I returned to Raleigh this week along with many of my colleagues for a special session to reconsider an economic incentives bill that Governor Easley vetoed in August.
We reached a compromise that encourages large businesses that pay well to stay in North Carolina.
The compromise bill (House Bill 4 for the extra session) requires the companies to be in one of the state’s poorest counties, to invest $200 million at the site within a six-year period, to employ at least 2,000 full-time employees, to pay for all full-time employees’ health insurance and provide wages 40 percent higher than the county average. The incentives would help us keep jobs in these regions and develop and stimulate the economy.
In a fast growing state, we must make decisions that improve the economic security of our citizens and promote continued prosperity for our children. Since we know that increased educational attainment leads to higher salaries and a thriving economy, this session we focused on preparing our young people for the workforce. To do this, we strengthened our higher education system by including more money for scholarships, adding programs to encourage high school students to attend college and building facilities that will make sure our institutions of higher learning continue to be among the best in the world.
Financial Aid
This session my colleagues and I helped create the Education Access Rewards North Carolina, or EARN, Scholars program by setting aside $127 million for it over the next two years. This program will give more North Carolinians access to higher education by providing $4,000 grants each year to the 25,000 community college and University of North Carolina system students with the greatest financial need. All North Carolinians with family incomes of less than 200 percent of the federal poverty level are eligible for the program. We are extremely proud of this program because it makes the dream of attending school, from pre-kindergarten all the way through college, a reality for all of our citizens. Students can now focus on their studies without worrying about finding money to pay for college and will be able to graduate with a bachelor’s degree without any debt.
We increased access to our world-class universities by increasing financial aid in the UNC system by nearly $28 million and setting aside another $8.6 million for state scholarships and grants. We also enhanced our “529” college savings fund by allowing more people to contribute more money each year to the tax-free accounts.
Learn & Earn
We set aside $2.4 million to expand the Learn & Earn program and increased funding for the online component of the program by $11.5 million. Learn & Earn allows high school students to earn college credits while they are still in high school. High school students can even earn an associate’s degree online, from their high school, or at a local community college. The program is free and allows students to prepare for college or work with no more than an extra year of high school — at no additional cost.
Salaries
We gave university and community college faculty and professional staff a 5 percent pay raise so that we can attract the best educators for our students.
Facilities
As our state and our university system continue to grow, we need more buildings and new programs to provide the level of service expected of one of the nation’s premier institutions of higher learning. Below are some of the highlights of our expansion of the 16-campus university system.
East Carolina University
We appropriated $25 million to plan and operate a new dental school at ECU, which will have up to ten clinics serving patients in underserved areas of eastern North Carolina. ECU plans to heavily recruit students from rural areas and will encourage students to practice in those areas. The dental school is set to open by 2010 at the earliest.
Elizabeth City State University
ECSU will receive $2 million for the new 45,000-square-foot School of Education Building. Another $500,000 has been set aside for the new School of Aviation Complex.
North Carolina Central University
We gave the law school at NCCU $2.5 million to help them comply with American Bar Association recommendations. The school is seeing a rapid enrollment increase and ABA officials worried that the school may have to cut support staff jobs if it lost federal grant money. Last year the school depended on federal grants for about 30 percent of its budget. This money will help the school handle the enrollment increase, protect employees and make sure students get the services they need. NCCU also received $2.5 million for the 65,000-square-foot School of Nursing building.
North Carolina State University
NCSU received $17 million to plan and build the James B. Hunt Library on Centennial Campus.
University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill
UNC-Chapel Hill received $25 million for a 215,000-square-foot addition to the School of Dentistry. An additional $8 million has been set aside for the 275,000-square-foot Biomedical Research Imaging Center.
University of North Carolina – Charlotte
Making North Carolina a leader in energy efficiency was one of our main goals this session. We set aside $19 million to plan and build the Energy Production Infrastructure Center at UNC-Charlotte. Students at the center will learn how to make better and more efficient power plants.
Winston Salem State University
WSSU will receive $3.3 million to plan a new Science and General Office Building.
Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Building
We appropriated $5 million for the Joint Graduate School of Nanoscience and Nanoengineering Building at the Millennium Campus in Greensboro. The 95,000-square- foot facility will be jointly operated by North Carolina A&T State University and the University of North Carolina-Greensboro. N.C. A&T will also receive $5.3 million for a new classroom and instructional building. UNCG will receive $2.5 million for a new education building.
Please remember that you can listen to each day’s session, committee meetings and press conferences on the General Assembly’s website. Once on the site, select “audio,” and then make your selection — House Chamber, Senate Chamber, Appropriations Committee Room or Press Conference Room. You can also use our site to look up bills, view lawmaker biographies and access other information.
Warren County Community Forum on Internet Funding
Senator Doug Berger, Ms. Linda Jones, Warren County Manager, and I have scheduled a community forum to discuss Internet funding in Warren County on Monday, September 17, 2007, from 6:00-7:30 at the Warrenton Fire Station, 236 South Main Street. Ms. Jane Smith Patterson, The e-NC Authority’s Executive Director, and staff will present the program. It will focus on infrastructure deployment, citizen training and applications development (Education, Health Care, Ebusiness, etc.).
Warren County citizens are invited to attend this important forum. Please confirm attendance with Ms. Arnetta Y. Yancey, Executive Assistant to Warren County Manager at her email or by telephone at 252.257.3115.
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Please invite me to attend your county, city, community or civic, etc. meetings or events.
As I’ve said many times before, I hope you will continue to let me know how you feel about the issues that are being debated by the North Carolina Legislature and the challenges you and your family are facing each day.
By working together, we can make Northampton, Vance and Warren Counties and all regions of North Carolina a better place to live, work and raise a family.