As a three-judge panel heard a second week of testimony in Common Cause v. Lewis, defense attorneys and witnesses tried to cast doubt on the ability of statistical analysis to predict how North Carolinians would vote in legislative elections. Plaintiffs have produced several expert witnesses who illustrated how their computer-simulated district maps would produce more...
The N.C. Senate passed its budget plan for the next two years Friday by a 30-16 vote. But cuts to Medicaid payments for Vidant Health Center in Greenville — the subject of an impassioned appeal Thursday by Democratic Sen. Don Davis of Greene County — remained in the final version of House Bill 966. And Eastern...
Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, is convinced large wind energy projects, such as the Amazon Wind Farm near Elizabeth City, hinder the military’s ability to conduct low-level flight training missions in North Carolina. He also thinks construction of new wind facilities could hurt the state in a future Base Realignment and Closing process. Brown and others...
The Senate’s Republican leader and top budget writer said Wednesday, May 8, he hopes that chamber’s work on the General Fund budget will be done by the end of May. The House passed a $23.9-billion plan last week. Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, told reporters the budget committees will begin work next week, The Insider reported....
The Senate Education Committee took action Wednesday, April 10, on a number of bills, including a law easing rules on welding and manufacturing internships. Lawmakers greenlighted some measures and merely discussed others. Senate Bill 376: N.C. Patriot Star Family Scholarship/Funds Senate Bill 376, “NC Patriot Star Family Scholarship/Funds,” would direct more college scholarships to military...
North Carolina for many years has been a battleground over government-backed broadband services. The issue seemed to be settled in 2011, when the Republican-controlled General Assembly passed the Level Playing Field Law, which severely restricted local governments’ ability to get into the broadband business. Fair enough, some legislators say — but what about local governments...
The Senate on Thursday unanimously passed a bill to protect state whistleblowers from retaliation. Senate Bill 127, which heads to the House, would bring North Carolina in line with laws in dozens of other states. Senators said the bill didn’t arise from any specific situation. But they acknowledged it would apply to a showdown lawmakers...
The 125 employees at the car dealership Senate Marjority Leader Harry Brown owns could get cheaper health insurance if Senate Bill 86 becomes law. So could thousands of other people working at small companies, along with self-employed workers. The Small Business Healthcare Act, as S.B. 86 is known, would help small businesses with fewer than...
Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration could risk violating a state law protecting whistleblowers if it has threatened retribution against employees who want to cooperate with a legislative probe of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline deal. Cooper has told state employees not to speak with investigators the ACP subcommittee hired. The workers were involved in the pipeline permitting...
A Senate plan to pump $2.03 billion of tax revenue into K-12 public school construction would both outspend a competing House plan and do so with cash rather than debt, Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, said Wednesday. Brown, chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said Senate Bill 5, Building North Carolina’s Future, is a...
Gov. Roy Cooper’s administration told legislative leaders investigating the Atlantic Coast Pipeline last week it won’t allow private investigators hired by the General Assembly to interview state employees. The investigators are former federal agents who were hired in December by a special ACP subcommittee to look into the ACP permit process and the creation of...
