Unable to reach an agreement on a state General Fund budget, legislative leaders plan to extend their temporary budget continuing resolution until September 18...
Published: Friday, August 28th, 2015 @ 12:38 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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That's what it appears House Bill 561 does.
Published: Friday, July 24th, 2015 @ 4:30 am
By: Brant Clifton
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A General Assembly subcommittee is looking at state property with an eye toward selling land and buildings the state owns but doesn't need, and seeing if it might save rent by moving from leased spaces to unused or underused state property.
Published: Monday, July 13th, 2015 @ 12:44 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Incredible. It is amazing that something that is sooooo common sense is having such difficulty navigating through the conservative revolution
Published: Tuesday, June 23rd, 2015 @ 8:33 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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It took two-and-a-half years, but state Senator Fletcher Hartsell's (RINO-Cabarrus) campaign finance / ethics case is going to get some attention from an actual bona fide prosecutor.
Published: Saturday, June 20th, 2015 @ 4:35 am
By: Brant Clifton
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That’s a mighty apt take on the current environment on Jones Street, as supplied from one disgusted insider who confided in me.
Published: Monday, May 11th, 2015 @ 10:35 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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Out of the blue, government goodies for solar energy providers has become the rage on Jones Street. No one really saw this coming.
Published: Saturday, May 9th, 2015 @ 2:12 am
By: Brant Clifton
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We've expressed our dismay at recent legislation - sponsored by a hodge-podge of statist Democrats, RINOs, and reputed conservatives - to extend the 35 percent credit for solar energy production for five years.
Published: Saturday, April 25th, 2015 @ 1:19 am
By: Brant Clifton
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Gov. Pat McCrory appeared on WFNC radio in Fayetteville Thursday morning and reiterated his effort to prevent North Carolina from being swept into the political maelstrom that engulfed Indiana and Arkansas over religious freedom and gay rights.
Published: Tuesday, April 7th, 2015 @ 9:47 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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A House education committee on Tuesday gave its OK to House Bill 133, a measure increasing the scholarship amount available to special needs students who attend private schools from $3,000 per semester to $4,000. It also approved a change allowing families receiving those scholarships to collect...
Published: Saturday, March 28th, 2015 @ 3:42 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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We and many other grassroots entities - have been howlin' mad about Gov. Pat's $40 million corporate welfare giveaway.
Published: Thursday, March 26th, 2015 @ 10:27 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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Removing outdated legal barriers to consumer health care choices could help corral rising Medicaid costs in North Carolina, reform advocates say.
Published: Tuesday, March 17th, 2015 @ 6:51 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Some of the honorables on Jones Street — aided and abetted by the drive by media — are still pushing that myth about how cash-starved the state is for road construction money.
Published: Tuesday, March 10th, 2015 @ 10:56 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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From what Jones Street insiders are telling me, Cumberland County Rep. Rick Glazier (D) is the closest thing to a leader in the General Assembly's lower chamber. And HE is a leader of a distinct minority in the House.
Published: Saturday, March 7th, 2015 @ 9:57 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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It seems the folks on Jones Street have kicked off one heck of an orgy - apparently in honor of the box office success of '50 Shades of Grey.'
Published: Saturday, February 28th, 2015 @ 2:03 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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A group of Democrat senators has introduced a bill calling for JUST that.
Published: Sunday, February 22nd, 2015 @ 11:12 am
By: Brant Clifton
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Legislators are spinning us that a lot of road work needs to be done statewide, but there just isn't enough money out there to do it.
Published: Friday, February 20th, 2015 @ 2:45 am
By: Brant Clifton
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Politicians these days are all crowing about being “job creators.” Gov. Pat McCrory has emptied out the corporate welfare accounts at the Department of Commerce, and he’s coming to us (and our legislators on Jones Street) looking for $45 million more.
Published: Wednesday, February 18th, 2015 @ 1:20 am
By: Brant Clifton
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The “conservative revolution” in Raleigh is telling us the state is so cash-poor that it can’t afford some vital road repairs and construction.
Published: Sunday, February 15th, 2015 @ 2:02 pm
By: Stan Deatherage
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With a philosophical gulf still separating the state House and Senate on how best to reform the costly Medicaid program, Illinois is reporting multibillion-dollar success in a reform plan that closely resembles North Carolina Senate Republicans' framework for the future.
Published: Sunday, February 8th, 2015 @ 9:37 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Extraterritorial jurisdictions have been a source of controversy for years. Muncipal leaders and their advocates LOVE them. They gain influence over territory and residents who can't even vote for them.
Published: Saturday, February 7th, 2015 @ 9:41 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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Regulations on the emerging sharing economy, and how North Carolinians will embrace it, will have their next stop at the Raleigh City Council. The council will receive a report Jan. 20 on Airbnb, one of the stars of the sharing economy. Meantime, a legislative committee that recommends new tax...
Published: Thursday, January 15th, 2015 @ 11:50 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Incoming House majority leader Mike Hager is trying to open up the decision making process in the General Assembly's lower chamber.
Published: Sunday, January 11th, 2015 @ 7:44 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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I got a call yesterday from someone - very familiar with the inner workings of the state House Republican Caucus - who had just read my item on Democrat Paul Tine's departure from the Democrat Caucus.
Published: Saturday, January 10th, 2015 @ 7:29 pm
By: Brant Clifton
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State employees would be given alternative investment options and greater control of their retirement plans under cost-saving pension reform strategies that are gaining support as the upcoming General Assembly session looms, key legislators say.
Published: Friday, January 9th, 2015 @ 12:34 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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The thoroughgoing reforms in Medicaid outlined 18 months ago by Gov. Pat McCrory are no closer to fruition now than they were when the governor introduced his Partnership for a Healthy North Carolina in April 2013
Published: Monday, December 15th, 2014 @ 11:28 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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If North Carolina doesn't reform its Medicaid delivery system, costs of the government insurance program for the poor and disabled will grow faster than new state revenue, says state Sen. Ralph Hise, R-Mitchell.
Published: Wednesday, December 10th, 2014 @ 1:35 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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Frustrated by their lack of authority to police upstart businesses in the "sharing economy" - a marketplace relying on direct negotiations between providers and consumers - some North Carolina municipalities are asking the General Assembly for permission to regulate businesses such as Uber...
Published: Friday, December 5th, 2014 @ 1:12 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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A legal challenge to the General Assembly’s new rules on public use and behavior at the legislative complex could reshape public access and speech rights on public property all the way down to local governments.
Published: Tuesday, September 2nd, 2014 @ 6:24 pm
By: John Locke Foundation
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If you listen to the drive-by media or the zombies and trolls following Bill Barber around, you’d think North Carolina state government was now a shoe-string operation.
Published: Monday, August 25th, 2014 @ 12:30 am
By: Brant Clifton
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Senate budget negotiators will meet Wednesday morning in a public "conference committee" meeting to start ironing out differences between three fiscal plans: one proposed by Gov. Pat McCrory and two passed by each legislative chamber. The question is whether House conferees will take part.
Published: Friday, July 4th, 2014 @ 12:44 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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Lobbyists for North Carolina's motion-picture industry, in an attempt to preserve an expiring taxpayer subsidy for film production in the state, are circulating two "talking points" documents to lawmakers attacking the credibility of those who have questioned the figures.
Published: Saturday, June 7th, 2014 @ 9:19 am
By: John Locke Foundation
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House Republican leaders are pretty excited about getting toll roads approved. (We thought the era of squeezing more money out of working people's pockets was over.)
Published: Tuesday, June 3rd, 2014 @ 9:10 am
By: Brant Clifton
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Well, it appears Robert Brawley's political career on Jones Street and his relationship with the NCGOP powers that be — swims with the fishes. Just like Luca Brasi.
Published: Saturday, May 24th, 2014 @ 9:25 am
By: Brant Clifton
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