Today, N.C. House Majority Leader John Bell sent a letter, signed by over 50 members of the Republican Caucus, to Governor Roy Cooper urging him to respect the will of the voters by replacing Chief Justice Martin with someone who has a similar ideological background and pedigree. Martin, the longest-serving justice on the state’s Supreme […]
Legislature Overrides Budget Veto
The state House of Representatives voted to override a budget veto by Gov. Roy Cooper on Tuesday and delivered pay raises for teachers, law enforcement officers and most state employees, $60 million in disaster relief to victims of Hurricane Matthew, a record savings reserve, and tax relief for families and businesses in North Carolina. “Today’s […]
A New Pipeline of Money to Public Schools
In an overwhelming bipartisan vote of 104 to 112 vote Tuesday afternoon, the legislature passed legislation requiring money in a $58 million special fund be distributed to eight school districts in Eastern North Carolina that are along the path of the Atlantic Coast Pipeline project. House Bill 90 drew praise from local education leaders in the pipeline’s corridor, […]
The Electoral Freedom Act of 2017
The ability of voting groups to form a recognized political party in North Carolina just got a whole lot easier. Senate Bill 656, the Electoral Freedom Act of 2017, lowers the threshold for establishing a recognized political party in a number of ways. The bill also makes it easier for unaffiliated candidates to participate in […]
Governor Cooper Declares State of Emergency
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has declared a State of Emergency for all 100 counties as the state prepares for almost certain impacts from Hurricane Irma early next week. “There is a lot we still don’t know about this storm, but we do know that North Carolina can expect to feel some sort of effects […]
Helping Those Who Need It The Most
Hundreds of thousands of hardworking North Carolinians will no longer pay any state income tax by 2019, thanks to several rounds of tax relief provided by the legislature’s Republican majority. A recent memo from the head economist at the non-partisan Fiscal Research Division notes that “of the nearly 4 million tax returns anticipated for tax […]
House Overrides Budget Veto
With a bipartisan majority of 76 to 43, the North Carolina House of Representatives voted yesterday to override the governor’s recent budget veto. The budget, now state law, enacts another round of middle-class tax cuts, a fourth consecutive teacher pay raise, and a record-high savings reserve. “The governor chose partisanship over the people of North […]
A New Era of Bipartisanship
What if you found yourself in court, suing a big company, and you learned that seven of the 12 of the jurors worked for the same company that your were suing? Would that make you wonder if the verdict might be rigged? How about the crooked politician who is facing charges of violating the State Government Ethics […]
Transcendental Media-tation
With The Bathroom Bill Gone, Here Are 5 Things Happening In North Carolina For The Media To Cover by Patrick Gleason Between the University of North Carolina Tar Heels beating Gonzaga to win the men’s college basketball national championship on Monday, and the North Carolina General Assembly last Thursday repealing House Bill 2, commonly referred […]
Throwback Thursday: A Little History
A few weeks ago, when the General Assembly called itself back into a special session following the passage of The Disaster Recovery Act of 2016, the legislature took up some important bipartisan reforms to North Carolina’s ethics, elections, and court systems. At the same time, another piece of bipartisan legislation, House Bill 17, was also passed […]