NC Rural Center listening tour to gather input for 2025 agenda

Posted on by Matthew Sasser

The NC Rural Center will convene 15 meetings of its listening tour next week to prepare its policy agenda for the 2025 legislative session. 

Davidson-Davie Community College in Thomasville will be the first stop of the tour on Sept. 17. Subsequent dates across the state will gather information from nonprofit organizations, chambers of commerce, local governments, elected officials and faith communities from mid-September through October. 

“By the time we finish all 15 of these, you have a really good sense of the mood of rural North Carolina and also the things that need to be our priorities when we get ready for the next long session of the General Assembly,” Patrick Woodie, president and CEO of the NC Rural Center, said. 

North Carolina has the second largest rural population in the United States, behind Texas. However, a 50-year shift in North Carolina, according to Woodie, has reduced the number of rural legislators and expanded districts to accommodate the necessary population to constitute a state House or Senate district, as well as congressional districts. 

“We’re a state with a history of predominantly rural state governments. That’s been the biggest voice,” Woodie said. “That’s changed. We’re a state now that is roughly equally divided between rural, suburban and urban. There are fewer and fewer legislative districts that are purely rural.”

According to an NC Rural Center analysis, 50 North Carolina House districts had a rural majority representation in 2004. For the 2024 election cycle, there will be 43 such districts. In 2024, 73 districts will have no rural representation, an increase from 62 in 2004. 

“In the 2004 election, 21 [North Carolina Senate] districts were majority rural,” the report states. “For the upcoming election, that has declined to just 14. The decline is not as pronounced in districts that have 40 percent rural population or less.”

The report attributes much of this change to a minor decrease in population in rural areas, while suburban counties saw a slightly larger population increase. Another potential factor, the analysis finds, is redistricting. 

While the rural areas of the state have consistently been in the greatest need year to year, Woodie said the goal of the listening tour is to attune the staff to the regional nuances of each area so their agenda can best represent the state’s 78 rural counties. 

Access to broadband has been a top priority on the NC Rural Center’s previous agendas. Woodie said broadband underpins the workforce development and small-business growth needs in rural areas and aligns with another area of high need for rural areas: access to quality health care. 

Concerns from small businesses in the 2022 round of listening sessions led to a “robust” policy agenda for businesses with fewer than 50 employees, Woodie said. 

He said that although rural and urban districts have similar priorities, the NC Rural Center advocates to legislators that one size does not fit all and policy can look very different between western and eastern North Carolina among various populations. 

“I think the Legislature very much understands that. I think that’s something we’re all very proud of in this state” Woodie said of the diversity from the mountains to the coast and the beauty of small towns.

The conversations that are the product of the listening session dates will be collected by the NC Rural Center staff and distilled into the highest common denominator issues. About a half dozen top priorities will be identified.

While there are fewer rural legislators and legislative districts, Woodie said that points to the need for a stronger public policy agenda from the NC Rural Center to build alliances and educate those from all the diverse parts of the state. 

“It’s really important that rural North Carolina carry a very coherent, focused agenda that we can get all of rural North Carolina behind,” Woodie said. 

The NC Rural Center’s 2025 advocacy agenda will be submitted to their board of directors in December and will be available to the public in January. 

The 2024 Rural Issues Poll is online now. It asks respondents to rank the importance of 30 specific issues divided into six priority areas. The poll will also be used to shape the NC Rural Center’s 2025 advocacy agenda.

For questions or comments, or to pass along story ideas, please write to Matthew Sasser at [email protected] or contact the NC Insider at [email protected] or @StateAffairsNC 

Auditor General says Behavioral Health board lags in investigations

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

Almost 60% of complaints filed with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners in fiscal year 2023 were not filed in a timely manner, according to a report published Thursday by the Auditor General’s office. Auditors considered timely to be 180 days for most complaints, and 58% of closed complaints took more than 180 days to be resolved. Another 31% of open complaints had been active for more than 180 days as of June 2023. During the fiscal year, 232 complaints were filed with the board, which typically allege a licensee has engaged in unprofessional conduct, is incompetent or is mentally or physically unable to provide behavioral health services. The board had similar timeliness issues in its 2012 sunset review. “Untimely complaint resolution may negatively impact patient safety when delays allow licensees alleged to have violated Board statutes and rules to continue to practice while under investigation even though they may be unfit to do so,” auditors wrote in the report. One such complaint alleged a licensee continued to treat a minor patient after consent to treat was removed by one parent, but not the other. It took 135 days for an investigator to be assigned to the complaint and the investigator determined the licensee’s conduct was “grossly negligent” and participated in an inappropriate relationship with a client that impaired that licensee’s judgment. The complaint was resolved 211 days after it was filed. The audit also found that the board charged fees that exceeded operational costs in each of the past three years. Auditors recommended the board hire additional investigators to assist in investigating and resolving complaints within 180 days and to reexamine its fees. The board’s executive director, Tobi Zavala, wrote in a response letter to the audit that investigators have not been able to resolve complaints in a timely manner due to a lack of resources, staff and support. Since 2018, the board has received a 97% increase in complaints and a 101% increase in background investigations with the same number of staff. For the fiscal year 2025 budget, the board requested seven additional staff members, and the audit has changed the number of those staff members in the investigations unit from three to fo

Another PAC to boot Bolick and King takes shape

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

A new PAC aimed at unseating Bolick and King made their campaign debut Tuesday. Protect Abortion Rights No Retention Bolick and King plans to make the justices ruling upholding the 1864 abortion ban the centerpiece of the campaign. And though leading with the abortion ruling, Morgan Finkelstein, spokesperson for the campaign, and DJ Quinlan, chair, said the campaign would be wrapping in parts of the justices’ records on and off the bench. On Bolick’s part, Quinlan and Finkelstein pointed to education funding — given Bolick’s past work in litigation with the Goldwater Institute and lobbying for Institute for Justice on school choice, as well as his ruling on Prop. 208, a voter initiative raising taxes on high-income households to pad school budgets and teacher salaries. For King, Abigail Jackson, digital director for Progress Arizona, noted King’s past work as a corporate litigator. Part and parcel of retention elections is voter education on Prop. 137, the ballot measure poised to walk back the results of the 2024 retention election if passed by voters. “The most heinous thing about Proposition 137 is that it’s retroactive,” Quinlan said. “So if voters, in their wisdom, choose to vote no on retention for justices Bolick and King, but 137 were to pass, it would actually undo their vote … It will be an important component of the campaign.” The group is working in tandem with Progress Arizona, the first group to announce its intent to campaign against the two justices, as well as Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona. Abigail Jackson, digital director for Progress Arizona, said the two campaigns would be joining forces, with Progress Arizona handling a progressive voters guide. Meanwhile, Protect Abortion Rights No Retention Bolick and King is starting to fundraise and plans to run a traditional campaign, like taking out digital and direct ads, knocking on doors and attending events. A railbird cast some doubt on fundraising, given early ballots are set to deploy in about three weeks.  “The fundraising in the state will be in competition with the abortion measure, control of the legislature, Gallego, and a bunch of other things, so good luck. That, and their campaign has eight words in it. Who came up with that?”

Ducey fights to keep his appointees on the bench

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

Former Gov. Doug Ducey sent a letter soliciting donations in support of the Judicial Independence Defense PAC, a committee aimed at ensuring justices Bolick and King are retained in the upcoming election. The letter shows a mounting Republican interest rising to meet progressive efforts to oust the two justices. In 2016, Ducey expanded the court from five to seven justices and appointed King and Bolick, as well as justices William Montgomery, John Lopez and James Beene during his two terms. Ducey wrote he “chose distinguished jurists of high character who I knew would uphold the law rather than legislate from the bench.” He warned Hobbs would replace King and Bolick, and Brutinel given retirement, with “liberal activist judges.” “That has the potential to shift the entire balance of power on the Court to the far left,” Ducey wrote. “Think for a moment what that would mean for Arizona. Liberals have already elected a Democratic governor, attorney general, and secretary of state, and are within just one seat each of controlling both the state house and state senate. If they were to seize control of the Arizona Supreme Court as well, they would enjoy unfettered control at every level of government.” Daniel Scarpinato, spokesman for the committee, said the PAC came as more of a defense to larger national influence moving into the state’s judicial retention election. “We’ve always felt like we would be the underdog in this. There are unlimited out-of-state resources to politicize and flip the court and that there’s a lot of energy around it. So our whole goal is to make sure that Arizonans know what the process is, what our retention elections are designed to do, that these are two justices who have a great track record of being impartial. Really our goal is to keep politics out of the court.” He continued, “What we’re trying to do, to the extent possible, is drain the politics out of this, rather than inject them in.” Scarpinato said the campaign efforts are to be more “grassroots,” in engaging people to spread the message by word of mouth to voters, door knocking and canvassing. Treasurer Kimberly Yee’s PAC also sent out a message supporting Bolick and King’s retention. “Republicans – This is Kimberly Yee, your State Treasurer of Arizona. I wanted to notify you that there is a coordinated effort by liberal, out-of-state interests to politicize our State Supreme Court. We can stop them, but we must vote YES to retain.”

Stringham gets air time, Heap skips debate for Maricopa County Recorder

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

Tim Stringham got 10 minutes of free airtime on Arizona PBS Wednesday night after Heap declined to show for what was supposed to be a debate for the Maricopa County Recorder’s race. Stringham sat down with Arizona Horizon host Ted Simons for an interview about the race, defending his lack of political experience and the record of incumbent Republican recorder Richer. Stringham said he knows he would not make a good legislative candidate, but that he’s not running for a legislative office. “What you’re doing is you’re hiring somebody who can lead [the recorder’s] office on a day-to-day basis, and who informs policy, but not who creates it,” Stringham said. He also acknowledged that some voters have “thoughtful, heartfelt concerns” about election integrity in the county that he plans to address, but that people like Heap, Trump and Lake have perpetuated conspiracy theories about the recorder’s office. “Not only is Maricopa County doing very well at elections, but I think we’re actually leading on that front,” Stringham told Simons during the interview. “I’m actually excited to go into a department that I think should be very proud of the work that it’s been doing.” Stringham is scheduled to appear at a Citizens Clean Elections Commission Debate on Thursday, and Heap is likely to skip that debate as well. Heap has not responded to multiple questions from our reporter and other local reporters about his attendance at the debates this week. 

Candidates weigh in after Way’s residency challenge dismissed

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

Carter denied involvement in the LD15 lawsuit challenging GOP House candidate Michael Way’s candidacy during a Clean Elections debate Wednesday night. Way didn’t participate in the debate, but Carter and the single-shot Democratic candidate, Barbara Beneitone, did. Both candidates were asked about the recently dismissed lawsuit against Way, and Beneitone said the lawsuit was brought on Freedom Caucus Republicans and accused Carter of being involved. “The signs out here said Carter. The signs out here said Hoffman, Carter and (Peter) Anello. The three of them were hoping to get on the ticket,” Beneitone said. “It is well known they did not want Michael Way on the ticket.” She also said she didn’t think Way is eligible to run in the district but said Democrats didn’t challenge his candidacy because it’s too late to file an election challenge. Carter acknowledged the lawsuit was filed by a Republican precinct committeewoman in the district but said he wasn’t involved in any way, nor is he a member of the Freedom Caucus. “I was never a member of the Freedom Caucus,” Carter said. In a Monday news release after the ruling that dismissed the lawsuit, Way said the lawsuit was a “groundless attempt” from his political opponents to undermine the election process and prevent the people of Arizona from having their votes counted.

Senate candidate McLean energized heading to November election

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

LD17 Democratic Senate candidate John McLean said he is feeling energized going into the general election — despite the results of the Republican primary, which ousted the more controversial GOP candidate. Former lawmaker Vince Leach, who didn’t make himself available for an interview before our deadline,” ousted incumbent Wadsack in the GOP LD17 Senate primary election. Consultants and pollsters previously told our reporter that Wadsack could have been an easier candidate for McLean to beat due to her contentious history as a freshman lawmaker. “I think myself and many, many people were just focusing on Wadack, as she was incumbent,” Leach told our reporter. “But when Leach won, I said, ‘Okay, I need to recalibrate.’ If anything, I’m even more passionate now about winning the seat, just because Leach is so bad.” Leach and McLean both boast careers as businessmen, but their policy stances are polar opposite. McLean said the overturning of Roe v Wade was what inspired him to run for public office, which he described as a “wake-up call to freedom.” When it comes to border security, McLean said he would advocate for stronger funding for the Department of Public Safety. As for school choice, he said the Empowerment Scholarship Account program needs to be limited so that more state funding can be funneled to public schools. “There is absolutely a place for an ESA program for families, but if you’re a rich Paradise Valley family that is already sending your children to private schools, I’m not sure that’s a good use of taxpayer funds,” McLean said. He added that ESA funding is appropriate for some families, such as for children with learning disabilities. In a purple district like LD17, he said he would aim to address issues like reproductive health, education and water in a bipartisan manner. He added that, if elected, he might be interested in serving as a legislative member of the Governor’s Water Policy Council to work toward bipartisan policy solutions to ensure Arizona’s water supply.

State board of ed approves measure aimed at better training teachers in area of American Sign Language

Posted on by Matt Resnick

The Kansas State Board of Education on Wednesday unanimously approved the revision of its educator preparation standards to include American Sign Language in its World Language repertoire. 

Petra Horn-Marsh, a professor at the University of Kansas’ Edwards Campus, told the board that K-12 educators are ill-equipped to teach the nuances of American Sign Language. Students pursuing postsecondary opportunities, and who rely on sign language, are often ill-prepared when taking proficiency exams, Horn-Marsh said. 

“Most of the time, the people that they bring on board to teach these classes are not qualified,” she said. 

Students attending Olathe’s Kansas School for the Deaf learn American Sign Language as a first language, whereas it’s instructed as a second language at public schools and often ends up being taught in spoken English, according to Horn-Marsh. 

“Actual ‘signed’ teaching is much less emphasized,” she said of public schools. “Therefore, the students who are taking these classes don’t have the proficiency.

“If they go in and take a proficiency exam, they do not pass it. And so, it’s very much a waste of their educational time. In high school, if they take ASL 1, 2, 3 and sometimes 4, they have to take it all over again because they don’t have the all-encompassing language, signs, vocabulary — that foundation. It’s not just signs;, it’s so much more involved than that.”

The intricacies of sign language, according to Horn-Marsh, include a numbers system, facial expressions, phonemes, non-manual markers, and spatial and classifier use. 

“All of these components go into American Sign Language,” she said. “And so you need a highly qualified instructor, just as you would with any other spoken foreign language.” 

Under the revised educator preparation standards, educators teaching sign language would need background in language acquisition theories and instructional methods for second language learning — as well as language proficiency in the areas of interpersonal, interpretive and presentational. 

Keri Haberer, a teacher at Derby Public Schools who was involved in the process of updating the educator preparation standards, told the board that the wording of the standards was devised in a way that is consistent with higher education programs —  and “easy and clear to know what they’re assessing their candidates on.” 

Ann Mah, District 4, asked about higher education institutions that offer programs specializing in American Sign Language training, and if instructors would need to enroll in a program specific to that. The board was told of two East Coast schools that offer those types of programs — Ivy League Columbia University and Washington D.C.-based Gallaudet University — and Wichita State University just kicked off an American Sign Language program.

In the absence of a teaching license, Harberer said Kansas teachers will not stop instructing students in the area of American Sign Language. Instead, teachers will receive in-service training and other supports that will them to advance their skill sets.  

Mah asked if any of the state’s higher education institutions have expressed interest in “using the standards for development and going forward with the program.” Horn-Marsh said KU’s Edwards Campus “is very interested in taking that on.” 

Mah also wanted to know the real impact of the training. 

“Will we get the word out that you really need to take training if you’re going to teach ASL?” she asked. She was told during the meeting that school districts make hiring decisions at the local level, and until now, there has not been a licensure requirement for American Sign Language. 

Board President Melanie Haas asked, “At what point will we be telling schools, ‘If you don’t have a license, you can’t teach?”

Shane Carter, director of teacher licensure for the Kansas State Department of Education, told the board, “The steps you have taken today have created an opportunity for us to develop programs.” 

“It is going to force people to get an actual teaching license with that endorsement added in,” Carter said of the American Sign Language proficiency assessment. “The bottom line, what you’ve done here today, is force districts to ensure that [those people] have training and add an endorsement to a teaching license.” 

The board was also informed during the meeting that school districts in Kansas are receiving “high demand” for American Sign Language classes, and that around 200 high school students are enrolled in ASL 1 through 3 in the Olathe School District taught by a single instructor.

“It’s in high demand and the enrollment numbers are showing it,” she said.

Education Commissioner Randy Watson told State Affairs the passage of the measure was notable for the state.

“We basically said that sign language is now going to be taught in Kansas as a world language, and train teachers so that they can train students that want to learn that,” he said. “But we need teachers that can train that well enough that a student can come out and really know how to sign well.”

As far as collaborative efforts, Watson added that the University of Kansas “is primed to do some of that work and become a leader in that space.” 

Haas said passage of the measure should create opportunities “for kids to better relate to one another.” 

“This is about being able to put the whole sentence together, being able to truly communicate,” she said. 

Matt Resnick is a statehouse reporter at State Affairs Pro Kansas/Hawver’s Capitol Report. Reach him at [email protected]

Auditor General:  Behavioral Health board lags in investigations

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

Almost 60% of complaints filed with the Arizona Board of Behavioral Health Examiners in fiscal year 2023 were not filed in a timely manner, according to a report published Thursday by the Auditor General’s office. Auditors considered timely to be 180 days for most complaints, and 58% of closed complaints took more than 180 days to be resolved. Another 31% of open complaints had been active for more than 180 days as of June 2023. During the fiscal year, 232 complaints were filed with the board, which typically allege a licensee has engaged in unprofessional conduct, is incompetent or is mentally or physically unable to provide behavioral health services. The board had similar timeliness issues in its 2012 sunset review. “Untimely complaint resolution may negatively impact patient safety when delays allow licensees alleged to have violated Board statutes and rules to continue to practice while under investigation even though they may be unfit to do so,” auditors wrote in the report. One such complaint alleged a licensee continued to treat a minor patient after consent to treat was removed by one parent, but not the other. It took 135 days for an investigator to be assigned to the complaint and the investigator determined the licensee’s conduct was “grossly negligent” and participated in an inappropriate relationship with a client that impaired that licensee’s judgment. The complaint was resolved 211 days after it was filed. The audit also found that the board charged fees that exceeded operational costs in each of the past three years. Auditors recommended the board hire additional investigators to assist in investigating and resolving complaints within 180 days and to reexamine its fees. The board’s executive director, Tobi Zavala, wrote in a response letter to the audit that investigators have not been able to resolve complaints in a timely manner due to a lack of resources, staff and support. Since 2018, the board has received a 97% increase in complaints and a 101% increase in background investigations with the same number of staff. For the fiscal year 2025 budget, the board requested seven additional staff members, and the audit has changed the number of those staff members in the investigations unit from three to four.

Another PAC to boot Bolick and King takes shape

Posted on by Yellow Sheet Report Staff

A new PAC aimed at unseating Bolick and King made their campaign debut Tuesday. Protect Abortion Rights No Retention Bolick and King plans to make the justices ruling upholding the 1864 abortion ban the centerpiece of the campaign. And though leading with the abortion ruling, Morgan Finkelstein, spokesperson for the campaign, and DJ Quinlan, chair, said the campaign would be wrapping in parts of the justices’ records on and off the bench. On Bolick’s part, Quinlan and Finkelstein pointed to education funding — given Bolick’s past work in litigation with the Goldwater Institute and lobbying for Institute for Justice on school choice, as well as his ruling on Prop. 208, a voter initiative raising taxes on high-income households to pad school budgets and teacher salaries. For King, Abigail Jackson, digital director for Progress Arizona, noted King’s past work as a corporate litigator. Part and parcel of retention elections is voter education on Prop. 137, the ballot measure poised to walk back the results of the 2024 retention election if passed by voters. “The most heinous thing about Proposition 137 is that it’s retroactive,” Quinlan said. “So if voters, in their wisdom, choose to vote no on retention for justices Bolick and King, but 137 were to pass, it would actually undo their vote … It will be an important component of the campaign.” The group is working in tandem with Progress Arizona, the first group to announce its intent to campaign against the two justices, as well as Planned Parenthood Advocates of Arizona. Abigail Jackson, digital director for Progress Arizona, said the two campaigns would be joining forces, with Progress Arizona handling a progressive voters guide. Meanwhile, Protect Abortion Rights No Retention Bolick and King is starting to fundraise and plans to run a traditional campaign, like taking out digital and direct ads, knocking on doors and attending events. A railbird cast some doubt on fundraising, given early ballots are set to deploy in about three weeks.  “The fundraising in the state will be in competition with the abortion measure, control of the legislature, Gallego, and a bunch of other things, so good luck. That, and their campaign has eight words in it. Who came up with that?”

Your search query contained invalid characters or was empty. Please try again with a valid query.