YOU DON’T SAY
“I do not like or approve of the way a major commitment and investment in policy bypassed the vetting process”
Rep. Harry Warren, R-Rowan, on the lack of public discussion prior to approval of half a billion dollars in state funding for the NCInnovation public-private partnership. (WRAL News, 7/09/24)
Matthew Sasser, State Affairs Pro, 7/10/24
Lawmakers on the House Oversight and Reform Committee dedicated nearly three hours on Tuesday to learning more about NCInnovation, a nonprofit group that was allotted $500 million across two years in the 2023 General Assembly budget.
Presiding chair Rep. Harry Warren, R-Rowan, said the committee had basic questions because NCInnovation’s allocation was incorporated into a budget bill and never vetted in the committee process.
Rep. Jeffrey C. McNeely, R-Iredell, characterized NCInnovation’s funding as having appeared “out of nowhere.”
“No doubt, many of the members of this committee, as well as many of the constituents in our respective districts, could quickly come up with a list of critical needs the state could meet [instead with these allocated funds],” Warren said.
President and CEO J. Bennet Waters said NCInnovation’s purpose is to help turn university research discoveries with commercial promise into viable North Carolina companies. Its role is to provide grant funding and support after the research phase but before new companies are ready to seek funding from the private sector.
Waters said that over seven years ago leaders in North Carolina’s public university system noticed they were great at attracting industry and academic research dollars but only average at commercializing those successes.
“One of the dynamics that we are observing right now is that an innovation arms race has broken out around the United States,” he said. “This underpins some of the basic need for what NCInnovation became.”
Waters rebutted the suggestion that public funding of university research is tantamount to corporate welfare. Grants will support only research with the potential for real impact and commercial viability, he said.
“That is exactly what universities should be focusing on,” Waters said, adding this goal is a symbiotic relationship between university and industry that America has pioneered.
NCInnovation has operating expenses of $4.5 million to $5 million covered from its private sector funding, according to Waters. He said the group does not take financial positions in private companies or have equity in anything it funds.
Multiple legislators were curious about the makeup of NCInnovation’s board of directors and the nonprofit’s expenses.
Rep. George G. Cleveland, R-Onslow, asked Waters about his vision for the board of directors. Waters responded that the board provides strategic input and oversight but doesn’t act as an attorney or accountant.
“Boards of banks don’t make lending decisions,” he said.
Rep. Carla D. Cunningham, D-Mecklenburg, asked why an NCInnovation board member requested an internal audit from the state auditor. That board member was identified as Art Pope by The Carolina Journal.
Waters said Pope could best answer that question and pointed out that Pope lobbied the General Assembly in opposition of NCInnovation as recently as last summer.
Rep. Jake Johnson, R-Polk, said a major concern for outsiders would be the potential comingling of public and private funds.
Waters said firewalls ensure those dollars never intertwine. NCInnovation doesn’t have any investors, only private philanthropic donors, he said.
“We hold the fiduciary responsibility for these monies on behalf of the state,” Waters said. “It is absolutely our responsibility to ensure that we are generating the highest possible returns within an acceptable risk environment.”
In May, the board of directors approved $5 million for eight pilot programs across the state. Funded projects include boosting a sustainable supply chain of lithium-based projects at University of North Carolina Greensboro and reducing melanoma recurrence at Eastern Carolina University.
Instead of spending taxpayer dollars from the state budget each year, NCInnovation funds its grants and support services through the endowment created in last year’s budget.
Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston, questioned why the UNC System would not handle this sort of funding on its own.
“Government entities and university systems and private sector entities individually cannot do this well,” Waters said. “Bureaucracy is expensive, but public-private partnerships … seem to be the Goldilocks solution” — pursuing public goals with the nimbleness and the business expertise of the private sector.
“Our goal is not just to have the best start,” he said.
Unfinished Business
The News & Observer, 7/09/24
Despite a flurry of activity during the last week state lawmakers were in town last month, several major bills Republicans wanted to pass did not make it across the finish line.
When lawmakers convened for this year’s short session in April, there were many bills on the GOP’s agenda, in addition to the main item of legislative business that’s usually on the cards during even-year short sessions: a budget.
Some of those bills passed, but others, like a high-priority bill to require sheriffs to cooperate with federal immigration authorities, did not.
One of the top legislative priorities for Republicans this year was to pass legislation requiring all 100 sheriffs in the state to cooperate with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Republicans twice passed bills that would do this, in 2019 and 2022, but both bills were vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
At the time, GOP lawmakers didn’t have the supermajorities needed to override Cooper’s vetoes on their own, but that changed in April 2023, with the party switch of Rep. Tricia Cotham, who left the Democrats to join the Republicans, securing the GOP the final seat they needed to break vetoes.
After going five years without being able to override Cooper’s vetoes, Republicans enacted 19 bills over his objections last year. And ahead of this year’s session, top Republicans said they planned to take up the bill again, and were prepared to override a veto if it came down.
Soon after lawmakers returned to Raleigh in April, the Senate took up the House-passed bill to require cooperation with ICE, passing it quickly, but not before amending it. That amendment became a sticking point between House and Senate Republicans. It included an enforcement provision that would allow anyone, including law enforcement authorities, to file a complaint with the attorney general if they believed sheriffs or jail administrators weren’t complying with the bill’s provisions. The attorney general could then seek a court order compelling the sheriff to cooperate.
Top GOP lawmakers have been appointed to try and reach an agreement on final language for the bill, but an agreement hasn’t been announced yet.
Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters on the last day of session that he was hopeful Republicans will be able to work out a bill both chambers can agree on and send to Cooper.
In the final days of session, the Senate made a last-minute effort to resurrect a bill legalizing medical marijuana in the state. While taking up a House bill dealing with hemp regulations and proposed restrictions on other drugs, senators amended it to include the Compassionate Care Act, the bipartisan medical marijuana legalization bill that the Senate has advanced in recent years, but hasn’t been taken up by the House.
House Speaker Tim Moore has said that he personally supports the bill, but it doesn’t have enough support from a majority of House Republicans, which is the threshold the caucus looks for before moving forward with legislation.
The bill would allow the use of marijuana for people who have cancer, ALS, and other ailments. It would also create an 11-member board tasked with approving, suspending and revoking licenses for suppliers of marijuana. This board would supervise revenue generation and approve 10 licenses from a list of recommendations.
Senate Democrats joined a number of Republicans in voting for the bill, but expressed concern about some of the bill’s provisions, particularly one addition to the bill that states that if marijuana “is rescheduled or deleted as a controlled substance under federal law, marijuana shall not be rescheduled or deleted under this Article unless the General Assembly enacts legislation.”
The Justice Department under President Joe Biden is moving to place marijuana in a less dangerous category of drugs — “rescheduling” it from Schedule I to Schedule III, NBC News reported.
One priority that Republicans in both chambers agreed on, and wanted to act on this session, was funding to clear a wait list of 55,000 students whose families want private school vouchers. In May, the Senate passed a standalone bill to provide $463.5 million in additional voucher funding over the next two years. That bill wasn’t taken up by the House.
In June, as budget talks broke down, the House and Senate passed their own budget bills that included the $463.5 million. On the last day of session, Berger said that he was “disappointed” the House hadn’t taken up the standalone funding bill.
Moore, meanwhile, said that the amount of additional funding was so large that House Republicans wanted to include it in the budget, along with bigger raises for public school teachers.
The House also passed a bill dealing with the removal of squatters from private property, but the Senate did not take it up, and the future of that and similar bills is unclear.
In higher education, the lack of a new budget agreement for the 2024-25 fiscal year means that several of the UNC System’s requests will likely go unfunded this year, unless legislators act on the requests at a later date. The system’s requests included $17 million for campus safety infrastructure improvements at six schools and $21.5 million for “critical utility infrastructure needs” at the system’s five historically Black universities, among others.
Legislators also did not reach an agreement on a House budget proposal to establish a School of Applied Science and Technology at UNC-Chapel Hill.
House Speaker Tim Moore said the school could play a major role in meeting growing demands for technology jobs in North Carolina, but Senate leader Phil Berger said the school needed “to have a lot more conversation and a lot more buy-in” before it had a chance to come to fruition.
The North Carolina Community College System this session was seeking approval to change how the state’s 58 community colleges are funded by the state. The proposal, which is called “Propel NC,” would alter the funding model to focus on sectors of the workforce and labor market outcomes, such as salary, EducationNC reported. The state Board of Community Colleges approved the new model in February, but legislators have not approved it. [Source]
Utility Concerns
Colin Campbell, WUNC Radio, 7/09/24
Last year, state lawmakers spent about $2 billion to fix aging water and sewer infrastructure in small towns across North Carolina. But some towns were left out of the spending plan, and this year’s budget impasse will keep them waiting even longer.
One of them is the tiny town of Milton along the Virginia border, which features houses from the 1800s and the state’s newest historic site honoring furniture maker Thomas Day. But while most of the buildings are well-maintained, that’s not true for the infrastructure underground that keeps the town’s taps flowing and toilets flushing.
N.C. Sen. Graig Meyer, D-Orange, represents the town and surrounding Caswell County. He’s been working with local leaders to find a solution.
“The water and sewer situation in Milton is on the edge of a crisis,” Meyer said. “Because they only have just over 100 ratepayers, they need about $7 million in funding, and they can’t put all of that onto their ratepayers. The system is constantly breaking down, on the verge of collapsing.”
Milton’s sewer system is powered by a series of tiny pumps designed to keep the town’s waste from contaminating the nearby Dan River. But those pumps haven’t been maintained well, and they now need to be replaced.
Meyer notes that the town also doesn’t have a secondary water supply, something that’s common in most utility systems. “If they lost their connection to their primary water source, there’s no backup for them, and so they’re always kind of one crisis away from being completely screwed,” he said.
Milton leaders worry that the town’s restaurants and shops could close if water and sewer service becomes unreliable or unaffordable.
Milton is seeking state and federal money to fix the system. Without outside help, Mayor Angela Daniel-Upchurch said the town is facing an existential crisis if it can’t provide basic services. “You just can’t tell the residents ‘we’re sorry, you have to dig your own well, and do your septic tank, bye,’” she said. “How does that work?”
Part of Milton’s challenge in securing funding is political geography. Caswell County tends to vote Republican, but it shares a state senator and representative with Chapel Hill to its south.
Meyer is a Democrat. He said he’s reached out to Republicans and found Senate leader Phil Berger to be receptive to helping Milton’s utility problems. But he noted he doesn’t have the same clout as GOP senators in shaping budget bills.
“It shouldn’t be who knows their legislator best or who has the most political access to get a favor done for them,” he said. “We should have a system for figuring out which needs are the most pressing, how to fund them as quickly as possible, and then move on to the next ones.”
Meyer said the state’s Department of Environmental Quality has a program to help struggling utility systems, but it’s underfunded because lawmakers would prefer to allocate individual grants themselves. That meant that much of the infrastructure funding in last year’s budget went to towns and counties represented by Republicans.
Towns like Windsor in Eastern North Carolina had hoped they might get a share of additional utility money in this year’s budget. Town Manager Allen Castelloe said his town needs funding to update its sewer treatment plant and replace old water lines. “Absolutely everything has gotten so expensive,” Castelloe said. “We’re in one of the poorest areas of the state, so we’re limited on what people can afford to to actually pay. It’s pretty critical that we get additional help.”
Legislative leaders initially said they planned to fund more water and sewer projects this year, but the House and Senate adjourned without reaching a budget deal.
The House budget proposal had set aside about $550 million for a “regional economic development reserve.” House leaders planned to allocate that money at a later stage of the budget process, but Berger likened the approach to pork spending. “I don’t know, I thought I heard a faint oink when I read that,” he told reporters last month.
With the budget stalemate, the next opportunity to get infrastructure grants from the state legislature might not come until next summer. In the meantime, the mayor of Milton is trying to get funding from the federal government.
“I filled out a federal grant, like $7 million that would just like refurbish everything,” she said. “I know that’s a crazy amount. It’s even hard to think about or say.” If that doesn’t work, Daniels-Upchurch isn’t sure what options are left.
“Does Milton need to be a town? I think and hope so,” she said. “But I’m at a loss, we’re at a loss as to how to make the numbers work.” [Source]
Third Parties
Will Doran, WRAL News, 7/09/24
The Constitution Party, a conservative political party closely associated with the Christian right, will be allowed to nominate candidates for president, governor and other offices in this year’s elections following a unanimous vote by the State Board of Elections on Tuesday. The board had previously shot down efforts by the Constitution Party, as well as two other parties associated with would-be presidential candidates Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Cornel West, to get on the ballot in North Carolina in 2024.
West’s party, called Justice For All, and Kennedy’s party, called We The People, have both submitted enough signatures to be allowed on the ballot. But state officials declined to approve them at a previous meeting, saying they had questions about some of the legal issues surrounding the parties’ applications.
West and Kennedy are both seen as being more likely to take votes away from Democratic President Joe Biden than Republican challenger Donald Trump. The state elections board has a Democratic majority, and the vote to deny those parties split along partisan lines last month — with both Republicans voting to put them on the ballot but all three Democratic members outvoting them to delay a final decision.
The board will meet later this month to make a final decision on what to do with the petitions from West’s and Kennedy’s parties. Elections board attorney Paul Cox said the board has been contacted by multiple who signed those petitions asking for their names to be removed, which needs further investigation. There are also lingering legal questions around outside groups that gathered signatures on behalf of the parties, he said.
Kevin Lewis, one of the board’s Republican members who favors putting Kennedy and West on the ballot, said that decision will continue to draw negative attention to the board. “I’m at a little bit of a loss on how the board is dragging its feet on this issue and I hope my fellow board members will do the right thing,” Lewis said.
Multiple board members, on both sides of the aisle, said Tuesday that the two parties could sue the state any day now. “I’m surprised they haven’t already,” Lewis said. [Source]
Transit Appointments
Steve Harrison, WFAE Radio, 7/09/24
Republican lawmakers and the governor would appoint board members to help make decisions on managing Charlotte’s buses, light rail and streetcar, according to a draft of a bill that would create a new transit authority in Mecklenburg County.
The authority would replace the Charlotte Area Transit System, which is a city of Charlotte department. That’s seen as the first step before asking Mecklenburg voters to approve a one-cent sales tax increase to fund a multi-billion dollar transportation plan.
The 24-page draft bill is being crafted by a small group, including former real estate executive Ned Curran, attorney Walter Price of Moore and Van Allen and Charlotte attorney Larry Shaheen. They are working with the managers of Charlotte, Mecklenburg County and the six county towns. The draft bill hasn’t been shared with Charlotte City Council members. City of Charlotte officials also haven’t discussed it publicly. WFAE obtained it through a public records request.
The draft bill codifies how the new sales tax money would be spent. Forty percent of the new revenue would be spent on roads, which has been previously reported. The rest of the money would go to the new transit authority, but there would be a limit on how much of that money could be spent on rail transit.
Under the bill, no more than two-thirds of that money could go to trains. That rail cap means there won’t be enough money to build all of the planned rail lines. The city has told Matthews that it can’t build the planned Silver Line light rail from uptown to Matthews, and will instead build a special bus lane instead.
The Red Line commuter trail to Lake Norman would remain, and is specifically mentioned in the draft bill.
House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger have said Charlotte’s plan must be focused on roads to get approval from Republican lawmakers.
The bill also describes who would be on the authority’s new board. The city of Charlotte would get 10 appointments, with two being made in consultation with the Charlotte Business Alliance. Mecklenburg County would get nine appointments, with two also with input from the alliance. The state House speaker and Senate leader would each get one appointment and the governor would get a pick.
Curran said in an interview this week that has changed. In response to concerns from the Mecklenburg towns, there will be specific board seats set aside for them. He described the early language as a “placeholder.”
The city of Charlotte said in a statement that the “draft language has not yet been shared with legislators but reflects guidance based on their public comments.”
Curran said he hopes to have a final version of the bill ready by the fall. State lawmakers are expected to return to Raleigh in November after the election. The city hopes to have a referendum on the sales tax in November 2025. [Source]
Opioid Recovery
Grace Vitaglione, NC Health News, 7/10/24
Near the end of the recently recessed legislative session, the N.C. House of Representatives made an extensive budget proposal on how to spend part of the funds received by North Carolina as part of a nationwide settlement over the marketing of opioid drugs.
North Carolina will receive $750 million of the funds over 18 years from the agreement reached with drug companies for their alleged roles in fueling the opioid epidemic. As part of the settlement, state lawmakers receive 15 percent while the counties are on the receiving end of the bulk of the funds.
While counties are restricted to spending options that compel them to use evidence-based interventions, lawmakers are not as constrained by those restrictions on how to appropriate the settlement money under their control.
The House’s budget plan for the fiscal year that started July 1 would have given over $23 million to 25 counties and $5.4 million to 10 recovery centers, with few details on how the money should be spent other than boilerplate language stating, “Funds are provided from multi-state opioid settlements and will be used to respond to the negative impacts of the opioid epidemic.”
But all expenditures are not the same, and some experts on opioid use disorders raised concerns that the funds weren’t primarily directed to facilities that provide evidence-based treatment such as medication for opioid use disorders, which has become the “gold standard” for treatment. For example, three centers on the list don’t allow clients to use medications for opioid use disorders while they are staying at the facility. Some of the facilities in the House proposal are unlicensed.
Debates over how these dollars could and should be spent have been ongoing since the money started to flow in 2022.
Although larger spending negotiations fell apart, it’s likely the conversation over opioid dollars at the General Assembly isn’t over.
Rep. Wayne Sasser, R-Stanly, said he’d like to get every county in the state at least $1 million for responding to the opioid crisis. In the failed House budget, 25 counties — mostly those represented by Republican lawmakers — were the target for dollars. Sasser said some of the individual recovery centers that made it onto the list asked him to include them.
Sasser also said he also worked with Robin Hayes, founder of Bridge to 100. Hayes previously was the head of the state GOP and pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in 2019 as part of a bribery scandal. He was pardoned by Donald Trump in January 2021.
Hayes now runs the new nonprofit corporation, which aims to help secure opioid settlement funds for “faith-based rehabilitation centers” in all 100 counties. Eight of the 10 centers in the budget are listed as supported providers on Bridge to 100’s website.
Hayes said he isn’t against medication for opioid use disorders, but his focus is on faith in recovery. There are lots of options for dealing with the opioid crisis, he said, and centers such as these should be one of them.
Licensed facilities are subject to state requirements. Under current state law, a charitable, nonprofit, faith‑based, adult residential treatment facility doesn’t have to be licensed as long as it doesn’t receive any federal or state funding. But a provision in the House budget plan aims to allow those unlicensed facilities to receive opioid settlement funds.
A spokesperson for NCDHHS wrote in an email that the language was added “to clarify and ensure that individuals or organizations that are currently excluded from licensure requirements do not lose that status solely on the basis of receiving opioid settlement funds.” While DHHS did not determine the language, the spokesperson said the department did flag the need for clarity around that language. [Source]
Flytrap Plate
Richard Stradling, The News & Observer, 7/09/24
After years of uncertainty and diplomacy, state lawmakers have approved a special license plate to honor the Venus flytrap, the state’s native carnivorous plant. A provision creating the plate and another for the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics in Durham were included in a bill that Gov. Roy Cooper signed into law last week.
The governor’s signature was cause for both joy and relief for members of the N.C. Botanical Garden Foundation and Friends of Plant Conservation. Starting in 2019, they gathered 794 prepaid applications for a “Home of the Venus Flytrap” plate, then waited for the General Assembly to authorize the Division of Motor Vehicles to make the plate available.
Lawmakers in the House unanimously approved the plate in 2021 and again last year. But the Senate never considered it.
As the plate languished, the foundation kept the deposits of hundreds of people eager to show their love for North Carolina’s most famous plant, said director Damon Waitt, director of the N.C. Botanical Garden in Chapel Hill. “People would ask me about it, and I’d say, ‘Well, it’s not quite dead but it’s mostly dead,’” Waitt said. “And then it would get some life.”
Celebrating the Venus flytrap on a license plate would hardly seem controversial, as the unanimous support from members of the House shows. But both times it was sent to the Senate, the bill went to the Rules Committee, where it sat untouched.
Supporters of the bill came to understand that the committee’s chairman, Sen. Bill Rabon, a Republican from Southport, was not a fan of the state’s specialty license plate program. But the Senate’s ambivalence went beyond Rabon.
Pat Ryan, spokesman for Senate leader Phil Berger, said in 2021 that the Senate “generally opposes” specialty license plate bills, because they create “an administrative challenge” for the DMV. “If people want to showcase their support for a particular cause, they can buy a bumper sticker,” Ryan wrote in an email at the time.
This time, when they saw their bill stuck in the Senate, supporters tried a new strategy. The primary sponsors, led by Rep. Allen Buansi, a Democrat from Chapel Hill, and Rep. Frank Iler, a Republican from Brunswick County, got Rabon and leaders of the Senate to agree not to oppose the plate if it was included in a larger bill. So in early June, the plate was added to a 29-page bill full of various changes related to the DMV.
Buansi said the negotiations that got the plate in that bill were key to it passing. “I think its chances would have been greatly reduced if it was a standalone bill,” he said. [Source]
Medicaid Expansion
DJ Simmons, WFDD Radio, 7/09/24
Nearly 480,000 North Carolinians have enrolled in Medicaid since the state expanded eligibility in December, according to the latest available numbers. State officials estimated around 600,000 people would have access to health coverage through expansion. In less than a year they’re already closing in on that goal.
North Carolina Justice Center Health Policy Advocate Rebecca Cerese says the state understood the need to work with trusted messengers in communities to enroll residents.
“They made a really big effort to reach out to not just bigger organizations like the North Carolina Justice Center, but community organizations across the state, realizing that’s the best way to get the word out,” she says. “Once you get the word out about it, and then, you know, utilize the messages that we have, I mean the product sells itself. Who doesn’t want to protect themselves from medical debt?”
According to a study by the Peterson Center on Healthcare and KFF, nearly one in twelve adults across the country carry medical debt. This affects over 13% of North Carolinians, with only four other states having a higher share of its residents impacted. Cerese says working to eliminate a stigma around Medicaid and showing it’s for everyday people has also helped enrollment efforts. [Source]
Biden Campaign
Danielle Battaglia, McClatchy, 7/09/24
North Carolina’s Democrats in Congress aren’t ready to call for President Joe Biden to end his reelection campaign or, in some cases, talk about it at all.
Whether Biden should continue his campaign has dominated the news cycles since June 27, when Biden debated Trump in Atlanta on CNN with garbled answers and thoughts that trailed off. Biden’s performance immediately sent Democrats into a tailspin and led some members of his party and political pundits to call for him to end his race. Biden has dug his heels in, saying he’s not going anywhere.
Now, after spending two weeks away from the U.S. Capitol on a routine summer break, Democrats in Congress find themselves facing a barrage of questions about whether President Joe Biden should end his campaign. Democrats returning to the Capitol also received a letter from Biden that included a proclamation that he would continue his re-election bid. The most notable response from North Carolina Democrats came from Rep. Deborah Ross of Wake County. Ross complimented the president, but didn’t offer her support.
“Joe Biden has led our country with wisdom, grace, and integrity,” Ross told McClatchy in a written statement. “While leaders in our party continue to discuss the best path forward, I remain laser-focused on flipping the House, turning out the vote in Wake County, and ensuring that Democrats in North Carolina up and down the ballot are victorious in November.”
She also offered a warning about the likely Republican nominee, former President Donald Trump. “Donald Trump poses a dire threat to everything we hold dear and we need to come together as Democrats and as patriotic Americans to defeat him and preserve our democracy,” Ross said.
Rep. Valerie Foushee, a Democrat from Orange County, supports Biden’s decision, she said in a written statement to McClatchy.
Rep. Alma Adams of Charlotte originally said through her spokesperson she didn’t have enough information to comment on the situation, but she threw her support behind Biden in a statement after Democrats met Tuesday. “President Biden has been an extraordinary president,” Adams said.
Other North Carolina House Democrats weren’t so willing to give their opinions. Rep. Jeff Jackson of Charlotte was among them as he walked through the doors of the Capitol Monday evening. When asked if he had any thoughts on Biden, he answered firmly, “I do.” When asked if he wanted to provide them, he said, “I don’t,” laughing and walking into the chamber and away from the sea of reporters.
Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat from Snow Hill, more than once appeared to avoid reporters when exiting the House chamber by walking to another door after seeing people waiting with questions. Last week, Davis told Spectrum News that Biden’s performance was “a disaster” and said that Biden needed to step up and if he was going to stay in the race, “show that he is fit to lead the free world.”
Rep. Kathy Manning, a Democrat from Greensboro, and Wiley Nickel, a Democrat from Cary, didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Rep. Patrick McHenry, a Lincoln County Republican who became interim House speaker after Republicans ousted Kevin McCarthy, walked through the door often used by Democrats. He was joined by Rep. Greg Murphy, an eastern North Carolina Republican. “Do you want our opinions,” McHenry asked with a laugh. “They matter not at all.” [Source]
Campaign Visit
Jalyn Baldwin, Port City Daily, 7/08/24
First Lady Jill Biden made a brief appearance at a Wilmington brewery Monday as part of a Biden–Harris campaign initiative, aimed at demonstrating and garnering support for veterans, military personnel and their families. “Joe has made it clear that he’s all in,” the First Lady remarked about her husband, the sitting president.
President Joe Biden’s ability to lead another four years has been questioned in recent weeks, since he demonstrated a poor performance during last month’s first debate of the election season against former president Donald Trump. Many have called for Biden to step down, even members in the Democratic Party, citing perceived cognitive decline. However, Biden has insisted he will not.
“I am all in too,” his wife told the enthusiastic supporters chanting “four more years” Monday.
The event was held at Hi-Wire Brewing where roughly a couple hundred people were in attendance, including members of the New Hanover and Brunswick county Democratic parties, Democratic House Rep. Deb Butler, Democratic school board candidate Tim Merrick, and Democratic House candidate Jill Brown.
Speaking on behalf of her husband, the First Lady emphasized key accomplishments for veterans and military from her husband’s first term in office — work that continued from his vice presidency under Obama’s administration (2008-2012). Biden also shared her family’s connections to the U.S. military, mentioning their late son Beau’s service in the Delaware Army National Guard, including a deployment to Iraq, and her father’s role as a Navy Signalman.
“Of all the obligations that Joe has shouldered since he took his oath of office, he believes the only truly one sacred obligation is to prepare those we send into harm’s way and to care for them and their families when they come home,” Biden said. [Source]
Mooresville Charter
Ann Doss Helms, WFAE Radio, 7/09/24
North Carolina lawmakers’ decision to adjourn without an updated 2024-25 budget left some big cliffhangers in the education world. The adjournment means there’s no way Trinitas Academy can open this August, as the bill would have allowed. It’s still unclear why anyone proposed that plan, which would have bypassed the state’s process for deciding who can be trusted with children’s education and taxpayers’ money.
But last week the state’s Office of Charter Schools posted 13 applications from schools that will begin the review process this year. 11 of these schools hope to open in August 2026. Two, including Mooresville’s Trinitas, are seeking accelerated approval to open in August 2025.
The 528-page Trinitas application paints a picture of the rigorous process boards must follow to win a charter. There are detailed descriptions of Trinitas’ classical academy philosophy, lessons, demographics, hiring and retention strategies, marketing plans, governance policies and support for students with disabilities. There’s a timetable for opening that includes starting to market the school and holding open houses this fall. Faculty recruitment would start in January, with hiring locked in by July and staff reporting for a special 15-day orientation process as the school prepares to open.
The Trinitas board has a lease on the old Mt. Mourne School in Mooresville. That puts it a step ahead of many boards that struggle to find appropriate facilities. However, the application notes the building needs updated technology, safety features, HVAC system and playgrounds.
The application says Boen Nutting, a longtime Iredell-Statesville Schools educator and administrator, has been hired as Trinitas’ principal. She served as principal of Mt. Mourne from 2011-2018. I got to know her when she was in charge of district communications in 2018. She retired from ISS last year as assistant superintendent.
The Trinitas budget shows the scope of public spending that’s at stake. The first-year budget for the K-8 school calls for $4.6 million, growing to almost $9 million by Year 5. The bulk of that would come from the state, but school districts must also pass along a per-pupil share of county money for each student who attends a charter school — and unlike traditional school districts, charter schools can pull from more than one county. The Trinitas application projects getting almost 300 students from Mecklenburg and almost 200 from Iredell the first year. If that happens, it would bring a pass-through of almost $1 million from Mecklenburg County and just over $375,000 from Iredell County. [Source]
Assault Verdict
Joel Burgess, Asheville Citizen Times, 7/09/24
Buncombe County’s Republican Party chair has been found guilty of assaulting a female GOP school board member, but he will likely face no punishment, with the judge characterizing the encounter as part of “a state of politics in this country.”
It was not clear the day of the July 8 guilty verdict if GOP Chair Doug Brown would be made to step down or face any other repercussions from the party.
A Buncombe County district court judge found Brown guilty of misdemeanor assault on a female nearly a year after what county school board member Amy Churchill said were two closely timed July 24, 2023 encounters at Asheville party headquarters. The Henderson County GOP chair was accused of the same misdemeanor − also against a fellow county party official − but prosecutors on June 12 declined to move forward with the charge brought by Kathy Maney against Brett Callaway.
Churchill, who opposed a local party plan to impose Republican-friendly school board electoral districts, said Brown pushed her forcefully at the end of a monthly GOP meeting. That caused her to have to steady herself, something she said was difficult because she was recovering from a broken ankle. Churchill, who is 5 feet 5 inches, said Brown, who is over 6 feet tall, then slammed the door in her face.
Shortly after that and still at party headquarters she confronted him − with her phone recording the audio − and told him not to touch her, according to testimony. Brown then placed his hands on her again, she said, in a “passive aggressive way.”
“This is about a man who puts his hands on a woman because he could not get her to leave,” Churchill said under cross-examination.
Brown, though, denied he pushed Churchill, saying he intervened in a conversation between her and North Carolina state Sen. Warren Daniel who put forward the district’s legislation, which was then passed by the Republican-majority General Assembly in Raleigh. “Amy was upset about the decision of the school district voting,” Brown said, adding, “I gave her a little ‘matadorial’ direction to the door and I could feel some resistance.” He said he didn’t slam the door, but closed it “so she knew her time with the senator was over.”
Judge Edwin Clontz said due to a lack of other people seeing the first encounter, its circumstances were “debatable.”
“But clearly in the second instance you were told not to touch her, witnesses said you were told not to touch her and you placed your hands on her,” he said. “As for what the law is, I cannot find other than that you are guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Clontz said that was a “hard thing to say” and that the conflict was indicative of a state of political acrimony in the country. “Can’t get along within the parties. Can’t get along outside the parties,” he said, raising the specter of political violence in elected bodies. “I don’t think this is anywhere near that level. I think this is some heated people in a political situation who did not handle themselves properly.”
Therefore, Clontz said he was entering a prayer for judgment, meaning there was no penalty if Brown paid court costs and did not violate the law again for a year.
Asked whether Brown will be made to vacate his chair or face any other consequences, 11th District GOP Chair Michele Woodhouse said she would “need more information on the exact ruling.” [Source]
Summer Hunger
Jaymie Baxley, NC Health News, 7/09/24
Madhu Vulimiri, deputy director of the N.C. Department of Health and Human Services’ Division of Child and Family Well-Being, says summer is often the “hungriest time of year” for food-insecure households. It can be an especially harsh season, she said, for low-income families that rely on the National School Lunch Program, which provides free or reduced-cost meals to more than 900,000 students in North Carolina. The meals stop when public schools adjourn for the summer, leaving many children at risk of going undernourished over the long break.
“One in four kids experience food insecurity or chronic hunger, and it’s worse in the summer because many of the meals that students receive during the school year disappear,” Vulimiri said. “When summer comes, it should be an exciting time for kids. But for so many families, it is a more challenging time.”
SUN Bucks, a new food assistance program from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, aims to ease the strain. It gives eligible families with school-age children a one-time stipend of $120 per child to help pay for groceries while school is out.
Also known as the Summer Electronic Benefit Program, SUN Bucks was established by Congress as part of the federal Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2022. North Carolina is among 36 states — and one of only nine states in the South — that chose to participate in the program during its first year of availability this summer.
N.C. DHHS began mailing benefit cards to families, many of whom automatically qualified for SUN Bucks based on their enrollment in other assistance programs, on June 14. The agency is expected to distribute $120 million in benefits for roughly a million children by the end of September. The funds are subject to the same restrictions as SNAP benefits. They can be spent on most grocery items, nonalcoholic drinks and seeds that produce food, but not on prepared meals or food that’s already hot. [Source]
Catch Reporting
Trista Talton, Coastal Review, 7/09/24
Gov. Roy Cooper late Monday afternoon declined to sign a bill that includes granting a state regulatory agency’s request to delay new mandatory catch-reporting rules for recreational anglers and commercial fishermen.
The decision was over unrelated provisions that Cooper described as an “unconstitutional power grab.”
A paragraph tucked into Senate Bill 607, the 2024 version of the legislature’s annual regulatory reform measure, pushes the start of the coastal fisheries harvest-reporting system back one year, making the effective date Dec. 1, 2025. The bill, which is now a law, also includes terminal groin language for Bald Head Island.
Cooper’s statement noted that the regulatory reform bill includes “some important changes that should become law, however, I am not signing this bill because there is a provision where the General Assembly is seeking to interfere with the charter and bylaws of the North Carolina Railroad, a private corporation. This isn’t about improving transportation for the people of North Carolina, it’s just another unconstitutional power grab by Republicans.”
North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries officials had asked lawmakers for more time to roll out the phased enforcement of the rules, which will require recreational coastal anglers to report harvests of flounder, red drum, speckled trout, striped bass and weakfish.
“Delaying the effective date of the mandatory harvest reporting rules by one year allows the Division of Marine Fisheries (DMF) the time to better inform stakeholders and conduct outreach and awareness around the new requirements,” Christy Simmons, Division of Coastal Management public information officer, said in an email.
The temporary rules, which must be approved by the state Rules Review Commission, were adopted on June 6 by the Marine Fisheries Commission and the Wildlife Resources Commission.
Those commissions had to comply with a law the General Assembly enacted last year that detailed which species recreational anglers will be required to report and an enforcement timeline. The law also requires commercial fishers to list on their trip tickets all catches, including finfish, shellfish and crustaceans, that they do not sell to a dealer. Dealers submit those forms each month to the state, which uses the information reported on the tickets as a means to help manage fisheries resources.
The new reporting mandate was suggested by a relatively new nonprofit called the North Carolina Marine & Estuary Foundation with the support of the North Carolina Fisheries Association, which represents commercial fishing interests, and the state chapter of the Coastal Conservation Association which represents recreational anglers. [Source]
HanesBrands Relocation
April Laissle, WFDD Radio, 7/09/24
HanesBrands has announced plans to move its headquarters back to downtown Winston-Salem. HanesBrands current campus at 1000 E. Hanes Mill Rd. totals nearly 500,000 square feet. Its soon-to-be home, the Park Building in downtown Winston-Salem, is less than half the size.
A statement issued by HanesBrands said the move fits the company’s strategy as it focuses on “strengthening its operating model, simplifying the business, and streamlining operations.”
Hanes recently announced plans to sell its Champion brand for over $1 billion. However, the sale was not cited as a reason for the move.
In a press release, city and county leaders applauded the company for its commitment to remaining in Winston-Salem. Its Hanes Mill space will be occupied by Carolina University, which says it will relocate there beginning in January 2025. Hanesbrands is expected to transition to the Park Building around the same time. [Source]
Catawba Water
Sharon McBrrayer, The McDowell News, 7/09/24
Residents will have a chance next week in Morganton to weigh in on Charlotte Water’s plan to take more water from the Catawba River. Charlotte Water is holding a public meeting at 6 p.m. Monday at CoMMA Performing Arts Center in Morganton on the proposed request to take millions more gallons of water from the river. It’s one of multiple meetings the utility has held in the state as well as South Carolina.
CoMMA can seat 1,046 people, which is about five times more than the capacity of the Ridgeview Branch Library in Hickory. The Ridgeview library was the site of a Charlotte Water public meeting on the request in May. People were turned away from that meeting because of capacity limits, according to officials from Burke County who attended.
Charlotte Water is requesting to amend a 2002 IBT agreement that would allow it to remove 30 million additional gallons of water a day from the Catawba River. Charlotte is allowed to currently remove 33 million gallons of water a day from the Catawba River basin via the 2002 agreement. The cities of Concord and Kannapolis are allowed to remove 10 million gallons a day from the Catawba River due to a 2007 IBT agreement.
If the proposed request were approved, that would mean 73 million gallons of water a day could be removed from the Catawba River. The city of Morganton and the town of Valdese, as well as Burke County officials, have all passed resolutions in opposition to the latest request for water. [Source]
Soccer Visitors
Lola Oliverio, The Daily Tar Heel, 7/08/24
On July 23, England’s Manchester City and Scotland’s Celtic football clubs will play a match at Kenan Stadium on UNC’s campus. The game is a part of the 2024 FC Series, a collection of friendly matches, or those that serve to warm up and prepare players for the professional season. Last year, Chapel Hill hosted a match between Chelsea Football Club and Wrexham Association Football Club. The sold-out game brought a crowd of over 50,500 and around $15 million in revenue for Chapel Hill and nearby communities.
This year’s match will be only the third time Manchester City and Celtic have played one another, and tickets range between $65 and $400. A portion of the proceeds will be donated to UNC Children’s Hospital.
Additionally, because the town had more preparation time for this year’s event, local businesses have had a larger window to prepare for the influx of visitors and customers, Stephanie Cobert, director of marketing and engagement for Chapel Hill Downtown Partnership, said. “We were able to plan a little bit better and have more activities, get our downtown businesses invested in having specials and events, and upping their staffing and staying open a little bit later for people,” she said.
The Town of Carrboro will sponsor a trolley service between downtown Carrboro and Chapel Hill to transport visitors between businesses, restaurants and bars. Last year’s match brought visitors from all 50 states and some from overseas, leaving local hotels sold out.
“We are hoping that it will have an impact like last year’s match to show that Chapel Hill — the Chapel Hill community, Orange County — is a hospitable place for these types of events, especially during the summer, which tends to be our slower months for downtown businesses,” Cobert said. [Source]
Airborne Museum
Evey Weisblat, CityView, 7/08/24
As its operational nonprofit struggles to find new funding sources, Fayetteville’s U.S. Airborne & Special Operations Museum may be unable to sustain its current offerings to both the community and the thousands of visitors who come to Fayetteville each year to see it.
The U.S. Airborne & Special Operations Museum (ASOM), located next to Segra Stadium in the center of downtown Fayetteville, is the first U.S. Army Museum built outside the perimeter of an Army installation. It is consistently ranked among the top museums in the state and is often considered Fayetteville’s number one tourist attraction. Admission is free.
Many of the programs that enhance the museum’s experience and ties to the community are provided by the Airborne & Special Operations Museum Foundation, its Executive Director Renee Lane told CityView. While the Army’s staff handles the core functions, or the “meat and potatoes,” of the museum — like managing the exhibits and collections and securing artifacts — the ASOM Foundation supports the museum by hosting events, planning educational programs, managing its website and promoting ASOM on social media, Lane said.
The museum was originally owned by the foundation, but the foundation gifted it to the Army in 2005 “to better manage and grow the collection and maintain exhibits,” according to the foundation’s July newsletter. Now, the ASOM Foundation is facing what it says is a “critical budget deficit” as major attractions and sources of revenue are down, which foundation members say could compromise the group’s ability to hold events, bring in new exhibits and conduct educational programs for students.
The foundation’s operating budget for this fiscal year is expected to be around $1 million, Lane said, though this could change as the budgeting process progresses. The nonprofit faces additional challenges as it looks to cover a nearly $200,000 shortfall that arose when the Cumberland County Board of Commissioners in June denied funding the foundation previously used to cover outstanding operating expenses.
The board’s decision to cut off the ASOM Foundation’s perennial funding in the county’s fiscal year budget was not an isolated decision. The county denied funding for several other nonprofits that had previously received the government grants — and now have to scramble to make up for the unanticipated loss of funds. [Source]
Deaths
The (Jacksonville) Daily News, 7/09/24
The town of Holly Ridge has announced the passing of Councilwoman Carolyn Stanley. Stanley’s contributions to her community were invaluable, according to a July 5 press release from the town, and she will be deeply missed.
“Our thoughts are with her family, friends and the citizens of Holly Ridge during this time of sorrow. Those of us who worked with her knew that she wanted to make a difference in the lives of our residents and visitors,” the release continued.
Stanley proudly served on the Holly Ridge Town Council from Dec. 2009 to Dec. 2019. She was then re-elected in Dec. 2021 and was currently on the council at the time of her passing. In addition to serving on the town council, the release said Stanley also served on the Liberty Fountain Committee, Planning Board Committee, Parks and Recreation Committee and Jacksonville Urban Metropolitan Planning Organization Committee. [Source]
Cone Expansion
Richard Craver, Winston-Salem Journal, 7/09/24
Cone Health confirmed Monday plans to expand its clinic reach in Winston-Salem by opening an urgent-care center in early 2025 in West Edge Shopping Center. Cone planted its first health care facility flag in Winston-Salem in January with an urgent care clinic in Burke Mill Village.
“This continues our strategy of bringing exceptional health care to the consumer by being in places they are familiar with and frequent often,” said Deno Atkins, Cone’s senior vice president for ambulatory and consumer services. “Urgent-care centers are very convenient for today’s consumer.”
The 3,300-square-foot West Edge urgent-care center will be open daily from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. on weekdays and 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. on weekends. Cone said the hours and staffing will change as patient volumes increase. It will feature X-ray and basic lab services onsite.
Cone’s expansion into Winston-Salem and Forsyth County comes as Cone and Atrium Health Wake Forest Baptist await a resolution on Cone’s appeal of state health regulators’ approval of Baptist’s $246 million community hospital that would be located at 2909 Horse Pen Creek Road — about 2.1 miles from Cone’s MedCenter Greensboro facility. [Source]
Henderson Development
Karrigan Monk, Hendersonville Times-News, 7/09/24
A manufacturing company that operates in Henderson County is seeking economic development incentives from the county. The company, known as Project Fresh Air, is remaining anonymous “due to competitive pressures,” according to a public notice announcing a public hearing for the project. Assistant County Manager Chris Todd said it is “common” for businesses seeking economic development to remain anonymous to protect itself and employees.
According to the public notice, Project Fresh Air is located internationally, with a location in Henderson County and is “contemplating new investment” at the Henderson County location.
The proposed project would bring a total taxable capital investment by the company of at least $20 million over the span of two years in business personal property. Project Fresh Air would result in 17 jobs being retained with an average wage of more than $92,000 per year, plus benefits. This is more than the average full-time wage in Henderson County, according to the public notice. [Source]
Red Snapper Collection
The Carteret County News-Times, 7/09/24
The N.C. Division of Marine Fisheries will collect red snapper carcasses from recreational fishermen during the Friday, July 12 red snapper mini-season. The division has set up three temporary freezer locations, in addition to the 12 carcass collection locations available throughout the year, where recreational fishermen can take their Red Snapper carcasses.
Anglers who donate a red snapper carcass will receive a citation (certificate) from the N.C. Saltwater Fishing Tournament. Division biologists will measure the fish, determine the sex when possible and remove the otoliths (ear bones) to determine the age of the fish. The information collected will be provided to the National Marine Fisheries Service for use in future red snapper stock assessments. [Source]
Legislative Sessions, Studies and Meetings
LB: LEGISLATIVE BUILDING. LOB: LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BUILDING
Wednesday, July 10
- Noon | House and Senate Convene
Tuesday, July 23
- 9 a.m. | House Select Committee on Oversight and Reform, Auditorium LB.
HOUSE & SENATE: Reconvening allowed under provisions of SB 916, if no sine die adjournment previously adopted.
- Monday, July 29 to Thursday Aug. 1
- Monday, Sept. 9 to Wednesday, Sept. 11
- Wednesday, Oct. 9
- Tuesday, Nov. 19 to Friday Nov. 22
- Wednesday, Dec. 11 to Friday Dec. 13
N.C. Government Meetings and Hearings
BOLD ITEMS ARE NEW LISTINGS
Wednesday, July 10
Thursday, July 11
Monday, July 15
- 1:30 p.m. | NC Dept. of Agriculture – 3RD QUARTER BOARD OF AGRICULTURE MEETING, 4400 Reedy Creek Road, Raleigh.
Tuesday, July 16
- 10:30 a.m. | North Carolina Spiritous Liquor Advisory Council – 3rd Quarter Meeting, 2 West Edenton St, Raleigh.
Wednesday, July 17
- 9 a.m. | The North Carolina Real Estate Commission Meeting, 1313 Navaho Drive, Raleigh.
Thursday, July 18
- 8 a.m. | North Carolina Medical Board Meeting – July 2024 Meeting, 3127 Smoketree Court, Raleigh.
- 9:30 a.m. | North Carolina Turnpike Authority meets, 1 S. Wilmington St, Raleigh.
Thursday, Aug. 1
- 6 p.m. | The North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality’s Division of Air Quality Public Hearing on Moriah Energy Center Draft Air Quality Permit, Vance-Granville Community College, 200 Community College Road, Henderson.
Tuesday, Aug. 6
- 9 a.m. | The Council of State meets. 1 South Wilmington St, Raleigh.
UNC Board of Governors
23 S. WEST STREET, SUITE 1800, RALEIGH
Wednesday, July 24
- T.B.A. | The UNC Board of Governors, UNC System Office.
Thursday, July 25
- T.B.A. | The UNC Board of Governors, UNC System Office.
N.C. Utilities Commission Hearing Schedule
DOBBS BUILDING, 430 NORTH SALISBURY STREET, RALEIGH
Wednesday, July 10
- 6:30 p.m. | Remote Public Witness Hearing – Dominion Energy North Carolina 2023 IRP | E-100 Sub 192
Thursday, July 11
- 10 a.m. | Expert Witness Hearing – Application for General Rate Increase for HH Water, LLC | W-1318 Sub 1
Monday, July 22
- 2 p.m. | Expert Witness Hearing – Duke Energy Carolinas, LLC and Duke Energy Progress, LLC 2023 Biennial CPIRP | E-100 Sub 190
- 2 p.m. | Expert Public Witness Hearing – Joint Application of DEP and NCEMC for CPCN to Construct a 1360MW Electric Generating Facility in Person County, NC | E-2 Sub 1318, EC-67 Sub 55
- 2 p.m. | Expert Witness Hearing – Application for CPCN for 850 MW Natural Gas-Fired Combustion Turbine Electric Generating Facility Located at 8320 NC Highway 150 E, Terrell, NC 28682 in Catawba County | E-7 Sub 1297
Other Meetings and Events of Interest
BOLD ITEMS ARE NEW LISTINGS
Wednesday, July 10
- 10:30 a.m. | Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson to present the Medal of Valor Award, Auditorium LB.
- 1 p.m. | Gov. Roy Cooper to visit Southeastern Education & Economic Development (SEED) Summer Apprenticeship Academy at Wayne Community College to highlight work-based learning opportunities in public schools, Wayne Community College, 3000 Wayne Memorial Drive, Goldsboro.
Saturday, July 20
- 7 p.m. | North Carolina Democratic Party Unity Dinner, Raleigh Convention Center.
Saturday, July 27
- 9 a.m. | North Carolina Federation of Young Republicans Convention, The Farm at 95, Selma.
