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Hall and mini-budgets

Speaker Hall, by the way, believes the House and Senate will get a budget done eventually and isn’t too worried about the current state of the talks. That doesn’t mean, however, that the road to a deal will be as straight as a desert highway. Both chambers have proposed so-called...

By Ray Gronberg

July 1, 2025

why North Carolina’s budget Is late (again): no deadline, no referee, real disagreements

Writing a state-affairs newsletter and being a disc jockey are jobs that have more in common than most may think. Of relevance for today: Both do requests, especially when the request comes from the boss. The ask for today is an explain-it-like-I’m-5 for why the General Assembly can’t pass a budget on...

By Ray Gronberg

July 1, 2025

House tries again to loosen credit-union restrictions

House members before leaving for their summer break wrote their approach to a partial deregulation of North Carolina-chartered credit unions into an otherwise-unrelated bill that deals with tax policy. Senators, however, voted 41-1 against concurring with the House’s rewrite of Senate Bill 595. Sen. Gale Adcock, D-Wake, was the only senator...

By Ray Gronberg

June 30, 2025

Tillis drops re-election bid

North Carolina is going to have a wide-open U.S. Senate race in 2026. Incumbent Sen. Thom Tillis has announced that he will not run for a third six-year term in the upper chamber of Congress. “I haven’t exactly been excited about running for another term,” and the choice is “between spending...

By Ray Gronberg

June 30, 2025

Farm Act advances without raw milk, liability provisions; key land use rules still in play

Plenty of bills cleared the House and Senate before members left town on Thursday for the summer break, but some key pieces of legislation stalled at the last moment and remain pending. Foremost among these we find the biennial Farm Act, which is now proceeding as Senate Bill 401 (an earlier version...

By Ray Gronberg

June 30, 2025

Legislators finish work on Charlotte transit bill

Also awaiting Gov. Josh Stein’s attention is House Bill 948, the bill that would authorize a Mecklenburg County sales-tax referendum to pay for construction of the Red Line, more roads and more bus service. The Senate voted out the bill 39-3 on third reading on Thursday morning. The House opted to concur without...

By Ray Gronberg

June 27, 2025

NC lawmakers approve Helene aid bill, drop business grants and spark criticism

House and Senate members on Thursday sent a new Helene-recovery bill to Gov. Josh Stein, but its compromise language dropped a House-proposed $60 million grant program to prop up businesses in western North Carolina. Conferees also dumped a Senate proposal to withhold $100 million in state road-maintenance aid from North Carolina’s seven...

By Ray Gronberg

June 27, 2025

Senate tinkers with transit bill

Senators voted 42-4 Wednesday in favor of a bill that would give Mecklenburg County permission to hold a referendum on a 1-cent sales-tax surcharge to pay for transit and road projects. But to pass before the General Assembly’s upcoming summer break, House Bill 948, the so-called PAVE Act, still needs to...

By Ray Gronberg

June 27, 2025

NC House kills shrimp-trawling ban after public pushback

The shrimp-trawl ban is dead. Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, said the result of a lengthy House Republican caucus on Wednesday afternoon is that House Bill 442 and the shrimp-trawling ban the Senate added to it is getting pigeonholed. “It’s going to Rules, and it’s going to stay there,” Kidwell said. “Unanimous,” added Rep. Jimmy...

By Ray Gronberg

June 27, 2025

House forces conference on Helene package

The House has declined to go along with the Senates changes to the latest Hurricane Helene relief package and instead will force the issue to a conference committee. House 1012 came back from the Senate “a much worse version than what we sent over,” said Rep. Eric Ager, D-Buncombe, who joined Rep. Dudley...

By Ray Gronberg

June 26, 2025

Software company picks Raleigh for new office

A Los Angeles-based software company that aims to help construction companies complete projects faster plans to establish a third hub in Raleigh. BuildOps plans to invest $711,200 to create 291 jobs that pay an average annual salary of $110,997, state officials announced Tuesday. The average salary for the new jobs is...

By Ray Gronberg

June 26, 2025

Duke gets DOE dispensation to meet heat wave

It’s hot outside — Mojave hot — and electricity providers up and down the East Coast are having to work hard to keep everyone’s air conditioners running. That includes Duke Energy, which on Monday sought and on Tuesday received temporary, as-needed permission from the U.S. Department of Energy to run some of its generators...

By Ray Gronberg

June 26, 2025

Water-transfer moratorium advances

Legislation that would temporarily block Charlotte’s attempt to claim a bigger share of the Catawba River’s water for itself is on the move, but it remains to be seen whether it’s moving fast enough. House Bill 850 cleared the Senate’s Agriculture committee on Tuesday. It still has to go through the...

By Ray Gronberg

June 26, 2025

“Carolinas Finest Seafood”

Shortly before reaching the capitol Tuesday morning, I passed a long line of trucks parked along the left side of Person Street. This was baffling — until I saw that a couple belonged to Pamlico Packing, aka “Carolina’s Finest Seafood.” That was the signal that what I’ll call the Great Shrimp...

By Ray Gronberg

June 26, 2025

Boliek: Let DMV hire more license examiners

State Auditor Dave Boliek says his staff’s review of the Division of Motor Vehicles has confirmed that the agency’s driver license offices are understaffed. “Current DMV workforce levels are insufficient to meet the needs of North Carolinians,” Boliek said. “To provide citizens the service level they expect and deserve, the DMV...

By Ray Gronberg

June 24, 2025