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Top Story
House
ready to vote on revenue package
based on NCCBI’s idea for solving budget crisis
The
House is scheduled to vote Monday night on a revenue bill that
Speaker Jim Black unveiled this week whose core element is the
proposal that NCCBI advanced in June for resolving the
state’s fiscal crisis – a one-cent increase in the sales
tax. That the bill is calendared for a floor vote indicates
Black believes he has enough votes to pass it, which is a
major breakthrough in the impasse that has handcuffed the
chamber for weeks. However, Republicans in the House and
Senate continue to oppose any increase in taxes, a stance that
likely means the state’s long-running budget stalemate
isn’t over yet. Read
that story.
NCCBI
issues a call for a government efficiency study
Read that story
and catch up on other association news.
Legislative News
Senate
approves changes to Bill Lee Act
The
Senate gave final approval Friday to legislation expanding the
job credits offered in the Bill Lee Act to include companies
that build large distribution warehouses in the state’s
poorest counties. Although the bill could affect a number of
businesses, it was designed to lure a Lowe's distribution
center proposed in Northampton County, where the home
improvement chain announced last spring that it would spend
$90 million building a new distribution center and hire as
many as 600 people. Read
that story.
Other stories from the General
Assembly:
NCCBI
testifies in support of air permits bill
Senate
redistricting plan moves toward a floor vote
Senate
gives Treasurer more leeway in investments
Bill
to extend sunset on state ports tax credit passes Senate
Conferees
named on Patients Bill of Rights
State
Government News
SEANC seeks collective bargaining rights
The
State Employees Association of N.C. (SEANC) voted at its
annual convention in Greensboro earlier this month to begin
lobbying the General Assembly for collective bargaining rights
and the power to possibly organize strikes. While it’s
difficult to imagine that North Carolina, a right-to-work
state with among the nation’s lowest unionization rates,
would grant state workers such powers, one prominent observer
said the movement should be taken seriously. Read
that story.
Elsewhere in state government:
State
offers targeted economic help for 10 counties
Cleveland
County lands new industry
Easley
calls for donations to New York relief fund
August
revenues look a little brighter
Led
by stronger individual income tax collections, the state
General Fund is nearly $300 million richer after two months of
this fiscal year than at this point last fiscal year,
according to a preliminary report by the State Controller’s
Office. In fact, all of the fund’s “Big Four” line items
– individual income, corporate income, sales and use and
franchise taxes – are higher now than at the same time last
fiscal year. Story,
chart
Education
Seven
colleges get A's
for teacher-training programs
Seven
of North Carolina’s 47 teacher education programs received
an exemplary rating and one received a low-performing rating
in the third Performance Report on Teacher Education Programs
for 2000-01 presented by the State Board of Education. The seven
are ASU, Duke, ECU, Salem
College, UNC-Greensboro, UNC-Pembroke and Western Carolina University.
Shaw University received a low performing designation. Story,
chart.
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