The 2019 session of the N.C. General Assembly began Jan. 9, both in the House and the Senate. The session ended on Halloween, which was Wednesday, Oct. 31. Lawmakers left without a budget, failing to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto, which came in June. To date, Cooper has…
The N.C. House on Wednesday, Aug. 28, unanimously passed pay raises for state employees. H.B. 226 would grant state employees a raise of 2.5% for each of the next two years. H.B. 126 would increase pay for the…
While the budget stalemate continues, lawmakers are working to pass pieces of the General Fund budget bill with measures that include pay raises for some state employees. Meantime, Gov. Roy Cooper used a Tuesday, Aug. 27, news conference to attack Republican lawmakers for refusing to include…
State employees are no longer in immediate danger of paying out-of-network costs for their health care, but they may confront higher premiums and higher taxes later. State Treasurer Dale Folwell’s Clear Pricing Project has folded, and its proposed reforms won’t touch hospitals. But the fiscal…
Some lawmakers want to bring back the state’s Milk Commission to protect local dairy farmers, but critics of the measure contend it will only lead to higher milk prices. During the July 31 House Agriculture Committee meeting, Reps. Jeff McNeely, R-Iredell, and Pat Hurley, R-Randolph, introduced…
Editor’s note: This story was updated Monday, July 29, at 8 p.m. Senate Bill 290, originally filed as the Distillery Regulatory Reform Bill, will soon become law. Gov. Roy Cooper signed the game-changing measure at Graybeard Distillery in Durham on Monday, July 29.
Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, won’t seek re-election when his term expires next year, but he’s far from finished. House Bill 971, which McGrady sponsored, has stalled in the legislature. Still, McGrady got a hearing for a proposed committee substitute in the House’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee on…
Parity. It’s what North Carolina’s craft distillers wanted most, really. To, in a regulatory and statutory sense, take their place in line with the state’s brewers and vintners. If not in front of them, then just behind, in a place where they can extend an arm…
A bill N.C. craft distillers see as a game-changer regarding how they do business and how they can grow their businesses is headed to the governor. The N.C. Senate, which had already approved Senate Bill 290, concurred with House changes in…
The N.C. House on Thursday, July 11, after years of contentious debate and myriad failed efforts, were finally able to pass a bill, in an 86-28 vote, that would align craft distilleries more closely with rules governing wine and craft beer. The…
