Legislature moving quickly...too quickly?

Published February 5, 2013

You have to admit this session of the NC General Assembly came to town ready to work and they don’t mind ruffling feathers.

Senate Bill 4, expected to pass immediately, would negate former Governor Perdue’s decision to choose a federal-state health exchange in implementing the Affordable Care Act, aka “Obamacare” It would declare that North Carolina is going to opt out of expanding Medicaid to some 500,000 citizens. The Senate’s action is interesting, given that Governor McCrory has urged them to move slowly until his administration and the legislature can formulate a measured  strategy to deal with the entire subject of Medicaid.

Medicaid consumes some 13 billion dollars per year in North Carolina, with our state contributing about 3 billion of that amount. This massive program has been riddled with inefficiencies and problems for years and a recent audit from Auditor Beth Wood discusses how mismanagement has cost more than 180 million dollars.

Our interviews with former DHHS Secretary Lanier Cansler, a former Republican legislator, confirms that large complicated programs require measured and well-designed solutions. Even die-hard liberals agree this is a program in need of reform, but those familiar with Medicaid also quickly add we don’t need knee-jerk reactions. Our legislature learned a couple of years ago that doing so comes back to bite them….after all the federal government is paying about 70 cents of every dollar and changes have to be approved by the feds before being implemented.

Then there’s Senate Bill 10, a bill that would fire all the members of the State Utilities Commission, Environmental Management Commission, Coastal Resources Commission, Lottery Commission and Wildlife Resources Commission. It would further abolish several other boards and commissions, including the Charter School Advisory Committee, the Lottery Oversight Commission, the Turnpike Authority and the Board of Correction.

Can the legislature do this? Back in the late 1980's the legislature abolished the Wildlife Resources Commission one day and reconstituted it the next. From time to time they've also added to or subtracted from the number of appointments on various boards but nobody can remember a wholesale firing of a group of boards and commissions before. Some of these board members have prescribed terms. You can be sure for an action this bold to have surfaced lawyers have been involved, but it appears a Supreme Court case may quickly emerge  if SB10  becomes law

When Pat McCrory was elected Governor there were many who hoped he would usher in a better spirit of co-operation, especially a moderate tone to problem-solving. We are already seeing signs isn’t happening. The Senate appears to want our new Governor to know just who is boss, a bad sign for those who had hoped for some harmony between the executive and legislative branches of government. They seem to forget who has that big red “no” stamp in his desk drawer, or who is going to have to interpret and administer everything they pass.

We get it. The R’s won the election and they get to set the agenda and call the shots. But just ask the GOP in Wake County what happens when you outrun your headlights. Elections occur every two years.

And while we agree fixing Medicaid is one of our large problems the firing of all boards and commissions isn’t even on the radar screen.