Jones Street 2015-- The good, the bad, the useless
Published October 5, 2015
Editorial by Fayetteville Observer, October 3, 2015.
There was more going on than punishment at the just-concluded session of the General Assembly. Some laws got passed. So did the budget, albeit months after the start of the fiscal year.
The governor campaigned hard for a bond issue to jump-start badly needed improvements in our state buildings and highways. The highway part didn't happen, but there will be a flurry of building, especially on state college campuses, if the voters approve the bonding next year.
While a lot of incentive programs died or were sharply diminished, lawmakers did raise the cap on the Job Development Incentive Grants, which will help economic developers lure new companies here. And on a smaller scale, cities got back most of the historic-preservation incentives that had helped bring downtown Fayetteville and many other city and town centers back to life.
Sweeping regulatory reforms may help businesses improve their bottom lines and operate more efficiently but will also dilute our already-weak environmental regulations. And Medicaid, which didn't need reforming, will get it anyway.
A few good things happened, and a few bad ones too, in a mostly undistinguished legislative session.
