Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 5/30/22

Economic Policy

• Planning for adjustments to the 2022-23 budget is underway at the NC General Assembly. A Republican budget writer in the NCGA said the total spending figure will be between $29.5 billion and $30 billion. Legislators are considering raises for state employees and teachers beyond the 2.5% already allocated, though it is unclear whether they will match Governor Cooper’s request for an additional 2.5% for state employees and 7.5% for teachers through a salary schedule adjustment. They are also considering additional tax cuts, a reserve fund for capital projects, and an additional $100 million for broadband expansion.

• On Tuesday the rules committee of the NC Senate passed the 2022 Farm Act (SB 792), which is expected to pass the full Senate next week. Of note in the bill is a passage that distinguishes hemp from marijuana based on its level of the psychoactive ingredient Delta-9 and excludes hemp from North Carolina’s list of controlled substances. North Carolina’s 2015 law legalizing the hemp industry is set to expire at the end of next month; this provision in the Farm Act will prevent hemp from being outlawed in the state when that happens. In addition, the bill initially included a “right to repair” provision that requires manufacturers of farm equipment to sell parts, manuals, and diagnostic tools to end users and independent shops at the same price that dealers receive. “Right to repair” is a national movement with significant support from farmer advocacy groups, but the provision received even more opposition from dealers, leading to an amendment to the bill to send the issue to a study commission instead.

Environmental Policy

• On Thursday legislators in the NC House introduced a bill to limit PFAS levels in drinking water. “HB 1095 would authorize the state’s Environmental Management Commission to adopt a maximum contaminant level for one or more per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances [PFAS] compounds” (Lisa Sorg, NC Policy Watch). These compounds are known health hazards, with links to thyroid problems, kidney and testicular cancers, immune disorders, and reproductive and fetal development issues. Other states, including Michigan and New York, have already adopted maximum contaminant thresholds for types of PFAS compounds.

Health Care Policy

• On Wednesday, Republicans in the NC Senate, previously fiercely opposed to Medicaid expansion, introduced their own bill that would expand coverage to more than 500,000 low-income adults. HB 149 would expand Medicaid coverage to adults up to 138% of the federal poverty line, bringing in people who have long been left in the coverage gap. The bill also includes measures that face significant opposition from industry groups, including a provision that would allow advanced practice registered nurses to work without supervision from a doctor and a change to the Certificate of Need law that governs the building and expansion of hospitals. However, the Republican senators who introduced the bill said it was unlikely to pass the NC House during the short session.

Gun Violence Prevention

• On Wednesday Governor Cooper called for stronger laws to prevent gun violence following a school shooting in Texas that killed 19 children and 2 adults. Cooper spoke in support of universal background checks and asked the state legislature to close permit loopholes and to pass legislation allowing judges to take guns away from violent offenders and people with severe mental illness. Republicans in the General Assembly do not seem inclined to respond to Cooper’s plea for legislation.

Education and LGBTQ Rights

• On Wednesday the NC Senate Education Committee held the first hearing for a Republican-sponsored bill similar to Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” legislation. HB 755, which was introduced on Tuesday and called the Parents’ Bill of Rights, would prohibit the mention of sexual orientation or gender identity in the K-3 curriculum. While sponsors of the bill stressed that its text is limited to school curricula, rather than Florida’s broader language that could limit LGBTQ teachers from mentioning aspects of their home life, critics including teachers and community advocates said the bill could harm LGBTQ students by, among other things, requiring teachers to out students to their parents.

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 5/23/22

Governance

• In the first week of the new legislative session, Republican leaders of the NC General Assembly met privately to discuss a budget deal. Though the NCGA is on a two-year budget cycle, with last year’s approved budget plan covering this year and next, the legislative body usually makes adjustments to the budget during off years. Given this year’s $6.2 billion budget surplus, Governor Cooper proposed earlier this month to increase spending in the budget to $29.3 billion, including an additional 2.5% raise for teachers and state employees. Republican lawmakers are reluctant to increase spending as much as Gov. Cooper has requested and have suggested cutting taxes further given the surplus, but it is likely that some spending increases will be passed.

Voting Rights

• A total of 1.4 million North Carolinians cast votes in last Tuesday’s primary elections, with a record number choosing to vote early. Elections ran smoothly across the state, with “no reports of significant errors or mishaps.” Despite the higher-than-average turnout, this number of primary voters still represents only about 20% of the total eligible voting population.

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 5/9/22

Education

• On Tuesday the NC Department of Public Instruction announced that 28 school districts in “economically distressed” counties in North Carolina will receive significant grants to replace and repair school buildings. The $400 million in funding comes from the state lottery, and it will be distributed in grants awarded under the Needs-Based Public School Capital Fund. Schools across the state estimated last year that $12.8 billion across 5 years is needed to improve aging school infrastructure; these funds will help to meet the needs of schools where local tax revenues are insufficient to do so.

Criminal Justice

• On Tuesday a State Court of Appeals ruled that District Attorney Jim O’Neill did not follow the requirements of the Rules of Civil Procedure when he sought a protective order to prevent the release of documents to the media about the death of Jim Neville while he was detained in the Forsyth County Jail. Neville, a Black man, died in 2019, three days after being placed in a “prone restraint” by jail deputies. News & Observer reporters filed public records requests in 2020 with the state Department of Health and Human Services for documents including the State Bureau of Investigation’s file on Neville’s death; however, once O’Neill learned the records would be released, he asked a Forsyth County Superior Judge to seal them and did not notify the N&O.