by Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press April 16, 2025
RALEIGH — In February, state economists warned of a looming fiscal cliff if the income and corporate tax rates continue to drop. Senate Republicans don’t exactly believe them. On Monday, they presented a budget proposal that doubled down on income tax cuts, not only ignoring advice to pause them, but also eliminating pesky revenue “triggers” getting in the way of further reductions.
The proposed budget would spend $32.6 billion in the first year and $33.3 billion during the second year (North Carolina operates on a two-year budget.). These are 5.8% and 2.1% year-over-year budget increases, respectively.
Overall, Senate Bill 257 shows “modest growth” to reflect North Carolina’s rising population and economy, Senate leader Phil Berger said.
Tax policy and Helene recovery were the focuses of the 439-page proposal — the first major move in a months-long spending negotiation with the state House.
In a statement, the NC Budget & Tax Center, a nonprofit organization that documents economic conditions, blasted the proposal, saying it was “rooted in magical thinking and cruel cuts that will leave North Carolina unprepared for recessions, federal cost shifts and climate disasters.”
Meanwhile, the budget bill sped through a series of committee hearings Tuesday and will be fast-tracked to the Senate floor. If it passes the Senate, the House will likely make changes.
The final budget will almost certainly be crafted in a joint committee during the coming months.
Then, that version will go to Gov. Josh Stein’s desk, who may opt to sign or veto it, sending it back to the legislature.
But the state doesn’t have that kind of money, Republican Sen. Ralph Hise, who represents nine counties on the state’s western border, told reporters during a press conference on Monday.
Instead, the working strategy is to load millions of dollars into the Hurricane Helene Disaster Recovery Fund, not to be spent now, but to be saved for future federal matching requirements.
The NC Senate’s budget proposal shifts $700 million from various state funds to the Helene Fund, but only reserves $25.5 million for specific purposes:
$10 million to the Governor’s Recovery Office for Western North Carolina
$5 million to the Division of Community Revitalization
$8 million to the UNC Board of Governors to improve emergency response in Western North Carolina schools
$2.5 million to the North Carolina community college system for enrollment loss
Hise said North Carolina is in a “good position” to meet matching requirements as it anticipates a variety of funds to come from the federal government.
The budget proposal also takes $634 million of underutilized transportation funds and reserves them for federal matching requirements for transportation infrastructure recovery.
It further divides $686 million in federal American Relief Act money between Helene-related clean water, drinking water and wastewater treatment system improvement needs.
Extensive damage to roads and property in the Chimney Rock Village area of Rutherford County in the aftermath of Tropical Storm Helene are seen in this aerial image on Nov. 10, 2024. Colby Rabon / Carolina Public Press
Finally, it directs state agencies administering certain grant programs to prioritize applicants from the most impacted counties.
Since Helene, the state has used a significant portion of its “Rainy Day Fund.” So, the budget replenishes it to pre-Helene levels, to the tune of $1.1 billion.
Democratic Senate Minority Leader Sydney Batch isn’t pleased with the lack of actual spending, calling the budget proposal “a blueprint for neglect and cowardice.”
“Instead of investing in the people who make this state work, Republicans are continuing to hoard taxpayer dollars in a Rainy Day Fund — undermining critical agencies and ducking their responsibility by kicking tough decisions over to the House of Representatives,” she said in a statement.
Tax ‘triggers’
If you don’t meet your goals, well, why not just lower the goalpost?
That’s what Senate Republicans chose to do in their budget proposal. Under current law, the state needs to meet specific revenue “triggers” in order to drop the income tax rate another half percent each fiscal year.
Based on February’s Consensus Revenue Forecast, produced by the Office of the State Budget and Management, North Carolina met the revenue threshold for the first year of the biennium, but missed it by less than $100 million the second year.
While North Carolina is growing, the state budget office forecast that the downward pressure of income and corporate tax rate cuts, as well as the unpredictability of inflation and tariffs, would outweigh any revenue increases in fiscal year 2026-27.
The current income tax rate is 4.25% and is scheduled to drop to 3.99% in 2026.
After meeting the first-year trigger, the state is free to further drop the rate another half percent to 3.49% in 2027. But current law would force a pause in 2028.
The Senate budget works around that obstacle by eliminating the trigger from 3.49% to 2.99%.
The budget proposal leaves the next trigger, from 2.99 to 2.49%, in place for 2029, and adds two quarter percent drops the two following years.
Heba Atwa, the director of legislative advocacy and campaigns for the NC Budget & Tax Center, spoke out against the proposed cuts in a Tuesday legislative committee.
She said rate reductions would cost $13 billion annually. Furthermore, Atwa argued that lawmakers weren’t adequately considering the potential loss of federal funds. Last year, North Carolina received federal funding in an amount equivalent to its entire state budget ($30.8 billion). The next two-year budget cyclemay be different.
“Y’all will be left holding the bag when North Carolinians come to you and say, ‘What happened to our services and our programs?’” Atwa said.
Berger isn’t convinced federal cuts will actually happen, but his caucus is monitoring things.
“I think we’ll be able to, if necessary, make adjustments, but it’s our belief that we have adequate reserves to address any scenario that is likely to occur,” said Berger, a Rockingham County Republican.
While the Senate’s proposed budget doesn’t account for potential federal funding cuts, it does take inspiration from Elon Musk’s cost-cutting agency: the Department of Government Efficiency. It dedicates $5 million so that State Auditor Dave Boliek could oversee a state version of DOGE, aptly named the Division of Accountability, Value and Efficiency (DAVE).
DAVE would determine whether state agencies and their vacant positions are necessary as well as how effectively they spend money.
Unlike its federal counterpart, the state auditor would not have the authority to eliminate programs or spending, but could offer recommendations to the General Assembly, Berger said.
SUMMARY: Wegovy, a popular weight loss medication by Novo Nordisk, will soon be available via telehealth companies such as Hims and Hers, LifeMD, and Ro, marking a significant shift in accessibility. The drug, provided in injectable pen form, will be offered at around $600, including 24/7 clinician support and nutritional guidance. This collaboration aims to make Wegovy more affordable and accessible, especially for those without insurance. Following FDA restrictions on compounded GLP-1 drugs, telehealth providers and drug makers are now cooperating to simplify treatment. Competitors like Eli Lilly sell alternatives less conveniently. Wegovy’s use may expand to chronic disease patients.
Consumers looking to start the popular weight loss drug Wegovy but lacking insurance coverage will soon have a new option. Wegovy will soon be available to telehealth companies for a reduced price.
www.thecentersquare.com – By David Beasley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-30 10:28:00
(The Center Square) – North Carolina needs a statewide policy regulating the use of student cellphones in public schools, a top state educator said Tuesday.
Two bills are pending in the Legislature. Cell Phone-Free Education, known also as House Bill 87, requires school boards to “adopt a cellphone-free education policy to eliminate or severely restrict student access to cellphones during instructional time.”
It allows exceptions if a teacher authorizes the use for educational purposes, if a cell phone is required for a students’ individualized education program or for the student’s health care.
Student Use of Wireless Communication Devices, known also as Senate Bill 55, contains similar language.
In North Carolina and nationally, there is a “wide disparity” in how school districts handle cellphone use in the classroom, Michael Maher, chief accountability of the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, told The Center Square.
“There is emerging evidence on the negative impact of not only on instruction but on student long-term outcomes on mental health,” Maher said.
Social media in particular is “highly addictive,” Maher said.
“If there is a way for us to help remove that, it would absolutely help instructional practice,” said Maher, a former high school teacher. “Student performance is actually tied to student attention. Phones are attention grabbing. You have this device that is drawing their attention.”
A classroom ban would likely require teachers to collect cellphones in the morning as class begins and return them at the end of the school day, said Maher.
“There are pouches and other types of solutions to store student devices,” he said. “The teacher would just make that part of their daily routine.”
Collecting student cellphones early in the day before instruction begins might be easier for teachers than having to constantly be on the lookout for students secretly using them throughout the day in the classrooms, Maher said.
“We already ask teachers to do too much,” he said. “I don’t think it’s fair to them.”
It is important to provide adequate funding for school districts to pay for storage devices, Maher added.
The North Carolina School Board Association has not taken a position on the two pending bills, spokesman Ben Christoph told The Center Square.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The article presents information about proposed legislation regulating student cell phone use in North Carolina public schools in a straightforward and factual manner. It quotes a state education official explaining the rationale behind the bills, including concerns about student attention and mental health, without using emotionally charged or partisan language. The piece also notes the positions and actions of legislative bodies and impartial organizations, avoiding taking a stance or advocating for or against the bills. Overall, the tone and content align with neutral reporting on policy proposals rather than expressing an ideological bias.
by Sarah Michels, Carolina Public Press April 30, 2025
RALEIGH — There’s never an off year for elections. At least not in the state legislature. This session, dozens of election-related bills have been filed, but a few have sped to the front of the pack: local measures making school board races partisan and those shifting municipal contests from odd to even years, when state and presidential elections take place.
Meanwhile, other legislation — including bills making Election Day a state holiday and changing the way voter registration drives work — has stalled.
In order for these bills to make it across the finish line, they’ll need a boost to meet the May 8 crossover deadline — the day legislation has to be approved by at least one chamber to move forward.
Making election boards partisan
When the Jackson County Board of Commissioners voted unanimously on a resolution asking the General Assembly to make school board elections partisan, there was no warning. The proposed change wasn’t even on the agenda.
Rather, during its February meeting, Commissioner John Smith moved to amend another resolution, which was on the agenda, with the proposal to add party affiliations next to the names of school board candidates.
Without discussion or public input, Smith and his fellow commissioners voted to approve the amended resolution.
A week later, the Jackson County Board of Education voted unanimously to approve an opposing resolution declaring its intent to keep school board elections nonpartisan.
Board of Education Chairwoman Gayle Woody felt blindsided.
“It was obvious that they had had discussions behind closed doors because there was unanimous agreement with no comment, reason given or discussion,” she said.
Although Woody shared her concerns with the county’s Republican state House Rep. Mike Clampitt, he prioritized the commissioners’ wishes. In early March, Clampitt filed a bill to make Jackson County’s school board elections partisan. Since then, that bill has passed the House along party lines and is awaiting a second round of review in the state Senate.
Woody hopes that never happens. She sees a potential ally in Jackson County state Sen. Kevin Corbin, whose opposition could kill the bill. Thus far, Corbin has been “very responsive” to the education board’s concerns, she said, but votes are never certain until they’re tallied in the state legislature.
Woody doesn’t want the school board to become another “political football” in her community.
“I’m obviously aware that political things come up in every aspect of community life, but that should not be the driving force behind decisions made by school boards,” she said. “It should be what’s best for our students.”
A partisan pattern
Jackson County is not the only battleground where the fight over elections is being waged. According to an EdNC analysis, the number of partisan school districts in North Carolina has quintupled since 2013 when only 10 districts held such elections.
In 2024, 52 of the state’s 115 school districts held partisan elections. Before those elections, 31 of those boards had Republican majorities. Afterward, it was 38.
“In a state like North Carolina, where we have roughly the same number of Democrats and Republicans, but we have more Republican counties than Democratic counties, moving to partisan ballots is likely to help the Republican Party,” said Chris Cooper, a Western Carolina University political science professor.
He added that it also helps build Republican talent which can be used to fill out candidate slates for higher levels of political office later.
Bills to make school board elections partisan in Gaston, Columbus and Pitt counties, as well as the city of Asheboro, are also on the table this legislative session. Each have made it past the House and await Senate action.
During a committee meeting discussing one of these bills, state Sen. Brad Overcash, R-Gaston, explained that voters want more information on the ballot. Right now, they just have a list of names, he said.
Even when parties aren’t listed on the ballot, partisanship comes into play because local Democratic and Republican parties tend to make endorsements in nonpartisan races, Overcash added.
“This is a much more fair way to conduct elections because if you have multiple people from the same party running, you have an open public election process rather than an internal party process where they’re identifying who should go on what slate card,” he said.
While the Jackson County Board of Commissioners has five Republicans, the current school board has three Democratic members and two unaffiliated members. To Woody, it’s proof that voters chose individuals, not a party, in a county that went for President Donald Trump by nine percentagepoints the past two election cycles.
Odd or even?
During China Grove’s last mayoral election, 377 people voted out of a population of about 4,500 in the Rowan County town.
In the Pitt County village of Simpson, just shy of 100 voted.
And in Vance County’s Kittrell, a measly 26 showed up at the polls for the mayor’s race.
What do these races across North Carolina have in common? They all took place in 2023, an off year for state and federal elections when voter turnout is typically much lower.
That’s why these small burgs, as well as Madison, Faith and all of Pamlico County’s townships, want to change that. Each asked their state representative to file a bill changing their elections from odd to even years.
For China Grove Mayor Rodney Phillips, there was an additional motivation: to save money.
The same holds true in Kittrell, where the town clerk said the 2023 election cost $2,500 even though only a few dozen showed.
Also, when fewer people vote, it’s easier for special interest groups to sway a result, Cooper said. But off-year elections have different patterns than on-year elections in that the issues may be more nationalized when the mayor’s race is on the same ticket as the presidential and congressional contests.
Note: The following A.I. based commentary is not part of the original article, reproduced above, but is offered in the hopes that it will promote greater media literacy and critical thinking, by making any potential bias more visible to the reader –Staff Editor.
Political Bias Rating: Centrist
The content reports on several legislative proposals in North Carolina concerning election-related changes, such as making school board races partisan and shifting municipal elections to even years. The article presents facts about the various proposed bills and their progress through the state legislature, without endorsing a specific position. It includes perspectives from both supporters and opponents of the bills, such as Republican officials advocating for more transparent elections and Democratic officials concerned about the political implications for school boards. The tone remains neutral, presenting both sides of the debate in a straightforward manner.
