New session could be short but busy
Published May 8, 2014
By Becki Gray
by Becki Gray, John Locke Foundation and NC SPIN panelist, May 8, 2014.
The N.C. General Assembly’s biennial short session opens Wednesday. North Carolina does not have statutory session limits, so the session will last as long as necessary to finish business.
All indications point toward a session that will be short, with a continued focus on economic growth, job creation, and wise investments.
There will be tweaks and adjustments to state spending for the second year of the two-year state budget. Those tweaks depend on revenue, and unlike previous administrations, they will not include tax increases or additional debt. Any increase in spending will come from existing revenue.
How to make the math work and keep promises will be the biggest challenges of the 2014 short session.
Teacher pay increases top the to-do list. The governor and some legislative leaders are looking at pay increases for beginning teachers to attract more highly qualified professionals. They promise pay increases for veteran teachers as soon as additional revenue is available. The first step involves increasing starting teachers’ pay to $35,000 by the 2015-16 school year. McCrory unveiled ideas Wednesday for boosting all teachers' pay.
An interim study committee has been looking at real concerns about Common Core public school standards and what is best for North Carolina. Expect a bill repealing the requirement to adopt Common Core; in its place, look for the creation of a commission of experts, economists, parents, and others outside the education establishment charged with recommending educational standards that will put North Carolina students first in the nation, with tests that mean something and assessments based on student performance.
While Opportunity Scholarships are tied up in litigation, more than 4,000 low-income families who applied for a voucher to attend a private school this fall are in limbo. Legislative leaders may change the funding source for the scholarships to ensure North
Carolina parents have choices in their children’s education.
North Carolina’s 25 percent tax credit for film production costs is due to expire in December. For every dollar that North Carolina taxpayers give to the film industry, we get back 19 cents in “benefits.” It’s time to pull the plug on this bad deal.
If corporate welfare must continue, taxpayers would be served better with a simpler, more transparent system that eliminates incentives targeted to specific industries. Let filmmakers compete with other industries for money from the Job Development Investment Grant and One North Carolina funds.
The General Assembly will address the recent coal ash spill into the Dan River, which has prompted concerns about water pollution, waste disposal, and cleanup costs. Duke Energy, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, and environmentalists are weighing in. Initial ideas include moving all coal ash basins to lined containment areas away from water supplies, boosting monitoring, and reusing coal ash for commercial fill-in and grading.
The General Assembly should take the time to gather the facts, appraise the actual threat to public safety, and consider all the costs and benefits before moving forward. Duke Energy is a monopoly, and any actions could impose higher costs on ratepayers, retarding economic growth. Legislative action should be appropriate and not reactionary.
The latest unemployment numbers and other economic indicators are positive. Lower taxes, fewer regulations, and better investments have North Carolina on the right track. Wise decisions in the short session will keep the momentum going and the economy growing.
May 9, 2014 at 8:43 am
Norm Kellly says:
Saying that the film incentive returns only 19 cents for every dollar spent is contrary to the popular lib opinion. I'm not surprised. This is a program that needs to be scrutinized extremely closely. This is another corporate welfare program that should probably go away. If the tax code, the entire state tax code, were overhauled so EVERYONE, EVERY BUSINESS were treated the SAME, and FAIRLY, then there would be no need for incentives like this. And one group of tax payers wouldn't be getting screwed in order for politicians to play pick-and-choose. It's OUR money, let's spend it wisely; let's collect it wisely. Let's not penalize me because I'm not making tv shows or movies. But then again, all incentives, picking & choosing, needs to be eliminated. Not just this one example, but all opportunity for politicians to reward their buddies, play games with tax dollars, spend my money on stuff not for me, should be eliminated. A fair, level, adequate tax code could allow everyone to get a tax break and the state could still collect as much money as they need. I know, this takes power and control away from politicians. It is against their nature to take themselves out of the middle, but it's in OUR best interest.
The other item that should be on the legislative agenda is selling off, privatizing the ABC system. All the stores should be sold. All the employees should no longer be government employees. All the business units must be sold to private enterprises. Any store that does NOT sell must be closed. The state is NOT supposed to be in ANY business. The private sector is supposed to be in business. Then I have the opportunity to make purchases at the store where I feel as though I'm being treated as a valued customer. Rules & regulations inside the store can be made by the owner. This would mean the rules & regulations inside the store would be logical, understandable for a change. Politicians should not be in the position to make business decisions. They are incapable of doing so with intelligence, thoughtfulness, and with the customer in mind. To governments, the customer is usually, almost always, the employee. Witness both the DMV and the ABC system. Who do they care about? Who do they make the rules to penalize/punish/treat like they are intruding? They care about the customer. They make rules to keep the customers 'in line'. The rules seem to be put in place so the employee has to do the least amount of work, the least amount of interaction with the customer. Private business knows that they must treat the customer well or the customer goes to a different store to make a purchase. This is pointless with a government agency. They almost always have the same rotten, don't bother me, attitude because they are a monopoly. If a monopoly in the private sector is a bad thing, why is a monopoly in government a good thing? Only libs think so. Just ask them. IBM must be stopped from being a monopoly. AT&T had to be stopped from being a monopoly. Theoretically, Microsoft was flexing it's monopoly, so the libs/demons sued them to break up the monopoly. (we know this wasn't the reason the demons attacked MS, but we'll go with it for now.) So, ask your 'friendly' neighborhood lib why it is that private sector monopolies are bad but government monopolies are good. They won't be able to give you a cohesive, sensible answer. Because there isn't one. The lib you ask will say something about trusting government more than they trust private business, but they won't even be able to explain why this is so. They won't say that dealing with DMV is good. They won't say dealing with the VA is good. They won't say that dealing with the social security administration is good. But for some reason they still trust government more than private business. When I do business with government, I have no other choice. When I want to buy new furniture for my home, for instance, I have a hundred or more choices of where to spend my money. And every one of those businesses KNOW this is true.
Somewhat of a tangent, but it's time our legislators put the ABC stores on the agenda and chopping block. I've tried to explain why. That's why I got so 'long winded'.
