In the past week, three major decisions by the new leadership in the North Carolina General assembly came back to haunt the people of North Carolina.
We learned over the past week that:
- Teacher layoffs are likely going to get worse next year;
- At least a part of the legislatures intrusion into the doctor-patient relationship is likely unconstitutional; and
- The General Assemblys budgeting failures created a $139 million hole in Medicaid.
“I have a different vision for North Carolina than the new leadership in the General Assembly,” Gov. Perdue said. “We should focus on helping families by creating jobs, improving our schools and ensuring that state government is able to do more with less.”
Here is what you need to know:
The General Assemblys teacher cuts are going to be even more painful if federal funds for teachers expire. Earlier this year, the North Carolina General Assembly passed deep education cuts that were as unnecessary as they were damaging. Schools and children across the state are feeling the pain of those cuts, but the impact is somewhat less devastating than it would have otherwise been because of short-term federal dollars coming into the state to pay teachers. Those federal funds are set to expire next year.
Last week, the U.S. Senate failed to advance the “Teachers and First Responders Back to Work Act,” which would have put more teachers in the classroom and provided at least some cushion against the pain of the legislatures shortsighted education cuts. If the federal teacher funds run out, North Carolina will feel the full brunt of the General Assemblys cuts next year. Gov. Perdue had written to Senators Burr and Hagan urging them to support the bill. Gov. Perdue vetoed the budget that contained the deep education cuts.
A federal judge blocked enforcement of part of the so-called Womens Right to Know law. Earlier this year, Gov. Perdue vetoed HB 854, calling it “a dangerous intrusion into the confidential relationship that exists between women and their doctors.” On Tuesday, a federal judge issued a preliminary injunction against a portion of the law, stating that it “likely violates the First Amendment.”
Budgeting failures created a $139 million hole in Medicaid. At a legislative hearing Thursday, and in a letter sent to legislative leaders this week, Perdue Administration officials provided updates on problems with the DHHS budget that the General Assembly passed in June. There is a $139 million shortfall in Medicaid that the new leaders in the General Assembly largely created with their extremely unrealistic assumptions about potential Medicaid savings. The General Assembly may choose to have painful cuts inflicted on services for patients and on provider rates to address their mistakes. Before the budget was passed, Gov. Perdue repeatedly warned the General Assembly about shortcomings with the DHHS budget.
The impacts being felt this week are in addition to consequences of the General Assemblys choices that have surfaced earlier:
- U.S. District Judge James A. Beaty Jr. halted enforcement of the ban on funding to Planned Parenthood that the General Assembly wrote into the budget. Gov. Perdue vetoed the budget.
- Judge Howard Manning ruled that the General Assemblys cuts to the NC Pre-K program violated the North Carolina Constitution. Gov. Perdue vetoed the budget that included the cuts.
- The Chairman of the Employment Security Commission had to suspend enforcement of provisions of SB 532 that prevented a sharp increase in a tax that North Carolina employers pay. This action came after the U.S. Department of Labor determined that those provisions did not comply with federal law. Gov. Perdue vetoed SB 532, which the General Assembly passed earlier this year, and which made various changes to North Carolinas employment security laws.