With Gov. Roy Cooper set to leave office at the end of the year, perhaps we'll hear more honesty from the Executive Mansion about tax rate cuts and targeted incentives.
On this week’s edition of “The Debrief”: State lawmakers are ramping up work for their short election-year session, and the John Locke Foundation’s CEO tackles the organization’s top legislative priorities for 2024. The head of the Civitas Center for Public Integrity addresses major election-year priorities. We also address the heavy hand of government regulation, which...
All 72,000 applicants for Opportunity Scholarships this year are one step closer to securing awards after the North Carolina Senate passed a funding boost for the program on Thursday. The proposed committee substitute (PCS) for House Bill 828 passed by a party line 28-15 vote after more than an hour of contentious debate. Yesterday, the...
North Carolina’s Opportunity Scholarship Program has gotten a lot of headlines recently, and with good reason. The state’s voucher for private schools is poised to more than double its enrollment, dependent on whether lawmakers OK additional funding in the short session that convened just last week. But a lesser known school choice program in the...
There are a great many “investments” Gov. Roy Cooper suggests the North Carolina General Assembly should make in their short session, according to his Recommended Budget Adjustments for the 2024-25 fiscal year — but NCInnovation (NCI) is not among them. In fact, Cooper’s budget proposal, ‘Securing North Carolina’s Future,’ eliminates the $250 million appropriation to...
Last week the non-partisan Fiscal Research Division of the North Carolina General Assembly forecast yet another $1 billion+ surplus in anticipated tax revenues for the 2024–2025 fiscal year. That’s on top of the $400+ million in surplus collections for the 2023-2024 fiscal year. The news, the latest in a decade-long run of tax revenue surpluses,...
Before the short session began in the General Assembly Wednesday, Democrat Gov. Roy Cooper laid out his recommended budget proposal for the last time as governor.
House convened for short session, will vote next week on budget corrections.
NCInnovation (NCI), a private nonprofit organization which aims to use taxpayer money to select particular research projects emanating from North Carolina’s public universities for help in commercialization, announced Tuesday the organization surpassed $25 million in private fundraising commitments. In a press release, NCI executives noted pledges from SAS, Pinnacle Financial Partners, and the Huntington Foundation....
Currituck County and its Tourism Development Authority want North Carolina’s highest court to consider a dispute involving local occupancy taxes. The state Court of Appeals ruled against the county in March.
Rep. Tricia Cotham, R-Mecklenburg, has been appointed as chair of the North Carolina House Education Appropriations Committee for the short session, gaveling in later this week. Tasked with setting appropriations for education, the Committee oversees the largest portion of the state budget. She will replace former committee chair Rep. Jon Hardister, R-Guilford, who resigned from...
