The first round of state employee pay cuts ordered by Gov. Bev Perdue to balance the state’s current budget deficit hit paychecks today, and as expected hard tales of financial ruin percolate throughout the media. Of the 270,000+ state employees affected, how is it WRAL just happened to stumble upon a state employee whose husband [...]
- May28
Turnpike Authority Bonds Escape Junk Status — Barely
The NC Turnpike Authority is in the process of issuing bonds (debt) to build the state's first government-sponsored toll road in western Wake County. Well, a bond rating agency apparently doesn't think too highly of the project. Fitch's has given the bonds a rating of "BBB-" one step above junk bond status. This is after [...]
- 1May27
Skybus Part Deux?
Remember Skybus? The low-cost airline that was supposed to fly out of Greensboro's PTI airport supposedly lured to NC with million in incentives that ultimately failed miserably? Well, it looks like the ex-CEO of Skybus is targeting a return to PTI with a new low-cost airline called JetAmerica. No word yet on if an emergency [...]
- May27
At Least LaHood Admits It
President Obama's Secretary of Transportation, former Republican Congressman Ray LaHood, finally admitted publicly what the President's transportation policy is about. In response to George Will's recent column (a great read on its own) calling LaHood "Secretary of Behavior Modification" LaHood responded: "About everything we do around here is government intrusion into people's lives," he said. [...]
- May20
DC Metro Data Proves Transit a Subsidy for Rich
Advocates in Charlotte and the Triangle for expensive light-rail transit projects like to argue that one reason to build transit is that it helps low-income individuals. Unfortunately, data released by the DC Metro system shows its more of a subsidy for the upper-middle classes (as we have pointed out many times before.) According to the [...]
- 1May20
“Affirmative Action for Killers”
That's how WBT radio host and Creative Loafing columnist Tara Servatius appropriately describes the "Racial Justice Act" that has been passed in different forms by each the NC House (HB 472) and NC Senate (SB 461) in a recent article. The Racial Justice Act would allow convicted murderers who are sentenced to death to appeal [...]
- May19
Growing City Government
Raleigh City Manager Russell Allen rolled out the city's budget today, and while we often talk about how much the federal and state governments are growing, one statistic from a N&O preview article surprised me: The city typically adds between 100 and 200 new city employees a year but this current fiscal year the city’s [...]
- 2May18
Is Your ATV or Dirt Bike Registered With the State?
A bill to require all offroad vehicles (ATVs, four-wheelers) and non-road use motorcycles (dirtbikes, racing bikes, etc.) is set to be heard in the Senate Commerce Committee tomorrow morning. SB 642, introduced by Sen. Doug Berger (D-Franklin) and Sen. Ellie Kinnaird (D-Orange) would require the owners of all offroad vehicles to register those vehicles with [...]
- May18
Crossover Madness
Last Thursday was the General Assembly's self-imposed "crossover" deadline, when a bill must pass one of the two chambers in order to technically be eligible for consideration the during rest of this session and in next year's session. Bills were moving fast and furious, some had been bouncing around a while and were passed. Some [...]
- May13
Civitas Poll: Small Businesses Are Way to Economic Growth
North Carolina voters show a clear preference for small businesses to lead the way to economic growth according to our latest poll. We asked: From the following list, who do you think is better able to create jobs and rebuild the economy? 1. Small businesses and Entrepreneurs 2. Large, multinational corporations 3. The Government 4. [...]
- 3May12
Ban on Plastic Bags?
The Senate State and Local Government Committee gave its approval today to a modified version of SB 1018. The original bill banned retailers from providing plastic bags to customers and could only provide paper bags that were made from recycled materials. The bill approved today would limit the counties affected to Currituck, Dare and Hyde. [...]
- May12
Oh That Wacky Charlotte City Council
You guys should really look into finding a better way to do public relations. I'll give you a little nudge in the right direction… If you are going to vote to recommend that the citizens of Charlotte tax themselves 1/2 cent on their sales tax for the seemingly ever increasing in cost transit boondoggle, try [...]
- 2May11
Civitas Poll: Voters Support Drilling Off NC Coast
The popular refrain last year of "Drill, baby, drill" is still alive and well in North Carolina. In fact, the support for drilling has actually increased from when we last polled it last June. When it comes to the issue of drilling for oil and natural gas off the coast of North Carolina, which of [...]
- 2May08
Is This Why Roy Cooper Hasn’t Announced Senate Run?
While everyone has pretty much put Attorney General Roy Cooper in the US Senate race against Richard Burr, Cooper has been fairly quiet on the issue. Could this have something to do with why he hasn't announced he's running? A slander lawsuit against North Carolina Attorney General Roy Cooper will go to trial, a Superior [...]
- May08
Civitas Poll: Perdue Favorability Slips
Gov. Bev Perdue's favorability rating continues to slide in our latest poll. Her favorability rating dropped from 58-20 in March to 44-35 in April, a net change of 29 points. That is a enormous decline for one month. There almost seems to be a direct correlation between the state's unemployment rate and her favorability rating. [...]
- May07
Civitas Poll: 30% of NC Government Spending is Wasted
I figured the results of this question would be pretty high, but I was fairly surprised by just how high it turned out. Voters on average think that 30% of government spending is waste according to this month's poll. 85 percent of voters think that at least 11 percent is wasted. Is it any surprise [...]
- May07
A New Corporate Welfare Giveaway and a Gas Tax Increase
Just another day in the life of the North Carolina Senate. First, a bill (S 575) that would create a whole new massive corporate welfare subsidy for a company to locate to North Carolina passed by a 40-7 vote. This time, the rumored company is Apple Computers building a data center in Catawba County. Next, [...]
- May06
Organized Labor Making Its Push
Two bills to radically shift the landscape of organized labor in North Carolina have popped up on the legislative calendar for tomorrow. First, a new piece of legislation, H 1651 was introduced today. This bill would set up a mechanism for collective bargaining rights for public safety employees. Second, a bill to grant collective bargaining [...]
- May06
Smoking Ban Watered Down
The Senate Health Committee is debating a new version of H2, the statewide smoking ban, that now limits the ban to only bars and restaurants. Private clubs and workplaces will be exempted from the ban. Unfortunately, the bill still fails to provide an opt-out provision for those bars and restaurants to allow smoking if the [...]
- May06
Voter Registration for 16 Year Olds
The House Election Law and Campaign Finance Committee is set to hear H1260 at 1pm this afternoon. This bill would create a voter "pre-registration" and education program for 16 year olds that would automatically convert their pre-registration to a full voter registration on that person's 18th birthday. If enacted this will create tremendous problems in [...]