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Budget & Taxes

Session begins

The 2025 long session of the General Assembly is officially underway, following the swearing-in of House and Senate members on Wednesday and the approval of operational rules in both chambers. Senate leader Phil Berger said committee assignments in his chamber should be announced later this week. Over in the House,...

By Ray Gronberg

January 9, 2025

Senate Bill 382 veto override

Monday saw the state Senate return to Raleigh for a veto override and some unexpected constitutional-amendment business. The chamber’s override vote on Senate Bill 382 went as expected, a 30-19 split along partisan lines that left the fate of the omnibus measure in the hands of the House. It will...

By Ray Gronberg

December 3, 2024

Tillis, Paul clash over Helene relief funding

Tensions over funding for western North Carolina’s storm-ravaged communities get hotter all the time. Late Wednesday night, U.S. Sens. Thom Tillis and Rand Paul had an unusually raucous debate on the Senate floor. The two Republicans mixed it up after the Kentucky senator accused his North Carolina peer of blocking...

By Ray Gronberg

November 22, 2024

Rainy day funds

If North Carolina blows through its $4.75 billion rainy day fund dealing with Hurricane Helene’s aftermath, and if it then needs to restock it to the tune of $10 billion or more, that begs the question of where the money’s going to come from. It won’t come from a tax...

By Ray Gronberg

November 22, 2024

Senate Bill 382

Senate Bill 382, which is now heading to the governor’s desk, may not have much to say about hurricane relief but it’s underscored a clear strategy difference between the parties on how to handle the aftermath of Hurricane Helene. Democrats like Gov. Roy Cooper and Buncombe County Sen. Julie Mayfield...

By Ray Gronberg

November 21, 2024

Child-care challenges

North Carolina continues to leave money on the table by failing to get its child-care house in order, a new report from the N.C. Department of Commerce argues. Issued on Oct. 23, the “Empowering Work” report notes that the labor-force participation rate of “prime-age” parents of young children declined in...

By Ray Gronberg

October 29, 2024

Some hurricane-related tax relief

House Bill 149, the Helene relief bill, includes a section that’s designed to give people and businesses affected by the hurricane a bit of breathing room on the taxes. One part of that offers a waiver of interest on underpaid state and local taxes of various sorts, including individual income...

By Ray Gronberg

October 11, 2024

The NC Chamber’s legislative scorecard

The N.C. Chamber on Thursday released its annual legislative scorecard, which rates General Assembly members on their votes in support or opposition of bills the group deems important to North Carolina’s business community. It probably doesn’t come as news to anyone by now that this mostly rewards Republicans and penalizes...

By Ray Gronberg

September 27, 2024

Shooting straight dice

Rep. Keith Kidwell, R-Currituck, got an 88% score and the “jobs champion” label despite introducing two bills, House Bills 32 and 393, that the Chamber considers “anti-business.” HB 32 requires a business to credit customers if they don’t show up for scheduled service appointments, and HB 393 is an appliance lemon law....

By Welcome

September 27, 2024

Monday veto-override votes

The Senate conducted veto-override votes on Monday, in the process turning three bills into law and sending two more to the House for final action. Consecutive 27-17, party line votes completed the legislative journeys of House Bills 155, 556 and 690. With six senators absent (three from each party), the...

By Ray Gronberg

September 10, 2024

Revenue challenges at N.C. Industrial Commission

Speaking of budget shortfalls, the head of the N.C. Industrial Commission told lawmakers this week that it’s struggling to cover employee salaries from fee revenue alone.

By Ray Gronberg

November 21, 2022

DPS says it’s facing major staffing shortages

Secretary of Public Safety Eddie Buffaloe sounded the alarm Thursday on major staffing vacancies facing the state’s juvenile detention facilities and law enforcement agencies.

By Ray Gronberg

November 14, 2022

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