Latest news with #NorthCarolinaHouse
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Taxes, salaries, vacancy cuts make plain differences over rival North Carolina GOP budgets
The North Carolina House's reveal of its state government budget proposal makes plain the differences on taxes, salaries and job cuts between Republicans who control both General Assembly chambers, according to the Associated Press. With strong bipartisan support, the House gave preliminary approval late Wednesday to its plan to spend $32.6 billion in the year beginning July 1 and $33.3 billion the next year — the same amounts Senate Republicans agreed to for their competing two-year budget approved last month. The amounts reflect a more strained fiscal picture amid uncertainty over federal government spending, inflation and projections of flat or falling tax collections. 'We've had to tighten the belt a little bit more than we normally have,' Rep. Donny Lambeth, a top chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, told reporters. But the chambers' paths to those figures show deep areas of disagreement as they pursue a compromise they hope new Democratic Gov. Josh Stein can accept — or build enough legislative support to withstand a Stein veto. ALSO READ: Honor system is over: Make sure you report crypto on your taxes GOP leaders in both chambers agree a previously approved law reducing the current 4.25% individual income tax rate to 3.99% in 2026 should stay in place. But the House, concerned about revenue shortfalls, doesn't want to go along with the Senate proposal to reduce that rate to 3.49% in 2027 and 2.99% in 2028. The House also would make it harder to lower the rate below 3.99% by raising revenue thresholds contained in current law that state coffers must exceed before the rate automatically falls. The Senate tilts toward a more aggressive threshold, proposing a schedule that could reduce the rate one day to 1.99%. Stein has warned that the current thresholds, if left intact, could bring 'self-inflicted fiscal pain' by curbing revenues. Senate Republicans have downplayed such fears, and outside conservative groups argue the House budget actually would raise taxes — legislative staff calculate $2 billion-plus more revenue annually compared to current law. The national conservative group Club for Growth warned on X ahead of Wednesday's vote that anyone voting for the bill containing the 'tax increase in North Carolina should expect to be held accountable on election day, and kiss their political future goodbye.' The threat didn't faze House Republicans, some of whom considered it a scare tactic as talks begin with Senate counterparts. House leaders also note the plan would lower income taxes further by increasing standard deductions and eliminating tax on the first $5,000 of a worker's tips. 'Nothing on the outside of this building is going to change my belief and this (GOP) caucus' belief that this budget is ... the more fiscally conservative between the two chambers,' House Speaker Destin Hall said during a break in Wednesday's debate. The House plan would raise teacher pay well above the Senate proposal, with a focus on early-career instructors. The House proposal would increase state-funded salaries of K-12 teachers by 8.7% on average over the next two years. The Senate's proposed raises are well under half of that percentage, but that doesn't include $3,000 bonuses the Senate also approved. The House says its plan would vault compensation for first-year teachers to top levels in the Southeast. Stein's budget proposal released in March would raise teacher pay well over 10% on average. House Republicans would direct state agencies, departments and institutions to eliminate nearly 3,000 vacant positions, while the Senate version directs that 850 vacancies be eliminated. The Office of State Human Resources notes there were more than 14,000 vacancies in state agencies as of last month. About two-thirds of the House's cuts come from a directive for agencies to eliminate 20% of their vacant positions, with cost savings intended to beef up salaries to recruit and retain workers for critical hard-to-fill positions. After an expected final House vote Thursday, the budget bill will return to the Senate — a prelude to House-Senate negotiations on a unified plan to present to Stein. The goal is to have an enacted budget by July 1, but meeting that deadline has been difficult in recent years as Republicans have battled each other and the Democratic governor. Given this week's discourse over taxes, GOP intraparty negotiations could extend deep into summer. Legislative Republicans currently are one seat shy of a veto-proof majority, meaning Stein could wield some influence. For now, Stein backs the House plan over the Senate. In a statement released during Wednesday's floor debate, he praised its proposals for teacher pay, cutting taxes for working families and reducing income tax rates 'only when the economy is growing.' 'The House's proposed budget isn't perfect,' said Stein, yet while also criticizing 'the Senate's fiscally irresponsible revenue scheme.' Stein's words trickled down into Wednesday's vote. Following five hours of debate and dozens of amendments, 27 House Democrats joined all the Republicans present in voting 93-20 for the plan. VIDEO: Honor system is over: Make sure you report crypto on your taxes
Toronto Star
22-05-2025
- Business
- Toronto Star
North Carolina House advances more Hurricane Helene aid in $465M package
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — The North Carolina House advanced another Hurricane Helene funding package on Thursday to address pressing needs in the mountains eight months after the storm caused historic flooding and destruction. The $465 million package, approved unanimously by the chamber just one day after its unveiling, is about half the $891 million that Democratic Gov. Josh Stein requested from the Republican-controlled General Assembly this week. Republicans lawmakers had been working on their package well before Stein's pitch on Monday.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NC House budget hurtles toward key votes as Democrats criticize continued corporate tax cuts
North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) holds a press conference with House Republicans to outline their state budget proposal on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline) The state House is on track to pass its proposed budget that includes substantial raises for beginning teachers while cutting thousands of vacant jobs and delaying future tax cuts. The House votes this week are a prelude to the coming negotiations between House and Senate budget writers who must reconcile the differences between two distinctly different spending proposals before sending a compromise plan to Gov. Josh Stein. 'We continue to give that tax relief while also making sure we're investing in the state's most important asset, which we believe are its people,' said House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) during a press conference Tuesday morning. The House budget includes a 2.5% raise for state employees, with some of the money for raises coming from the elimination of thousands of jobs. Though the vast majority of the job cuts are to positions that are currently vacant, the total also includes about 62 currently filled positions, lawmakers said. In addition to the 2.5%, the House budget allows state agencies and universities to use money saved by cutting vacant jobs for raises and retention bonuses. The State Employee Association of North Carolina urged its members to tell legislators to reject that plan. 'Employees are stressed and burned out from trying to fill the gaps, ensuring citizens receive the services they pay for with their tax dollars,' SEANC posted on Facebook. 'Robbing Peter to pay Paul is no way to run a state government and no way to treat dedicated career employees.' Hall said the cut vacancies would free up money for agencies to use as needed, including to amp up pay for current workers. He said the decision to eliminate the jobs 'doesn't mean we can't come back later and add those positions' back. Contrary to the proposal for most other agencies, the House budget adds more than 60 driver's license examiner jobs at the DMV and provides money to open new DMV offices in Fuquay-Varina, and in Brunswick and Cabarrus counties. Legislators had said they would wait for an auditor's report on the DMV before they put more money into the agency. But they have been inundated with complaints about long lines at DMV offices and unavailable appointments. 'All the members get a lot of questions about DMV,' said Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth), a lead budget writer. 'We needed to respond to the needs that we're hearing all across the state to get the wait times down.' Nevertheless, the House Appropriations Committee rejected a proposed amendment from Rep. Mary Belk (D-Mecklenburg) for 10 more DMV self-service kiosks at a cost of $43,000, which would have doubled their number. The House budget raises beginning teacher base pay from $41,000 to $48,000 in 2025-26 and to $50,000 the following year. The increases would rank the state first in the Southeast in beginning teacher pay. Average teacher salaries would increase 8.7%. The House budget also restores salary supplements for teachers who hold advanced degrees. When they get to the negotiating table, lawmakers in the House and Senate will have to talk through their different perceptions of revenue growth and related tax cuts. The state's 2023 budget built in up to three automatic personal income tax cuts in tax years 2027 to 2034 that depend on the state meeting revenue targets. The House budget changes those targets, meaning the state would need to bring in more money to trigger the next cut. That plan could delay future cuts. 'When we ran the numbers, Mitch and I had true concerns that we needed to adjust those numbers,' said Rep. Julia Howard (R-Davie). She and Rep. Mitchell Setzer (R-Catawba) are senior co-chairs of the House Finance Committee. 'The first trigger is okay. The second trigger could create some problems, and that's why we adjusted it so that second trigger is most likely not going to click in,' Howard said. Population increases and inflation 'caused enough concern' to make the change, she said. Nonpartisan economists in the state budget office and the legislature have projected state revenue to drop in 2026-2027, as planned tax cuts take effect. Republicans have focused on cutting taxes since they took control of the legislature in 2011. In addition to incorporating graduated cuts in the personal income tax rate, Republicans are phasing out the corporate income tax. Corporations will pay no income tax after the 2029 tax year. The Senate budget proposal added more revenue-triggered tax cuts. Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) told reporters last month that he did not believe the forecast and anticipated revenue will continue to grow. House Republicans were less rosy in their assessment of the state's financial future. 'We'd need about an hour' to discuss the challenges they face, Lambeth said Tuesday morning. Chief among those challenges is uncertainty out of Washington. 'We made a strategic decision — let's just assume that we're going to continue business as usual,' Lambeth said. 'When something comes down the road, we may have to reconvene and deal with those changes.' In his budget request, Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, froze the tax rate and urged Republicans to do the same. The governor has repeatedly warned of a coming fiscal cliff. House Democratic leader Robert Reives (D-Chatham) said Tuesday that the plan was a step in the right direction, getting 'closer to what Gov. Stein proposed' on teacher pay and revenue concerns. But he criticized 'cuts to public safety, public services and negative impacts on clean air and water efforts,' and the continued funding of school vouchers. 'Democrats will be offering amendments to improve our public schools, invest in health care for working families and protect public safety and clean air and water,' Reives said in a statement. In the Appropriations Committee, Republicans took care to protect the voucher reserve fund, rejecting Democrats' requests to shift relatively small amounts of money to support a program for high school students who aspire to teach, or for a pilot on sustainable teaching practices within the New Teacher Support program. House Democrats took aim at the budget plan in a Tuesday afternoon press conference for spurning increases to health and education funding in favor of corporate tax cuts. Putting forward their own proposal, entitled 'Make Corporations Pay What They Owe,' the representatives focused their criticism on Republicans' plan to lower the corporate income tax to zero by 2030, which they said will cause the state to lose about $2 billion annually. They also criticized the elimination of thousands of positions under the House budget plan, which they said will make North Carolinians less safe, healthy, and educated. Rep. Marcia Morey (D-Durham) condemned the plan for corporate cuts as a 'house of cards' that 'cannot be sustained.' 'This shortfall is not because our state spends too much taxpayer dollars on handouts to the poor or to our public schools or to immigrants — it's because we have eroded revenue and put corporate interests over people,' Morey said. Rep. Maria Cervania (D-Wake) focused her criticisms of the budget on health policy, calling out the House's plan to eliminate 50% of funding for community-based mental health crisis services. 'We cannot build a healthy economy by gutting the health of our people,' she said. State employees also gave remarks during the press conference, including Charles Owens, a health care technician at Cherry Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Goldsboro. He singled out increases to state employee health care costs, including higher co-pays, premiums, and deductibles, despite health benefits being a key incentive to join the state workforce. 'We could deal with some of the wage problem, but now you increase our health care costs to the point where employees can't afford to get sick,' Owens said. 'It's time to stop taking care of corporations and giving them tax cuts and start taking care of the people that take care of this state.' Owens added that cutting positions at facilities like his, which house 'the most vulnerable, exploited, and some of the most dangerous people in this state,' endanger the lives of state employees. 'It's a safety issue. We're understaffed, and as we were saying, 300, 400 positions — it may [not] sound like a lot to most people, spread across the number of hospitals, but for me and my staff, that's one less person watching your back, that's one patient that could sneak up and smack you in the back of the head with no recourse,' he said. Rep. Laura Budd (D-Mecklenburg) said Republicans' lack of funding for public education runs counter to their stated aim of making North Carolina more attractive destination for corporate investment. She pointed out that the quality of local school systems is a key factor businesses rely on to determine the suitability of a location, in order to attract a skilled workforce willing to raise their families in the community. 'How do you attract qualified workers to move from other states to North Carolina if the school system where you're going to put that entity isn't very good?' Budd asked. 'Put your money where your mouth is, pay for what you need, not for what you want.' Nicole Price, associate executive director of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said it is critical for lawmakers to halt the cuts to corporate taxes and instead 'reinvest in the future of our state.' She cited a petition that has garnered more than 1,800 signatures calling for the protection of public schools, health services, and other vital programs. 'Now is the time to invest in students' future by investing in our schools,' Price said. 'We can prepare every child regardless of gender, race, ability, family income, to reach their potential, but only if we truly commit to investing in our students.' House Democrats registered some amusement that a few of their past proposals that had been derided when they submitted them had now made their way into the budget bill. Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) noted that she had proposed reducing the triggers for income tax cuts in March, citing the state's revenue shortfalls, a change House Republicans have now adopted as their own. Likewise, Cervania had previously proposed a back-to-school tax holiday that's now in the budget bill. 'Let's be clear: there's still a structural deficit. The triggers may have been adjusted, but the damage of revenue erosion continues,' Butler said. 'We're still asking our state to do more with less, and we're doing it with a straight face. Meanwhile, the federal government has been quietly shifting costs to the states.' Butler and Morey also expressed dissatisfaction with a lack of transparency and bipartisan engagement in the budget-writing process. Butler noted that she only gained access to the bill at 3:30 p.m. Monday when she was due to discuss it in committee at 8:30 a.m. the following morning. And Morey noted that the first item lawmakers received in their subcommittees was 'an entire page' of restrictions barring amendments that would increase overall funding, allocate money to Helene relief, and make numerous other changes. 'They set the lines and we can't draw out of the box,' Morey said.
Axios
14-05-2025
- Health
- Axios
N.C. lawmakers again consider making insurers cover more breast cancer tests
For the second time in two years, the North Carolina House has voted to require insurance companies to cover supplemental breast cancer exams — but it remains to be seen whether the bill will make it through the Senate. Why it matters: For many women with dense breast tissue, a yearly mammogram that is covered by insurance can miss tumors and produce false negatives. Often, a different test, like an MRI or ultrasound, can pick up the cancer a traditional test misses. Those other tests are not typically covered by insurance, though, which makes patients less likely to pursue them and health care providers less likely to suggest them, advocates argue. Between the lines: While the House has seemed willing to pass a requirement, the Senate passed rules this year limiting insurance coverage mandates, saying they drive up costs, WUNC reported. To add a new mandate, legislators would have to repeal one of the 58 existing mandates. Thirty-four states require private insurers to offer additional coverage, but North Carolina isn't one of them. Lauren Horsch, a spokesperson for Senate leader Phil Berger, said the Senate has not discussed what bills it will consider yet, but noted leadership believes mandates drive up costs. "While this is a mandate bill, Senate Republicans will evaluate the policy through the lens of expanding access while driving down healthcare cost," she added in an email. Zoom in: The lack of progress on mandating coverage of these supplemental tests has been extremely frustrating for Sheila Mikhail, one of the Triangle's most successful CEOs and a breast cancer survivor. Mikhail, who guided the Durham biotech AskBio to a $4 billion sale to Bayer, has been one of the loudest advocates in the state for expanding coverage of supplemental tests. Like nearly half of women, she has dense breasts, which kept her mammogram from spotting a tumor at annual checkups. When it finally was discovered in 2022, it was already at Stage 2. Despite having the money to pay for her tests, she was never offered supplemental screenings. She believes doctors are less likely to push for them because they aren't covered. What they're saying: "It's absurd that to get the necessary breast cancer screenings covered we would have to take coverage away [from] something else," Mikhail said of the Senate's rules. Especially, she added, since Medicaid in North Carolina already covers MRIs for women with dense breasts. By the numbers: Mikhail, who has taken her arguments to lawmakers in Raleigh and D.C., argues it makes financial sense for insurers to cover the tests. She says that not only does finding cancer earlier lead to higher survival rates, but it also saves money. The average cost per patient with an early breast cancer diagnosis was $60,000, according to one study. For those found at Stage 1 and 2, it was $82,000, and it was even higher for those found at later stages. The big picture: Mikhail said the lack of a mandate for supplemental coverage makes the state less welcoming to all women.
Yahoo
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
On Day Griffin Concedes, Another Republican Power Grab In North Carolina Becomes Official
Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Yahoo is using AI to generate takeaways from this article. This means the info may not always match what's in the article. Reporting mistakes helps us improve the experience. Generate Key Takeaways Jefferson Griffin (R) surrendered in his six-month-long battle to steal a North Carolina Supreme Court election from Allison Riggs (D) on Wednesday, the same day that North Carolina Republicans' other ratfuckery — trying to strip power from the state's elected Democrats to seize control of election administration in the state — became official. As my colleague Khaya Himmelman has been reporting, continuously, for months, the Republican-controlled state legislature passed a piece of legislation in December 2024, just before it lost its supermajority. The legislation was a power grab disguised as a hurricane relief bill. The bill contained a provision that gave the then-newly elected Republican state auditor Dave Boliek authority over the state's five-member election board. The responsibility previously was held by the governor's office. After the 2024 election, when Democrats held onto the governor's mansion and the attorney general's office, North Carolina Republicans moved to strip some power from the newly elected Democrats. No other state auditor in the nation holds power over the state election board. The bill passed the state legislature, the-then Gov. Roy Cooper (D) vetoed it, the North Carolina House voted to override the veto in the waning days of the supermajority and the bill became law. Both Cooper and now-Gov. Josh Stein (D), the then-governor elect who previously served as the state's attorney general, filed a lawsuit against the GOP-controlled state legislature's leadership. In a 2-1 decision last month, North Carolina Superior Court judges sided with Stein and Cooper, finding the legislation was unconstitutional. That brings us to last week, when a North Carolina Appeals court panel ruled the law could take effect, handing control of the state's election board — the very body embroiled in Griffin's six-month-long effort to steal the election from Riggs — to Boliek, the Republican state auditor. Stein appealed the decision to the state Supreme Court and Boliek, within hours of the law taking effect, appointed three Republicans to the North Carolina Elections Board, shifting the majority to Republicans. The new executive director was appointed today. Griffin also conceded today, a surprising move given the fact that a Republican majority on the state election board could, seemingly, have reversed its position on his various efforts to reverse his defeat. (The board under Democratic control has objected to Griffin's efforts to throw out tens of thousands of ballots to steal Riggs' victory.) 'I hope we return [to] a time when those who lose elections concede defeat rather than trying to tear down the entire election system and erode voter confidence,' outgoing state elections board director Karen Brinson Bell said in a statement Wednesday. MAGA Remembers That Trump's Base Uses Medicaid, Too Vulnerable House Republicans have been queasy but relatively quiet about their conference's planned slashing of Medicaid for months. In the past two weeks, Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee have been going to work trying to figure out how to make sweeping cuts to Medicaid happen without too many Americans figuring out what they're doing. Some of that obfuscation work has hit a rough patch this week, however. Self-imposed deadlines for the text of the targeted cuts coming out of the House E&C and Agriculture Committees have been pushed, as Republicans on the panels struggle to come to an agreement about how exactly they'll make billions in cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. A contingent of right-wing members of the House are pushing for even deeper cuts and are considering scaling back the scope of their tax cut extension in order to make that happen. Now MAGA influencers — remembering that members of Trump's voting base are low-income and use Medicaid — are making a scene, claiming Trump never wanted to cut Medicaid and also suggesting that those who support the extreme cuts are sabotaging Republicans' prospects in the midterms. Laura Loomer went on a Twitter tirade on Monday evening. New CBO Estimate: Medicaid Cuts Would Effect Millions A new estimate by the Congressional Budget Office — a nonpartisan, federal agency that provides budget and economic information to Congress — indicates millions of Americans would lose their health care coverage if Republicans follow through on the Medicaid cuts they are currently discussing how to pull off. The report, which analyzes five different options of possible cuts to the social safety net program, estimates that reducing the current 90% federal matching rate for the Medicaid expansion population would lead to 5.5 million people losing coverage. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) said Tuesday night that Republicans are no longer considering that option. Meanwhile, capping federal spending for the expansion population, which is reportedly still on the table, would lead to 3.3 million people being kicked off their coverage, CBO estimates. 'This non-partisan Congressional Budget Office analysis confirms what we've been saying all along: Republicans' Medicaid proposals result in millions of people losing their health care,' House Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Frank Pallone (D-NJ) said in a Wednesday statement. 'Trump has repeatedly claimed Republicans are not cutting health care, but CBO's independent analysis confirms the proposals under consideration will result in catastrophic benefit cuts and people losing their health care. It's time for Republicans to stop lying to the American people about what they're plotting behind closed doors in order to give giant tax breaks to billionaires and big corporations.' — Emine Yücel 'They Have To Follow Their Heart' Even Donald Trump is toning down his typically-boisterous support for Ed Martin, his pick to run the D.C. USA's office, who has used his post as acting head of the office to go after Trump's perceived enemies. Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) who is up for reelection next year, has made it clear he's a 'no' on moving Martin's nomination out of the Senate Judiciary Committee, likely tanking his prospects of getting confirmed. Her are Trump's remarks to reporters regarding Martin's nomination in the Oval Office today: 'That's really up to the senators; if they feel that way, they have to vote the way they vote. They have to follow their heart and they have to follow their mind.' In Case You Missed It SCOTUS Allows Trump's Purge Of Trans In Military To Proceed Republicans Dodge Even Basic Questions On Medicaid Cut Plans: 'Decisions Haven't Been Made' Yesterday's Most Read Story President Trump's Media Company Is Offering Movies About 'Lizard People' And Other Wild Conspiracy Theories What We Are Reading Donald Trump's Information Warfare Against America House Republicans push to sell thousands of acres of public lands in the West US Health department will analyze data from autistic Medicare, Medicaid enrollees, RFK Jr. says
