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Independent. Informative. Intelligent.

Budget & Taxes

Stein seeks money for DMV staff, office additions

Gov. Josh Stein is asking legislators to take a stab at addressing the Division of Motors Vehicles’ problems by hiring more license examiners and opening a few more license bureaus. His budget request for the 2025-27 biennium seeks a recurring appropriation of $2.6 million over the next two years to...

By Ray Gronberg

March 21, 2025

Pensions

State Treasurer Brad Briner’s and Gov. Josh Stein’s aides are at odds about the governor’s 2025-27 biennium budget request, which Briner’s team sees as shortchanging the state’s pension system. Via a news release, Briner said he was “disappointed the governor is proposing for only the second time in 83 years to not fully...

By Ray Gronberg

March 21, 2025

Stein’s budget

Gov. Josh Stein’s suggested budget for the 2025-27 biennium is out, and even though it’s dead on arrival in the GOP-dominated legislature, there are still things to learn from it. These start with its economic outlook, which posits that wage growth and consumer spending in North Carolina are both going...

By Ray Gronberg

March 20, 2025

REINS Act would change regulatory approvals

House members have advanced a bill that would require explicit General Assembly approval of any state regulation that’s likely to have an economic impact of $1 million or more in any given year. Legislative approval would supplement, not supplant, the existing process that now ends with the state’s Rules Review Commission,...

By Ray Gronberg

March 19, 2025

Transylvania looking to boost Ecusta redevelopment

There’s a move afoot to set up a rural development authority in Transylvania County to facilitate the redevelopment of the former Ecusta Mill site near Brevard. But the idea comes with a twist, namely that instead of using existing law that allows some counties to set up such an organization...

By Ray Gronberg

March 12, 2025

Senate seeks repeal of interim carbon-reduction goal

Senate leaders are pushing forward a bill that would eliminate the 2030 “interim goal” of a 70% reduction in carbon dioxide emissions from North Carolina’s power plants. The proposal is embedded in Senate Bill 261, which would also give power providers more latitude to seek permission to pass on to...

By Ray Gronberg

March 12, 2025

SEANC battling crypto bill

One thing that I’ve skated past in previous coverage of House Speaker Destin Hall’s proposal to allow the state treasurer to invest cash in crypto ETFs is that the State Employees Association of North Carolina opposes the bill. SEANC lobbyist Flint Benson told members of the House Commerce committee last...

By Ray Gronberg

March 10, 2025

Crypto update

The thing about speed humps is, once they’re in the rear view, you can hit the gas. So it seems for House Bill 92, House Speaker Destin Hall’s proposal to give North Carolina’s treasurer permission to invest a portion the state’s cash reserves in cryptocurrency ETFs. It cleared House Commerce...

By Ray Gronberg

March 6, 2025

Digital assets

One of House Speaker Destin Hall’s flagship pieces of legislation hit a speed bump in the chamber’s Commerce and Economic Development committee after two of the panel’s Republicans voiced qualms. House Bill 92 would allow the state treasurer to invest up to 10% of the excess cash in some of...

By Ray Gronberg

March 5, 2025

Crop-loss bill clears first hurdle

Rep. Jimmy Dixon’s $475 million crop-loss aid program for farmers is on the move. House Bill 130 cleared the Duplin County Republican’s Agriculture and Environment committee on Wednesday and now heads to House Appropriations. In a news conference before the hearing, Dixon stressed that the money would only help farmers...

By Ray Gronberg

February 27, 2025

Bill targets Indian gaming money

A new bill filed in the House would take a jab at the Eastern Band of the Cherokee Indians by diverting some of the tax revenue its casino generates to the Lumbee and other North Carolina tribes. House Bill 224 proposes taking $10.5 million from the state’s Indian Gaming Education...

By Ray Gronberg

February 27, 2025

“Cooper” act includes $217M for NCORR

House leaders have filed a bill that would appropriate $217 million to the N.C. Office of Recovery and Resiliency to complete its replacement of homes Down East that were damaged or wrecked by hurricanes in the late 2010s. Their proposal, House Bill 222, would set a mid-2027 deadline for the...

By Ray Gronberg

February 27, 2025

A state tax deduction for gambling losses?

House Commerce committee members took their first look at a bill that would allow “nonprofessional” gamblers to claim an itemized deduction for their losses. Backed by a group that includes Reps. Erin Paré, R-Wake, and Keith Kidwell, R-Beaufort, House Bill 14 would align the state’s approach to the issue with...

By Ray Gronberg

February 26, 2025

A busy day at the Capital

This year’s legislative session finally hit high gear on Tuesday, marked by the start of this year’s round of joint appropriations hearings. With five hearing kicking off at 8:30 a.m., I had to make an up-front choice about which seemed most newsworthy and so I started with the transportation hearing....

By Ray Gronberg

February 26, 2025

Troxler: Crop bill “not quite halfway” what ag needs

Agriculture Commissioner Steve Troxler says a House proposal to set up a $475 million crop-loss aid program for farmers who endured bad harvests in 2024 is only part of what the ag sector needs to recover. “Even though this bill addresses crop loss, we still have considerable losses in infrastructure...

By Ray Gronberg

February 21, 2025

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