NC Policy Watch's the Progessive Pulse
Corporate Income Tax Cuts Would Harm, Not Help State’s Economy
North Carolina lawmakers are barking up the wrong tree when they claim that corporate tax cuts, such as those proposed in the state Senate, will spur job creation and economic growth. In reality, those tax cuts will do more harm … Read More...
Governor’s budget wipes out funding for economic development programs in distressed, minority communities
Like all budgets, Governor Pat McCrory’s proposed spending plan for FY2013-2015 is based on a set of ideas about how the world works—what spurs economic growth, what creates jobs, and the most effective ways of using state government to achieve … Read More...
Lawmakers press for new driving restrictions for undocumented immigrants
On the same day thousands of advocates for immigration reform flocked the Washington,D.C., four conservative lawmakers filed a lengthy piece of legislation directed at undocumented residents living in North Carolina.
The RECLAIM NC Act opens by noting the failure … Read More...
NC Governor McCrory’s stated reasons for privatizing NC’s award-winning Medicaid program are simply false
In announcing his plan to privatize North Carolina’s award-winning Medicaid program, Community Care of NC, Governor Pat McCrory laid out five key reasons that in his view privatization is necessary. The only problem? None of them hold up under … Read More...
Vouching for vouchers
Another day, another giant backward step for the future of North Carolina. This morning we got the conformation of what we’ve been expecting to see for months now – North Carolina will be the latest state to consider school vouchers.
In … Read More...
More from the playbook on stalling federal judicial nominees
The U.S. Senate made history yesterday — recent history, at least. It confirmed Patty Shwartz, one of President Obama’s federal court nominees, as a judge on the 3d U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals.
It only took 18 months to … Read More...
Prosperity Watch: Recovery continues to bypass African American workers
As the continuing stream of underwhelming jobs reports from the Division of Employment Security reminds us, North Carolina’s workers haven’t experienced much of a recovery since the end of the Great Recession almost four years ago. But if overall unemployment … Read More...
Berger’s Excellent Public Schools Act Moves Forward
Today the Senate Education Committee passed Sen. Phil Berger’s (R-Rockingham) SB 361 – the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2013. The bill is similar in scope to the Senator’s 2012 legislation and calls for the end of teacher tenure and … Read More...
State income tax cuts are not job creators
This report from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities ought to be required reading for the folks determined to slash or abolish the personal income tax in North Carolina.
The tax “reformers” claim their efforts are all about creating … Read More...
Bill would once again OK lobbyists’ gifts to lawmakers
In North Carolina, state law (see G.S. 138A-32) presently makes it illegal for lobbyists to give anything of value to state legislators. Lobbyists can’t buy legislators a pricey dinner, a round of golf, or yes, even a cup of coffee.… Read More...
School safety bill moves forward; arts education requirement squeaks by
This morning the House Education Committee took up HB 452, the 2013 School Safety Act. Rep. Holloway, co-sponsor of the bipartisan bill, hailed it as the most comprehensive school safety legislation in the country since the Newtown tragedy.
The bill … Read More...
State lawmaker embarrasses himself on drug testing bill
There are so many reasons that it is a ridiculous idea to require drug tests for all applicants for Work First/Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or “TANF” benefits (as proposed by multiple state senators) that it’s hard to know where to … Read More...
State religion bill sparks more insanity
House Speaker Thom Tillis has just got to be thrilled by the lovable lugs in his increasingly crazy caucus. First, nearly one our of every five House GOP’ers signs on to the now-officially kiboshed bill to reject the First Amendment’s … Read More...
Two underreported facts about federal deficit reduction
In the incessant yammering that continues about the federal budget deficit, one of the great underreported facts in recent months is that President Obama and Congress have actually already made enormous progress.
As Richard Kogan of the Center on Budget and … Read More...
Will Berger, Rucho learn anything from the collapse of Jindalnomics?
The political freefall of Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal is interesting on multiple levels (Chris Fitzsimon will have more later this morning). Notwithstanding the man’s infamous deer-in-the-headlights state of the union response from a few years back, conservatives were still touting … Read More...
Mayor to legislators: ‘Honor your commitments’ (video)
Raleigh Mayor Nancy McFarlane told members of Wake County’s legislative delegation Monday that it would be wrong for the General Assembly to renege on its deal allowing the city to turn more than 300 acres of the Dorothea Dix campus … Read More...
Rep. Dollar voices legitimate concerns about Medicaid privatization scheme
NC Policy Watch has offered numerous critiques over the years of the statements and actions of conservative state Rep. Nelson Dollar, but here’s an issue on which Dollar is making a lot of sense: Medicaid privatization.
This is from Lynn Bonner of … Read More...
3 questions that Governor McCrory needs to answer about his privatization scheme
Later today, Governor McCrory will announce his proposals to convert the Department of Commerce into a public private partnership that administers at least some of the state’s economic development programs. North Carolina taxpayers should be concerned.
Although we won’t … Read More...
In Washington and Raleigh, gun debate takes center stage
Back from its spring recess, Congress is expected to tackle gun violence prevention in Washington this week. Likewise, gun control legislation will be a hot topic in Raleigh.
On Tuesday, members of the House Education Committee will discuss the merits … Read More...
Will the shark jumping continue?
As Chris Fitzsimon noted with some biting and on-the-money humor last week, conservative state political leaders appear to have reached the point in the 2013 legislative session at which they have ”jumped the shark.” For those who may not have caught the cultural reference, the phrase derives from a late-20th … Read More...
