A bill filed Thursday in the N.C. would repeal a law permitting state employee organizations from automatically drafting dues from members' paychecks. The bill, SB87, was filed by Senators Ralph Hise, R-Ashe, Joyce Krawiec, R-Forsyth, Todd Johnson, R-Union, Carl Ford, R-Rowan, and Buck Newton, R-Greene.
Democrats and their left-leaning allies offered the same criticism they have over every state budget Republicans have proposed over the last decade, beginning with their first budget after voters handed the GOP control of the General Assembly in 2010. Democrats say, as they have time and time again, that the GOP is not spending enough...
Although some activists wish Dale Folwell in the worst in his battle with hospitals, plenty of others across the political spectrum recognize that without reform both taxpayers and public employees will pay much more.
State Treasurer Dale Fowell has sweetened a deal for hospitals to sign on to his Clear Pricing Project. While hospitals refuse to sign onto the new system, promoting transparency in pricing, state employees fear losing coverage in major hospitals, where they would be treated but have to pay out-of-network charges. Without serious reforms, the State...
State Treasurer Dale Folwell says a revised Senate Bill 117 would eliminate some costly benefit options and impose forfeiture of retirement benefits for some criminal offenses. He supports the changes, which are intended to protect the underfunded system. “We have to simplify this plan … to make sure money is not leaving the plan that...
State Treasurer Dale Folwell’s proposed cost-cutting reforms for the State Health Plan have drawn praise from state employees’ representatives and a nationally recognized free-market health finance expert. But medical providers aren’t too happy with the treasurer’s plans. The State Health Plan has a $3.3 billion annual budget, though costs exceed state appropriations. It is only...
The N.C. Court of Appeals gave Lt. Gov. Dan Forest the green light for his lawsuit against the Employees Political Action Committee, the political arm of the State Employees Association of North Carolina. In a split 2-1 decision, the Court of Appeals reversed the earlier decision of a trial court, which threw out Forest’s complaint...
State Treasurer Dale Folwell is raising red flags about a proposed merger between publicly owned ECU Physicians, the medical practice of the Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, and Vidant Medical Group, a private entity that would assume controlling interest. Folwell is sounding many of the same alarms he voiced over the proposed...
State Treasurer Dale Folwell wants to be more than North Carolina’s version of the Dutch boy, his finger plugging the dike of underperforming state health and pension plans. Rather, he plans to vigorously attack the massive unfunded liabilities. Folwell, sworn into office Jan. 1 as the first Republican to hold that seat since 1876, said...
More than two years after releasing a scathing report alleging that a glut of investment fund managers are collecting fees that have plundered North Carolina’s state employee pension plan, financial investigator Edward “Ted” Siedle said upcoming Securities and Exchange Commission action could relate to a whistleblower complaint filed with the federal agency. “I’ve been working...
Editor’s note: This story was updated after initial publication to include comments from Dan Blue III. North Carolina’s public employees retirement system is underfunded, bled more than $2 billion in red ink in the most recent 12-month period reported, and is outperformed by most other states, data show. Republican state treasurer candidate Dale Folwell, a certified...
