part, the topic we have chosen to start with this week is: “Are North Carolina’s health and human services programs the right place to find significant savings to balance the state budget?” For this first installment, I’ll be debating Rob Schofield, policy director for the Justice Center. I encourage all Carolina Journal readers to visit the Locker Room Wednesday after 2 p.m. to follow the course of the debate as Rob and I explore such topics as the state’s recent fiscal trends, the philosophical and constitutional issues implicated in public-assistance programs, service delivery and effectiveness, the consequences (intended and unintended) of these programs, and the state’s budgetary priorities.
More details about “Raising the Issue” are available here. We hope that this collaborative effort will help to shine the spotlight on key policy issues and facilitate the kind of spirited but substantive respectful debate that North Carolina needs and deserves.
Hood is president of the John Locke Foundation and publisher of Carolina Journal.