All by John Trump
With the end of the state’s fiscal year just three weeks away, the N.C. House and Senate have reached a deal for the next budget. After weeks of closed negotiations, N.C. Senate and House leaders have agreed to a top-line spending number of $25.7 billion in the first year and $26.7 in the second year. That’s a spending increase of 3.45% in the first year of the biennium and 3.65% in year two.
A Durham County Superior Court judge has dismissed a New Bern eye surgeon’s lawsuit challenging the state’s certificate-of-need law.
North Carolina relies on a single pipeline for its natural gas, making it uniquely vulnerable to disruptions, shortages, and even more nefarious problems.
A bill temporarily shortening the length of time required for a driving learner’s permit was signed by Gov. Roy Cooper this week. Republican bill sponsors proposed Senate Bill 69 in response to the growing waiting list of new drivers seeking a spot in mandatory driver’s education classes after the state Division of Motor Vehicles and driving schools were shut down during COVID.
A bill that would open disciplinary records of government employees is crawling through the Senate, and employee unions and Democrats are determined to kill it.
Gov. Roy Cooper, citing falling COVID infections and increased vaccinations, this month reopened the state, albeit not totally free and completely. Enough so, though, that fall festivals can start booking, and music clubs, opened with limited capacity since March, can again start making money.
The Carolina Hurricanes are making more first-round playoff tickets available, now that Gov. Roy Cooper has relaxed more of his COVID-19 restrictions throughout the state.
The National Hockey League’s Stanley Cup playoffs start this weekend, and, as it turns out, the Carolina Hurricanes are one of the best teams in the league, albeit in a shortened 56-game season.
A bill advancing decades’ long work to reform the state’s liquor monopoly passed in the N.C. House and heads now to the Senate.
The state House wants Congress to reject proposals for packing the U.S. Supreme Court. The House voted 68-44 Thursday to support a federal “Keep Nine” amendment to the U.S. Constitution.
The N.C. House committee on Alcoholic Beverage Control moved several bills Wednesday, May 5, including measures to expand growler sizes, to allow alcohol service on charter buses, and to set up “social districts.”
Republican leadership in the General Assembly has introduced legislation to increase penalties for rioting across North Carolina. House Bill 805 would establish a new level of felony penalties for rioters who cause property damage or serious bodily injury or death to others, including physical violence to first responders.
The N.C. House is not planning to move the Save Women’s Sports Act (H358) this session, according to North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore. In an interview with the Associated Press, Moore said that votes are not needed at this point. The bill would apply to college, middle, and high school sports and would require that sports be designated co-ed or specifically for males or females.
North Carolina’s governor would face a new 10-day limit on unchecked use of emergency powers, under a bill approved Tuesday on a party-line vote in the state Senate.
The N.C. House has approved a measure that could pave the way for ending the state’s twice-a-year ritual of setting clocks forward and back.
Rep. Julia Howard, R-Davie, has been removed from her powerful role as senior chair of the state House’s tax-writing Finance Committee. Howard has been reassigned to the budget-writing Appropriations Committee, where she’ll serve as a member at large.
During day two of a trial in a lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s voter identification law, Senate Republicans highlighted supportive comments uttered by Democrats when the General Assembly approved the law in 2018.
A House Judiciary committee is scheduled Tuesday, April 13, to take up a bill that would fully reopen bars and restaurants, as long as they follow specific safety guidelines.
Gov. Roy Cooper on Friday, April 9, signed two bills into law designed to help students who lost more than a year of in-person learning because of the pandemic and subsequent lockdowns.
Three years after the N.C. electorate decided to add a voter identification requirement to the state constitution, Republican lawmakers are defending voter ID in court.
