|
||
|---|---|---|
|
Quick
Clicks |
|
This Week's Political News Briefing   Legislators are now
talking about adjourning around the end of the month
after the House on Wednesday, by a vote of 105-9, passed
a $14.02 billion budget for the coming fiscal year and
sent the bill on to the Senate. The document achieves
what many thought would be all but impossible given
the state's tight revenue situation -- funding all the
major goals set by Gov. Jim Hunt
and legislative leaders, paying off the remaining
court-ordered tax refunds and doing it all without
raising taxes. Admittedly, some
creative accounting tactics were used.* Story, charts The Senate unanimously approved legislation Tuesday to help rural communities get high-speed Internet access. The measure by Wake Republican Sen. Eric Reeves creates a Rural Internet Access Authority within the state Commerce Department but largely funded with private money. Reeves said the new agency would have a budget of $30 million -- the sum given to the state by the Microelectronics Center of North Carolina, part of the profit from the center's spin-off a successful subsidiary. The lack of high-speed Internet access is a major stumbling block in raising the economies of rural parts of the state, according to the Rural Prosperity Task Force chaired by Erskine Bowles. NCCBI Chairman Mac Everett of Charlotte, the First Union Bank executive, has said that implementing the recommendations of the task force is one of his major goals this year. * Legislative News Briefs  The state expected to collect about $400
million in personal income taxes in May but actually
raked in about $600 million, a windfall that all but
wiped out what had been a worrisome deficit in the state
budget. The surplus for the month brought year-to-date
General Fund revenues up to 99.8 percent of what's needed
to balance the budget. Sales taxes also were up and are
now level with budget. Corporate income taxes are about
$100 million ahead of last year at this point, rising
from $916 million to $1,012 million through 11 months
this fiscal year. With a month to go in its fiscal year,
it looks like North Carolina's strong economy will meet
revenue growth projections.* Read the monthly revenue report Just like everyone else, Carolina Power & Light Co. is having to pay more for fuel these days. So it's asking the state Utilities Commission to approve an $80.6 million increase in the fuel rate CP&L charges its North Carolina customers. If approved by the Utilities Commission, the 3.8 percent increase would raise the average residential customer's monthly bill by $2.38. It's the first time in eight years CP&L has asked for an increase in the fuel rate. * State Government News Briefs Consumer prices inched up just 0.1 percent in May as the U.S. economy posted solid growth while showing "signs of some slowing from the rapid pace earlier in the year," as the Federal Reserve said. The Fed report further said employers are continuing to have difficulty hiring and recruiting people, but it didn't see any worsening of the problem. The National Association of Manufacturers, of which NCCBI is the state affiliate, said the news means the Federal Reserve should delay any further hikes in interest rates. * Federal Government News Briefs The NCCBI-led campaign for passage of $3.1 billion in higher education bonds this fall has begun in earnest with the creation of a campaign organization and the appointment of campaign leaders. The current and three former governors will serve as honorary co-chairmen of the campaign committee and dozens of VIPs have agreed to help out. The key staff person heading up the campaign will be Leslie Bevacqua, NCCBI vice president of governmental affairs. She will take a four-month leave of absence from the NCCBI staff beginning July 17 to run the day-to-day operations of the campaign. Until the campaign secures office space of its own next month, work on the campaign will done out of NCCBI's offices. * Complete story, lists of campaign leaders NCCBI's influence in state politics -- that is, the influence of 2,000 members that we collectively exert -- is on the line over passage of the $3.1 billion bond issue for higher education facilities and over a constitutional referendum on legislative session limits. It is critical that NCCBI members get involved in supporting both these issues. * Read the Member Alert, contact your legislator |
||
Issue No. 6 
