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NEWS FROM RALEIGH… I always welcome your comments, project updates, suggestions, and visits. My office door and electronic door are always open to you! You are also invited to attend any and all Sessions and Committees. Visit the website for Session and Committee meeting times. As always, thank you for your support! |
SIDE NOTE
Senator Bryant’s Primary Sponsored Bills:
· S39 – State Minimum Wage/Inflation Increases
· S50 – Wilson County Occupancy Tax Modification. (Passed Senate; Passed House; Senate approved conference report; pending in house)
· S103 – Notice to Vote Absentee Ballot W/Out Photo ID (Included in HB 836 – Passed)
· S260 – Permit Align School/Comm. College Calendar
· S305 – NCEMPA Asset Sale (Passed)
· S339 – Healthy Families & Workplaces/Paid Sick Days
· S347 – Up Minimum Wage With COLA/Const. Amendment
· S354 – North Carolina Healthcare Jobs Initiative
· S570 – Expunction/Boat Violation (Passed Senate; In House)
· S571 – Expand Uses of 911 Fee
· S613 – Prohibit Discriminatory Profiling
· S626 – Amend Expunction Laws
· S711 – Presumption of Shared Parenting (Passed Senate; In SB519; In Senate Budget HB97)
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NEWSLETTER NEWS:
· EVENTS AROUND THE DISTRICT AND MORE · SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES: Golden Leaf Scholarship Opportunity · THE MORE YOU KNOW, THE MORE YOU GROW: Podcast Link for “’1st’ Ella J. Baker Legacy Tour”
· LEGISLATIVE NEWS: NCAE Education Insight; Ethics Tip; Week in Review
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EVENTS AROUND THE DISTRICT AND MORE: · Rocky Mount Chamber of Commerce Community Health Day, Monthly Community Education Series: Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder and Oppositional Defiant Disorder 101: Saturday, August 29th at Greater Joy Baptist Church, Rocky Mount, NC 27804 from 8:00am-1:00pm. For more information and to register, call Desiree Dolberry at (252) 973-1202 or email ddolberry@rockymountchamber.org. · PNC Arena Job Fair: Thursday, September 15th at PNC Arena, 1400 Edwards Mill Road, Raleigh, NC 27607 from 4:00pm-8:00pm. For more information, call (919) 861-2300 or visit ThePNCArena.com/Employment. · Monthly Community Education Series: Suicide and Teens: Wednesday, September 30th at Eastpointe Rocky Mount Site Meeting Hall, 500 Nash Medical Arts Mall, Rocky Mount, NC 27804. For more information and to register, call Brooke Mickelson at (252) 407-2402 or email bmickelson@easpointe.net. · “Understanding and Dismantling Mass Incarceration”: Thursday, October 1st at the NCAJ Headquarters, 1312 Annapolis Drive, Raleigh, NC 27608 from 8:00am-5:00pm. For more information, visit www.ncaj.com/massincarcerationsymposium. · The Empty Chair Dinner Event: Thursday, October 8th at Booker T. Theatre, 170 W Thomas Street, Rocky Mount, NC 27804 from 6:00pm-8:00pm. For more information, call Tonya Slocum (252) 955-4046 or Cynthia Kornegay (252) 462-0366. · 3rd Annual Disability Awareness and Employment Celbration (FREE event): Saturday, October 17th at The Imperial Centre, 270 Gay Street, Rocky Mount, NC 27804 from 11:00am-2:00pm. For more information contact Brooke Mickelson at (252) 407-2402 or by email at bmickelson@eastpointe.net, Kimberly Hickerson at (252) 407-2426 or by email at khickerson@eastpointe.net, or Jeffrey Walston at (252) 972-1182 or by email at jeffrey.walston@rockymountnc.gov.
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SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES:
Golden Leaf Scholarship Opportunity
Golden LEAF Scholarships are now available for students from qualifying counties who are attending the state’s participating community colleges. Scholarships provide up to $250 per semester for students enrolling in occupational programs and up to $750 per semester for curriculum students, including summer term. Awards can be applied toward tuition, fees, books, supplies at the community college where enrolled, transportation, child care expenses related to attending classes, and mid-skills credential testing upon course completion. |
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THE MORE YOU KNOW THE MORE YOU GROW:
Podcast Link for “’1st’ Ella J. Baker Legacy Tour”, in Littleton NC
The following link is a podcast interview, featuring Ms. Florine Bell, regarding the legacy of civil rights activist, Ella J. Baker: http://www.lessonsfromlistening.org/
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AWARDS & RECOGNITION:
Concerned Citizens of Tillery (CCT) Receives Grant
The Concerned Citizens of Tillery has received a grant from the Halifax County Arts Council’s Grassroots Arts Grants Program for 2015 in support of the Roanoke River Regional Collaborates (RRRC) Cultural Arts Festival. This is the fifth year attempting such a program with the use of funds from the Halifax County Arts Grassroots Program through the North Carolina Arts Council funded by the State of North Carolina and the National Endowments for the Arts. These funds are very valuable in assisting organizations like CCT and the RRRC in bringing cultural events to rural communities. Being able to hold cultural activities within the community puts programming at the fingertips of the citizens who otherwise would be omitted from such activities.
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LEGISLATIVE NEWS:
NCAE Education Insight BUDGET MOVEMENT? YOU CAN HELP With budget negotiations getting a jump start, this weekend and next week is a perfect opportunity to reach out to lawmakers on the budget negotiating committees and tell them to make education a priority. You can meet them back at home this weekend, e-mail, or call and tell them to keep teacher assistants in the classroom, increase the textbook and digital resource fund at the highest level, and support across-the-board salary increases for all educators, including education support professionals. TROUBLE WITH TABOR While budget negotiations have been slow to materialize, Senate leaders are fast-tracking a piece of legislation that could make the state’s current economic challenges worse and undermine the foundation of a strong economy. That’s the analysis by the Budget & Tax Center of the Senate’s Taxpayer Bill of Rights or TABOR. Senate Bill 607 would include an amendment to the state constitution to cap the state income tax at 5 percent. Another amendment would create a formula-based limit (population plus inflation growth) on state investments that could force permanent cuts to education, health care, transportation and other areas. A third amendment would limit access to the state’s Emergency Savings Reserves. The last two would require a two-thirds majority of legislators to spend beyond the formula or access the emergency savings. The Senate Finance Committee passed the proposal on a party line vote. Next the proposal goes to the Senate Appropriations Committee and could be on the Senate floor Monday night if approved in committee. Colorado is the only other state in the country to have tried using this formula-based spending proposal. It has been widely acknowledged as a failure, and in fact did so much damage to education, health care, and other areas that voters chose to suspend it. North Carolina already ranks near the bottom in per-pupil spending and average teacher pay; this proposal could drive the state right over the cliff. North Carolina is better than this. We are joining our partners at the NC Justice Center in calling on lawmakers to end this kind of economic gimmick. To join in the action, click on the button below.
BOND PACKAGE The House introduced and approved a $2.8 billion bond proposal to fund infrastructure and transportation projects. If adopted by the Senate and governor, it would go to voters in March 2016. Under House Bill 943, more than $2.4 billion of the plan would go toward infrastructure, including $900 million for university construction, $500 million for public school construction, and $300 million to community colleges. For public schools, each county would receive a proportional share of the first $150 million. Around $280 million would be directed to lower wealth counties and divided based on enrollment. An amendment would also include schools in a county with a military base and an ADM greater than 23,000 under this section. The other $70 million would be divided among counties with enrollment growth over the last decade. There would be a local match. It would be dollar-for-dollar in wealthier counties, and $1 for every $4 in less prosperous counties. While the House approved the bond package this week, its prospects in the Senate are unclear. HOUSE SENDS TWO ED MEASURES TO NEGOTIATORS The House this week rejected the Senate’s changes to a bill that would change the state’s oversight of charter schools. The original House Bill 334 would affect charter school fees for things like extracurricular activities, but the Senate revised the legislation to move the Office of Charter Schools from the Department of Public Instruction to the State Board of Education. The bill now goes to a special negotiating committee to hammer out the differences. The House also sent House Bill 561 to a conference committee to be negotiated. The original bill dealt with documents that could be subpoenaed in an investigation, but was amended to block local school districts from suing county boards of commissioners for additional education funds for five years. A similar idea was already defeated in a House vote earlier this year. FIGHTING CHILD HUNGER There was a good piece from NC Policy Watch on an initiative to combat child hunger in high-poverty schools referred to as Community Eligibility. DPI reports that about 1,200 public schools are eligible to participate in the initiative, which offers breakfast and lunch to all students free of charge. Last year, about half of the schools eligible participated. Eligible schools not currently participating have until August 31 to join. OTHER BILLS OF INTEREST House Bill 394 Increase Options for Local Option Sales Tax House Bill 482 Employee Misclassification Reform House Bill 556 Achieving a Better Life Experience Act
Senate Bill 15 Unemployment Insurance Law Changes
Ethics Tip
The State Ethics Commission shall also identify and publish at least annually a listing of all boards to which the State Government Ethics Act applies. This listing may b accessed electronically on a public internet Web site maintained by the Commission. G.S. 138A-11.
These lists are available on the State Ethics Commission’s website: http://www.ethicscommission.nc.gov
Week in Review Monday 8/17 – Friday 8/21
GOP leadership agree to a budget number, but the deal to limit spending to $21.735 billion could sacrifice TAs, state employee raises. Tuesday morning, House and Senate leaders agreed to a budget number over breakfast at the Governor’s mansion, a step that will allow budget negotiations to continue moving forward. The agreed upon number of $21.735 billion is over $400 million less than the original House budget, which indicates that at least some of the cuts scheduled in the Senate version will likely come to fruition. “It’s $420 million less, so obviously what the House was looking at in terms of raises and in terms of investing in education will not happen,” said Dollar, a Cary Republican. With no answer on TA positions or final education spending numbers, school districts across the state are getting ready to open doors Monday short on staff, and with very few answers about job security. Read more here.
Negotiations are the next step for NC Medicaid and incentives bills. On Wednesday, the House formally objected to the Senate versions of two key pieces of legislation – Medicaid reform, and an incentives bill that also redistributes sales tax revenue to rural counties. While both provisions were originally coupled in the Senate budget bill, they were pulled out to speed up budget negotiations. It is yet to be determined whether budget negotiations will continue before agreements on these two bills are made. Read more here.
NC Classrooms brace for teacher shortage. Mirroring a national trend, some North Carolina classrooms are bracing for a teacher shortage next Monday, the first day of the traditional school year. “It’s a perfect storm,” said Guilford County Schools Chief of Staff Nora Carr about the reason why the teacher shortage is more pronounced there than in years past. Guilford’s school officials are still scrambling to fill around 50 teacher vacancies—many, unusually, in elementary classrooms. Read more here.
NC World War II Veterans honored at Legislature. This week, North Carolina World War II Veterans gathered at the General Assembly to be honored for their service. Nearly 40 veterans visiting the legislature Tuesday were celebrated in a resolution approved by the Senate and House that also recalled those who died in the war. Read more here.
Jen Painter, a teacher starting her 15th year in public education, considers leaving North Carolina. “A colleague told me that although she doesn’t feel “done” with teaching, it doesn’t make financial sense for her to continue in the classroom after this year. I’m not sure it’s in my own interest to continue as a teacher in this state. After this year, I’ll be halfway to retirement. If I don’t leave soon, I’ll be so far into the system as to make the difficult decision to leave even harder.” Read more here.
In Case You Missed It – Last Week in Review Monday 8/10 – Friday 8/14
NC Legislature extends longest budget impasse in 13 years. This Thursday House and Senate leadership came to an agreement to extend the current budget spending levels once more, through August 31st, in a second continuing resolution. This move will further delay final negotiations on a state budget, and continue to leave North Carolina’s public schools in the dark as they ready to open doors for the school year in less than two weeks. Read more here.
NC House and Senate at odds on tax shift plan. This week the NC Senate passed House Bill 117, originally an economic incentive bill, with an added sales tax redistribution piece that shifts some of the sales tax revenue from urban counties to lower wealth rural counties. The bill contains some much-needed economic incentives tools, but the sales tax redistribution creates winners and losers, causing controversy in both chambers between urban and rural members. The House will vote up or down to concur with the measure, after which it will likely return to conference for negotiations. Read more here.
Senate gives OK to constitutional budget amendment. This week Senate Bill 607, a bill to amend the North Carolina constitution with taxing and spending limits, passed the Senate along party lines. This bill, a product of ALEC-guided conservative values, is an effort that will prevent the legislature from making important investment decisions in the future in important areas such as education and infrastructure, and does so under the guise of responsible tax reform. This bill is more smoke and mirrors to trick the average North Carolinian, distracting from the budget impasse that is holding up the state. Read more here.
Senate approves Medicaid reform, rejects expansion. This week the NC Senate passed Medicaid reform, a step that has until now been cited as the first necessary action before expansion can be considered. During debate, Senator Van Duyn, of Buncombe county, introduced an amendment to add expansion to the bill as a final step after reform is complete – to no avail. Medicaid expansion in North Carolina under the Affordable Care Act would provide insurance to over 500,000 North Carolinians currently living without health insurance, and create over 40,000 new jobs in the state. Read more here.
Week in Review Monday 8/3 – Friday 8/8
NC Senate moves to lock in GOP tax rates with constitutional amendments. Senate leadership moved a bill Thursday that proposes three constitutional amendments to write their lower-tax, small-government philosophy into the state constitution. Rather than focus on ensuring a sound education to all children in the state, and invest in needs such as roads and infrastructure, GOP leadership instead is trying to freeze spending moving forward with constitutional changes. Constitutional changes must be approved by a 3/5 vote in referendum, likely to be seen on the presidential primary ballot in March. Read more here.
11 Teaching Assistants laid off in Pitt County. With no state budget, school districts are forced to estimate their spending plans for the coming year. In anticipation of the Senate GOP getting their way, and eliminating 8500 TA positions in the coming year, pink slips are already starting to go out in what could be the largest layoff in state history. Read more here.
NC Senate GOP drops Medicaid and sales tax from the budget in hopes of speeding up a compromise. In exchange, Berger said they want the house to cut hundreds of millions of dollars of spending from their budget in order to hit a spending target of $21.65 billion dollars. Meanwhile, schools are starting up for the year in just a few weeks, and without a final budget, many will be guessing as to what their actual budgets will be once negotiations are over. Read more here.
NC Senate vote sets up show-down with EPA on new air quality rules. The state Senate voted 31-12 along party lines Wednesday to limit the state’s response to new federal limits on emissions of carbon dioxide from power plants and lay the groundwork for a lawsuit against the Environmental Protection Agency. This legislation, which replaced a House bill doing the exact opposite, will prevent North Carolina from regulating their own air quality standards, and invite the federal government to step in and take over. Read more here.
Kentucky attracts moviemakers with higher film incentives. Like many tax-credit programs, film tax credits prompt two very different schools of thought: those who think tax credits bring new money and new jobs to the state and those who believe it’s a waste of money on short-lived projects. North Carolina has recently cut all film incentives, and as a result is seeing filmmakers move to nearby states like Kentucky and Georgia. Read more here.
NC House leaders propose $2.8 billion bond referendum for roads, infrastructure. Republican leaders in the state House rolled out their own version of Gov. Pat McCrory’s bond proposal Monday, calling for more infrastructure spending than the governor’s plan. The House plan mirrors McCrory’s proposal on borrowing numbers: Both feature about $2.8 billion in bonds, which would go before voters in a special November election aimed for timing at taking advantage of low interest rates. Read more here.
Duke Energy Progress completes $1.25B purchase of NCEMPA’s power generation assets. North Carolina Eastern Municipal Power Agency has finalized the sale of its power generation assets to Duke Energy Progress for $1.25 billion, marking the completion of a proposed deal that was announced early last year. Senators Bryant and Newton championed the final piece of this bipartisan effort, closing a deal that will save money for ratepayers across the state. Read more here.
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YOUR KIND WORDS ARE APPRECIATED:
Dear Senator Bryant,
Greetings from Henderson, NC! The Vance County Arts Council would like to take the opportunity to thank you for lobbying on behalf of the arts in North Carolina. The Vance County Arts Council is pleased to have served as a designated county partner for the North Carolina Arts Council’s Grassroots Arts Program funds for this year. We want to send our sincere thanks for your continued support of this allocation of funds making it possible for our county to offer quality art programming. Thanks again for serving as Grand Marshal for the 2014 Henderson Downtown Christmas Parade! It was the first time the Vance County Arts Council hosted the parade and it was a huge success. The children who escorted you were honored to meet you!
Respectfully Yours, Dr. Alice Clark Sallins, Executive Director VCAC ***************************************************************************** Dear Senator Angela Bryant,
Just a little note to thank you for sponsoring me during my Page service. It was truly an exciting experience and exhilarating experience. I learned a lot and met many new people. Thank you again.
Sincerely, Jared Barnes (Page for the week of June 29th) ***************************************************************************** Senator Bryant,
I just wanted to thank you again for your excellent work on HB774. You did a great job.
Best, Lao Rubert, Carolina Justice Policy Center |
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