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Chamber report warns of Canada/Mexico trade instability

The Trump administration’s approach to trade relations with Canada and Mexico risks destabilizing markets that accounted for nearly a third of North Carolina’s export business in 2025, the NC Chamber says. Its assessment, appearing in a report issued this week, concerns the future of the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement or USMCA. It’s...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Compromise struck on hotel-tax use

House and Senate members have passed two bills intended to settle the debate about hotel-tax policy created by a recent state Supreme Court decision. Senate Bill 484 puts a general ban on using occupancy tax revenue earmarked for tourism-related purposes on law enforcement, fire protection, trash collection and other ordinary...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Sawyer I-77 amendment still up in the air

Senators advanced an omnibus bill for the N.C. Department of Transportation on Wednesday without tacking on language to punish Charlotte-area governments for rescinding their support of the Interstate 77 widening. But Sen. Vickie Sawyer, R-Iredell, told members of Senate Transportation that the clawback amendment she’s proposed “is not a hollow...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Utilities commissioner excluded from vote on Duke Energy plans

N.C. Utilities Commission member Donald van der Vaart can’t vote on the next version of Duke Energy’s Carolinas Resource Plan because he’s been on vacation during some of the panel’s recent public hearings on it. Commission Chairman Bill Brawley announced the ruling on Wednesday. “The commissioner is allowed to participate...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Burgin healthcare bill mired in Senate

Sen. Jim Burgin’s healthcare reform bill cleared another hurdle on Tuesday, but it’s unclear whether it’ll eventually got to the Senate floor for a vote by the chamber’s 50 members. Senate Bill 978 got a favorable vote Tuesday morning from the Senate Judiciary committee. Its next stop is the Appropriations/Base...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Housing-policy items dropped from Senate reg-reform bill

Senators have removed two proposals intended to bolster housing construction from another regulatory reform bill that’s making it way through their chamber. At the request of the bill’s lead sponsor, Sen. Steve Jarvis, R-Davidson, Senate Judiciary struck language that would have make it harder for cities and counties to set...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Casino opponents target Lumbee referendum

Former House Speaker Pro Tem Skip Stam and businessman Bob Luddy are speaking up against the Lumbee’s prospective move to jumpstart casino development. The pair got a letter published over the weekend in The Robesonian that urges readers to vote no on the tribal referendum that’s coming up on June...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

CON battles in Winston-Salem and Wilmington

North Carolina hospital chains Atrium Health and Cone Health say they’ve filed certificate-of-need applications with the state for major projects would expand their geographic scope. Cone proposes to open a $330 million, 56-bed hospital in southeast Forsyth County, entering a Winston-Salem market now dominated by Atrium and Novant County. Its...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Charlotte gets a new consultancy

There’s a new lobbying/strategy shop in Charlotte. Colton Overcash announced on Monday the public launch of Vertex Strategies, which he says offers “an integrated advisory practice” for companies, trade groups, investors and other clients. They “face a government environment where decisions are moving faster, scrutiny is arriving earlier, and issues...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Durham Chamber: Nuance needed on data centers

Durham’s Chamber of Commerce is warning city and county officials against going overboard with restrictions on data centers. It’s urging them to keep drawing distinctions between large-scale data centers — the sort operated by the likes of Amazon and Apple — and the smaller facilities that institutions like Duke University...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

The (bleep) word

Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch, D-Wake, posted a two-minute Instagram video this week that included about a dozen bleeped profanities directed at the state’s Republican leadership. Batch made the video with Rep. Vernetta Alston, D-Durham. Alston doesn’t use profanity in the video, which was first reported by Raleigh journalist A.P....

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Ban on homeless camps incoming?

It’s looking increasingly likely that the Senate will get behind a proposal to ban homeless encampments, and give the job of enforcing it to state Labor Commissioner Luke Farley. Senate Health Care committee members on Thursday endorsed a revised version of House Bill 437. It’s been on a fast track...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

ABC plans quick-turnaround pricing study

The State ABC Commission has ordered its staff to conduct “a thorough study of minimum baseline pricing” for liquor, with a preliminary report from it due in 30 days, its spokesman says. The move followed liquor- and hospitality-industry complaints that have rolled in since commission Chairman Hank Bauer told brokers...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026

Legislators vote to ban third-party lawsuit funding

Legislators have handed the NC Chamber a win on one of its top priorities for the session, a ban on third-party litigation funding by investors. House Bill 315 cleared the Senate on Tuesday and the House on Wednesday. Across the chambers, there was only one dissenting vote: Sen. Jonah Garson,...

By Ray Gronberg

June 19, 2026