North Carolina is one of sixteen states well-prepared for a financial recession according to an economic study released this month by researchers at Moody’s Analytics. North Carolina has a record $1.5 billion savings reserve and has significantly improved its tax structure under a Republican-led state legislature. Moody’s Analytics provides financial insights on capital markets and […]
The House unanimously passed a bipartisan bill on Monday, February 27 that will improve access to physical therapy services for North Carolina practitioners and patients. House Bill 57 will allow the state to recognize licensed physical therapists from other states who also enact their own compact. This bill, if passed by the Senate, will enhance […]
The North Carolina House of Representatives voted 110 to 3 on Wednesday to pass House Bill 7 Strengthen Savings Reserve. The legislation is part of an ongoing effort by Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly to save responsibly and prepare the state for potential emergency funding or disaster recovery needs. House Bill 7 directs […]
There’s been a lot of speculation about why public school teachers leave their current positions, and that speculation is usually the source of a lot of rancorous political spin in social media, on blogs, and in the press — especially around election time. Teacher “turnover” data is often used by partisans on the left to give […]
Thanks to a new law passed by the General Assembly this year, folks with North Carolina drivers licenses will be able to renew them without having to schlep down to the DMV and wait in line. A provision of the Appropriations Act of 2014 (Section 34.8) will allow people to renew their licenses remotely — through a website, […]
A bill introduced in the closing months of the 2014 session would have imposed a six-month waiting period on state employees before they could work for businesses that contract with the state — and companies violating the moratorium would have lost their state contracts as a result. The “No Revolving Door Employment Act” (House Bill […]
[youtube_sc url=”http://youtu.be/EN83hen4D-Y” width=”590″ modestbranding=”1″ autohide=”1″ fs=”1″ border=”1″ hd=”1″] A provision in the final budget (Appropriations Act of 2014) allows trained non-medical personnel to administer the anti-allergy medication epinephrine to school children who show signs of anaphylaxis. Anaphylaxis is a severe, potentially life-threatening allergic reaction that can occur within minutes of exposure to anything a […]
Yet more troubling events in Asheville have prompted renewed calls for the General Assembly to reconsider and pass House Bill 643 — bipartisan legislation intended to extend “whistleblower protection” to full-time certified law enforcement officers at both the city and county level. Forty-four officers of the Asheville Police Department (nearly a quarter of their force) […]
Four years ago this week, former Democrat Speaker of the House Jim Black was released from federal prison after serving three years of a 63-month federal prison term for corruption charges. Interestingly, the requirement that state legislators comply with ethics laws is a fairly recent phenomenon. After the multi-year cascading corruption scandals that ensnared Mr. […]
House Bill 700 requires that the State Information Technology Plan include a review of all state agency information technology projects — not just those costing in excess of $500,000, as the old law required. The Office of Information Technology Services provides business, infrastructure, network, telecommunications, and hosting services to state agencies and local governments on a […]