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Shrimp trawling spawns wild floor debate

Pending a third-reading vote today, the Senate’s on the verge of supporting a ban on shrimp trawling in North Carolina waters other than in the Atlantic Ocean more than a half mile offshore. Senators on Wednesday voted 44-4 in favor of House Bill 442, which unexpectedly got amended in committee this week...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2025

House approves Mecklenburg transit tax referendum 102-6

House members have voted 102-6 in favor of giving Mecklenburg County permission to call a referendum on raising the local-option sales tax rate by 1 cent to finance transit and road construction. Wednesday’s second-reading vote set the stage for House Bill 948 to clear the chamber and head to the Senate snext Tuesday. Legislative...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2025

Hall addresses JetZero appropriation

House Speaker Destin Hall says a $450 million special appropriation for the JetZero project at Piedmont Triad International Airport is “something that we need to get done,” even if the precise way of handling it is still a bit up in the air. “Could be in the budget, could be in...

By Ray Gronberg

June 18, 2025

Discharge petition foiled

Agriculture committee Democrats like Sens. Julie Mayfield of Buncombe County and Lisa Grafstein of Wake County sat quietly through the shrimp debate, obviously bemused by the public intra-Republican discord. Normal service, however, resumed in the afternoon when Rabon as Rules chair quashed Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch’s move to use...

By Ray Gronberg

June 18, 2025

Senate clash erupts over shrimp trawling ban near NC coast

An all-out crustacean and fish fight broke out Tuesday in the Senate Agriculture committee, thanks to a move by some of the chamber’s Republicans to ban shrimp trawling anywhere inside a half mile of North Carolina’s Atlantic shoreline. Sen. Bill Rabon, R-Brunswick, and other proponents argue the move will align North Carolina’s...

By Ray Gronberg

June 18, 2025

Senate Dems to push for vote on House Helene bill

Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch came to her current post believing her caucus needs “to be more bullish” and aggressive in its approach to dealing with the chamber’s GOP supermajority. It’s looking like we’re about to see just what that means. On Monday, Batch’s office announced that Senate Democrats will...

By Ray Gronberg

June 18, 2025

Carolina governors oppose offshore drilling

Gov. Josh Stein and South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster have joined forces to urge the Trump administration to maintain a moratorium on oil and gas exploration and production off the Carolinas. In a June 15 letter, the governors cited the ecological and economic benefits of the status quo as reasons to...

By Ray Gronberg

June 18, 2025

UNC Health sues Humana and Aetna over Medicare drug reimbursement cuts

UNC Health has sued two of the country’s top health insurers, seeking to recoup alleged shortfalls in Medicare Advantage reimbursements. Lawyers for the Chapel Hill-based health system filed complaints against Humana and Aetna in a Winston-Salem federal court on June 10. Both lawsuits allege the insurers “improperly and unilaterally” shortchanged UNC Health in reimbursements...

By Ray Gronberg

June 17, 2025

Battle lines reemerge on housing bill

Hard on the heels of the NC Chamber warning legislators it’s scoring them on how they vote on the zoning-policy changes embedded in Senate Bill 205, the N.C. Association of County Commissioners is marshaling its forces against the bill. The association contends that if it’s more housing construction legislators want, SB 205 will prove...

By Ray Gronberg

June 16, 2025

Stein signs law revamping N.C. investment oversight

Gov. Josh Stein has signed into law House Bill 506, which revamps the way North Carolina and its treasurer will manage the state’s investments going forward. Stein said the bill — which in its final form passed the Senate 40-0 and the House 113-0 — brings North Carolina into “line with...

By Ray Gronberg

June 16, 2025

JetZero picks Greensboro’s PTI for factory thanks to runway, room to grow

There are a few more odds and ends to deal with about JetZero’s decision to build a factory at Piedmont Triad International Airport for the new, fuel-efficient airliners it’s designing. Senate leader Phil Berger alluded to one of these during his comments during Thursday’s announcement. “It started with building a bridge,” Berger...

By Ray Gronberg

June 16, 2025

House Dems split on energy bill

A 75-36 House vote has put the session’s major energy policy bill back in the hands of the Senate. Senate Bill 266 would do away with the state’s 70% interim carbon-reduction goal, and make it easier for Duke Energy to incorporate the cost of building new power plants into its rates...

By Ray Gronberg

June 12, 2025

House Reg Reform backs revised housing bill

Acknowledging that it remains controversial, members of a House committee have advanced a bill that would revamp state zoning policy in hopes of making it easier to build more homes. The rewritten version of Senate Bill 205 got through the House Regulatory Reform committee on a split vote. It faces a Rule...

By Ray Gronberg

June 12, 2025

Mecklenburg sales tax transit bill clears first hurdle in NC House

Mecklenburg County’s drive for permission to hold a referendum on raising its local-option sales tax to pay for more transit and road construction has cleared its first legislative hurdle. Wednesday saw House Transportation committee members endorse, without dissent, the latest version of House Bill 948, which would allow the county to...

By Ray Gronberg

June 12, 2025

Help for distillers?

The House’s Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee has advanced a bill that would make it easier for distillers to share premises and sell each other’s wares. Senate Bill 664 would extend to distillers a bit of regulatory forbearance that’s already available to brewers, said Sen. Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson. It legalizes for them so-called “alternating...

By Ray Gronberg

June 11, 2025