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State ports working with new shipping alliances

There’s both “risk and opportunity” for North Carolina’s ports in a new alignment of some of the world’s major shipping firms, N.C. Ports Executive Director Brian Clark says. In February, Danish shipping giant Maersk paired up with Germany’s Hapag-Lloyd to create what the two are calling the Gemini Cooperation. Maersk...

By Ray Gronberg

March 7, 2025

Heirship properties, red tape and Helene

Legislators can help the Hurricane Helene recovery effort by cutting some of the red tape that surrounds heirship properties and placing additional time limits on local land-use regulatory approvals, one of Gov. Josh Stein’s aides says. On the heirship issue, the state needs to make changes so it can expedite...

By Ray Gronberg

March 7, 2025

Tolls, predators and transparency

Two legislators who represent parts of Mecklenburg County had some cautionary words for N.C. Turnpike Authority officials who are sizing up toll-road proposals for other parts of the state. Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, said the “dynamic pricing” used on Interstate 77’s express lanes between downtown Charlotte to Mooresville is “absolutely...

By Ray Gronberg

March 6, 2025

House panel briefed on PFAS fight

Officials are hoping to destroy about 60,000 gallons of PFAS-containing firefighting foam that fire departments around the state no longer want, N.C. Collaboratory Executive Director Jeffrey Warren says. The Collaboratory’s running a take-back program and has stored about 6,000 gallons of the stuff in a Charlotte warehouse on loan from...

By Ray Gronberg

March 5, 2025

Senate revises Helene bill

Senators on Tuesday rolled out their version of the latest Hurricane Helene relief package for western North Carolina, positioning it as an Appropriations committee substitute to House Bill 47. According to Deputy President Pro Tem Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell, the hope is that the revised bill can gain approval in both...

By Ray Gronberg

March 5, 2025

Budd floats port-security bill

North Carolina U.S. Sen. Ted Budd is wading into the port-security issue. Budd recently joined forces with Florida U.S. Sen., Rick Scott and Arizona U.S. Sen. Mark Kelly to introduce a bill that calls on the State and Defense departments to come up with a plan for countering Chinese influence...

By Ray Gronberg

March 4, 2025

Proposal renews call for cap on corporate home buys

A proposal to restrict corporate purchases of single-family housing that surfaced and got quickly pigeonholed in the House in 2023 has resurfaced in the Senate in 2025. Introduced by Sen. Tim Moffitt, R-Henderson, and co-sponsored by Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, Senate Bill 199 targets what it calls “home ownership market...

By Ray Gronberg

March 3, 2025

With growth comes the need for more power

North Carolina’s continued growth spree is making even couple-year-old projections of future power-generation needs obsolete, Duke Energy executives recently told members of a House committee. Their presentation to the House Energy and Public Utilities committee included one scenario that indicated demand for generating capacity could approach 42 gigawatts by 2038....

By Ray Gronberg

March 3, 2025

Is fixing DMV really a priority?

It may take moving the Division of Motor Vehicles out from under the state Department of Transportation’s bureaucratic umbrella to improve its customer services, one of the co-chairs of the House Oversight committee says. Throughout state government, “there’s been issues with [having] departments under departments,” said Rep. Jake Johnson, R-Polk, adding...

By Ray Gronberg

February 28, 2025

Local news effort grabs $2M from Knight, Google, Dogwood

There’s a common complaint across North Carolina that it’s harder to keep up with the news because of the declining impact of local publications, which once dominated coverage in every city across the state. That’s particularly true for coverage of state government affairs, with the Raleigh statehouse press corps much...

By Ray Gronberg

February 28, 2025

Infrastructure bank

The North Carolina Chamber is urging Raleigh lawmakers to consider creating a State Infrastructure Bank and adopting other “innovative financing solutions to leverage private money’’ to advance infrastructure projects in the state. While spending on state highways is a focus, the Raleigh-based business advocacy organization is also urging legislators to...

By Ray Gronberg

February 28, 2025

DMV online services

The Division of Motor Vehicles’ push to make its services available online is costing the contractors who operate its network of 123 privately owned and operated storefront license plate agencies money, the trade group representing them says. Agency operators are paid by the transaction, and “there are certain implementations that...

By Ray Gronberg

February 27, 2025

Farm/bank anti-ESG bill advances to Ag committee

House Judiciary 1 committee members on Tuesday endorsed House Bill 62, which would bar banks from denying or canceling service to farmers based on ESG factors. The committee’s debate clarified the N.C. Bankers Association’s objections to the bill, which center on language that would allow farmers to haul a bank...

By Ray Gronberg

February 26, 2025

Home Builders seek higher zoning mininiums

Two key interest groups have rolled out their agenda for this session’s upcoming regulatory reform bill. The N.C. Home Builders Association wants legislators to consider forcing cities and counties to allow “a high base density in urban centers” and a “reasonable” base density in rural areas. This would help cut...

By Ray Gronberg

February 26, 2025