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Bills would waive property taxes for permanently disabled veterans
Two similar bills that would give a full property tax waiver for permanently disabled veterans were filed in both the North Carolina House and Senate this week.
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Experts discuss implications of Medicaid expansion in N.C.
Expanding Medicaid in North Carolina would reverberate throughout the state in disparate yet significant ways, affecting rural communities, people without jobs, as well as the uninsured and insured alike. Thought leaders gathered Tuesday, Sept. 24, in Lexington for the first in a series of discussions on Medicaid and health care. N.C. Institute of Political Leadership’s...
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House Democrats have big night, ending GOP supermajority
State Democrats accomplished a major goal in Tuesday’s midterm election, breaking the Republican Party’s supermajority in the General Assembly. Unofficial results show the GOP, which has a 75-45 advantage in the 2017 session — three votes more than needed to override a veto by Gov. Roy Cooper with a unified caucus — lost nine seats....
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Top budget writer Dollar faces former PTA chief Von Haefen in tight HD 36 race
House District 36 (Southeastern Wake County). • Nelson Dollar, Republican (seven-term incumbent). Occupation: Media and public relations consultant. Education: Appalachian State University, bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social sciences. Career highlights: Senior chairman of House Appropriations Committee, vice chairman of Finance, and Health and Human Services committees. Former Wake Technical Community College instructor, N.C. Department...
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State gets waiver from D.C. to implement Medicaid managed care
North Carolina has received federal approval to transition to a cost-saving, whole-health Medicaid managed care system that will take the state out of the day-to-day management of the government insurance program for the elderly, disabled, and poor. The federal Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services signed off on a required waiver North Carolina requested to...
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Hurricane relief session may mark only temporary break from partisan fights
Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law the $793 million Hurricane Florence Disaster Recovery Act on Tuesday, Oct. 16, following unanimous legislative passage. An N.C. State University political science professor says not to expect the good vibrations to last. “We see these things fairly frequently, crises or challenges that emerge that generate quick and pretty large...
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Lawmakers up Cooper’s ante for first package of hurricane relief
Legislative leaders plan to allocate $794 million for Hurricane Florence disaster relief when they return to special session on Monday, Oct. 15. Most of the money will come from the $2.1 billion Rainy Day Fund Republicans built up over recent years to prevent tax increases or major budget shuffles during emergencies. On Wednesday, Gov. Roy...
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General Assembly unanimously passes first Hurricane Florence relief package
State lawmakers told tales of destruction of and struggles in hurricane-battered communities before unanimously approving $56.5 million spread over two emergency response bills. Debate was muted as members voted on the bipartisan measures, which House and Senate appropriations subcommittees approved earlier Tuesday, Oct. 2. With schools and roads still closed, residents homeless, businesses inoperable, and...
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After nearly six years, Medicaid reform finally entering the home stretch
As chief budget writer in the House, state Rep. Nelson Dollar is accustomed to dealing with big numbers. But he marvels at the pending $6 billion layout to launch the first phase of the state’s Medicaid transformation to a managed care format. “That’s roughly a third of the Medicaid procurement, so it’s the largest procurement...
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House picks subcommittees to probe Matthew recovery, ACP fund
The General Assembly’s newly created subcommittees to investigate the pace of spending on recovery efforts for Hurricane Matthew and the unusual side fund negotiated by the Cooper administration with the operation of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline are complete. In a Thursday, Sept. 6, press release, from the office of House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, said:...
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Legislative committee will probe continuing concerns about pipeline fund
Republican legislative leaders fear more lawsuits and constitutional showdowns with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper will occur if, in their view, he keeps stepping on their control over state revenues. The concerns surfaced during a Wednesday, Aug. 29, meeting of the Joint Legislative Committee on Governmental Operations. Lawmakers created an investigative subcommittee to probe Cooper’s involvement...
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NCGA: Ballots won’t include captions describing constitutional amendments
The General Assembly sent Gov. Roy Cooper a bill changing how proposed constitutional amendments will appear on the Nov. 6 ballot. Democrats claimed the move was motivated by fear the ballot language would portray the six amendments in an unfavorable light. In a special session convened with less than 24 hours notice, Republicans introduced House...
