RALEIGH — State AARP officials Friday rolled out their 2014 legislative priorities, and among them were safeguarding Medicare from cost-cutting, expanding Medicaid, and helping more seniors not yet eligible for Medicare to enroll in the federal health exchange.
RALEIGH — The N.C. Division of Motor Vehicles issued photo IDs to 99 voters during the first nine days of the new year, a move that could indicate voters are preparing for the new requirement even though it does not take effect until 2016. Meantime, DMV is implementing several measures to improve customer service.
RALEIGH — The state House Monday refused to concur with the Senate’s latest stab at regulatory reform, sending House Bill 74 to a conference committee in the waning days of the legislative session. At the urging of Rep. Tim Moffitt, R-Buncombe, the House chamber voted 109-0 not to concur, even though the version the Senate approved Friday shares many provisions with one passed earlier this month by the House.
RALEIGH — North Carolina lawmakers are ready to capitalize on what some are calling the “natural gas boom.” A bill lifting the state’s moratorium on fracking — a method for releasing natural gas that environmentalists feel is controversial — passed the state Senate by a landslide recently and is making its way through the House.
RALEIGH — GOP candidates in 2010 promised voters they would enact a detailed policy agenda if they won a legislative majority, even though they would have to work with a Democratic governor, Bev Perdue. The 10-item agenda dealt with fiscal policies, economic growth, and education reform, among other issues.
CHAPEL HILL – While some states are opting out of expanded Medicaid provisions in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, state Rep. Verla Insko confidently predicts North Carolina will participate in the expansion despite a temporary spike in costs to the state.
RALEIGH — In what some are calling “punishment” to the cities that sued over annexation reform legislation passed last year, state lawmakers have rewritten the law so that it is even more unfavorable to cities wishing to engage in involuntary annexation.
To suggest that the Republican line-drawers waged a war on women, you have to believe that they passed up easy victories against Democratic men in order to target Democratic women.
GRAHAM — Some 3.4 million people, including nonresidents, participate annually in hunting, fishing, and wildlife watching in North Carolina, according to a 2006 survey by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the most recent data available. That survey concluded the industry has a $2.7 billion economic impact statewide.
RALEIGH — Prompted in response to a push in state governments and the judiciary to legalize same-sex marriage, Republicans and conservative Democrats have introduced marriage amendments each session since 2003. This year is the first time the idea has gotten traction.
RALEIGH — Gov. Bev Perdue's two vetoes were the exclamation point on a legislative week that also saw the first public steps in the budgeting process. On Tuesday, House subcommittees released preliminary cuts totaling $2 billion, eliciting howls of protest from public sector groups and liberal advocacy organizations.
