The House came into this session knowing we would face a financial challenge.
We were determined not to let it stop us from moving this state forward, and we developed goals in line with what you have asked us to do.
I’m pleased to say we reached all of those goals. Even in the face of financial difficulties, we found ways to improve state laws across the board. The following information highlights just some of the ways we have worked to improve Education, Health, and Economy and Jobs in North Carolina.
I hope you will contact me if you have questions, or if I can be of service. Thank you as always for your support and your interest in our state.
Economy and Jobs
We focused our state’s fiscal policy on the creation, expansion and protection of jobs in North Carolina. Through legislative oversight and direction, we have worked to maximize the impact of the $6 billion in federal stimulus funds to support a green economy, infrastructure, and other programs. The following information highlights just some of the legislation that we have passed this session to help us achieve these goals.
We passed a new law that helped North Carolina bring in a new Apple, Inc. facility that will be required to invest $1 billion in the state. The law (S.L. 2009-54) changes the way corporate income tax liability is calculated for multi-state taxpayers by considering only the company’s sales in the state when determining their tax bills. The existing formula also accounts for companies’ property holdings and payroll. The change applies only to companies that invest $1 billion or more over a nine-year period. No company in the state qualified for the incentive before Apple, Inc. announced that they would be locating their new facility in North Carolina, rather than Virginia.
We have passed a law to extend the sunset of the Job Development Investment Grant Program, commonly known as JDIG (S.L. 2009-394). The intent of the program is to foster job creation and investment in the economy of this state. In the years that JDIG has been in effect, the state of North Carolina has taken in significantly more money than has been expended on the program. JDIG has proven to be a valuable asset to the state, especially during these uncertain economic times. Job Development Investment Grants are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. Since the first grant was awarded in 2003, the program has been responsible for creating commitments for more than 30,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment in North Carolina.
North Carolina will establish a Financial Literacy Council to coordinate and expand the financial education available to all North Carolinians. The new law is meant to promote financial education in public schools and across the state (S.L. 2009-265).
This year’s budget will allocate $5 million of the funds received by the State under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to be appropriated to the State Energy Office to the Green Business Fund. The Green Business Fund provides grants to private businesses with less than 100 employees, non-profit organizations, and State agencies to encourage the growth of a green economy in North Carolina.
We have offered new ways to assist homebuyers and homeowners to support our third largest employment sector. The following information highlights just some of the legislation that we have passed this session to help us achieve these goals.
North Carolinians who have been victimized by predatory mortgage lenders will be helped under a new state law (S.L. 2009-374). The primary intent of the S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act is to ensure that mortgage loan originators operate ethically. The legislation gives the Commissioner of Banks broad authority to enforce this law.
Homeowners associations would be required to make reasonable and diligent efforts to locate and notify a lot owner prior to filing a claim of lien for assessments — the legal right to keep or sell somebody else’s property as security for a debt, under legislation that has been ratified by the General Assembly (HB 806). The bill was presented to Gov. Perdue on 8/11/09 to be signed into law.
The Statutory Homestead Exemption is increased significantly under a new state law (S.L. 2009-417). The legislation applies to an individual debtor’s aggregate interest up to $35,000 in value, in real property or personal property that the debtor or a dependent of the debtor uses as a residence. Previously, the Exemption applied only to the aforementioned asset with a value of less than $18,500.
Education
We worked to protect the quality of education from preschool through graduate school. We also worked harder than ever to ensure that our children stay in school until they graduate, to assist our community colleges to meet their challenges, to protect our world-class university system while keeping it affordable and to explore new ways of using technology to educate with emphasis on distance-learning. The following information highlights just some of the legislation that we have passed this session to help us achieve these goals.
This year’s budget includes funding for 12 additional Learn and Earn high schools in North Carolina that will be operational in 2009-2010. The Learn and Earn initiative is a free program that allows high school students to get a jump start on their college education or to gain career skills. At this time, there are 60 Learn and Earn high schools across the state.
We continued to fund Communities in Schools of North Carolina, Inc (CIS). Last year, more than 21,000 students at-risk of dropping out were provided case managers by CIS, and 98 percent of them stayed in school.
We continued to fund the North Carolina Center for the Advancement of Teaching. The center serves as a resource to teachers throughout the state. The budget will transfer the Center to SBOE from the UNC Board of Governors.
Our budget this year will provide $13 million in recurring funds for additional dropout prevention grants. Dropout Prevention Grants provide funding on a competitive basis to local school administrative units, schools, local agencies, or nonprofit organizations to support programs that address dropout prevention. The additional funding for this program can be used to provide continued funding to past grant recipients or to fund new recipients. The maximum grant size is $175,000.
In this year’s budget, we fully funded enrollment growth in community colleges. – $58 million
In this year’s budget, we fully funded enrollment growth in universities – $44 million
Legislation that will encourage policies to facilitate graduation has been signed into law (S.L. 2009-330). The law directs local boards of education to encourage local businesses to adopt personnel policies to permit parents to attend school conferences. The law also encourages local boards of education to adopt policies to implement programs that: (1) assist students in making a successful transition between the middle school and high school years, (2) increase parental involvement in student achievement, and (3) reduce suspension and expulsion rates and encourage academic progress during suspensions. In addition, the law directs local school boards to modify policies on pregnant and parenting students that would better enable those students to graduate.
The Parent & Student Educational Involvement Act requires schools to provide specific information to parents when recommending that students receive a long-term suspension or expulsion (HB 804) would allow educators to step in if they determine the student is at risk of failing based on grades, observations, state assessments or other factors.
The high school graduation project is no longer required for graduation under a new state law (S.L. 2009-213). It has been demonstrated that the existence of this additional requirement has exacerbated the dropout problem amongst already at-risk students. The new law also directs the Program Evaluation Division of the General Assembly to study the cost and effectiveness of requiring a high school graduation project.
The “Healthy Youth Act” has been signed into law (S.L. 2009-213). All students will now be exposed to both abstinence-only and comprehensive sex education. The law also allows parents to remove their children from any portion of the course.
Anti-bullying legislation has been ratified by the General Assembly and signed into law (S.L. 2009-212). The legislation requires public school districts to approve anti-bullying measures that name specific groups as possible targets. The legislation defines bullying as behavior that places students or school employees in fear of harm or damage to their property.
Gifted students under the age of 16 may continue to attend community colleges under a new law that re-enacts a law that expired last September (S.L. 2009-46). The law also allows for students under the age of 14 to enroll in a Learn & Earn online course through a community college for college credit if that student has received appropriate approval. The intent of the law is to serve the bright young people of North Carolina who want to get a head start on their college education.
Health
We worked to reduce overall healthcare costs by promoting wellness and prevention programs. We have also worked to protect our citizens by improving patient safety, expanding access to health care for children, making structural improvements to the State Health Plan and addressing mental health needs. The following information highlights just some of the legislation that we have passed this session to help us achieve these goals.
We passed a new law that will result in smaller rate increases than originally projected for members of the State Health Plan, while also increasing the plan’s transparency (S.L. 2009-16). The new law reduces the premium rate increase for the next two years from 10 percent to 8.9 percent. It also adds coverage for treatment by chiropractors, mental health and substance abuse professionals and speech therapists and includes provisions to encourage plan members to stop smoking and to lose weight. The law retains language added in the House that calls for an independent audit of the plan, more detailed billing information, and increased disclosure of transactional data and administrative costs. The law also calls for monthly financial reports and establishes a 15-member Blue Ribbon Task Force that will examine the plan’s rate structure and governance, among other things.
We have passed a law that prohibits smoking in bars and restaurants (S.L. 2009-27). The intent of the legislation is to protect North Carolinians from the harm of secondhand smoke.
Automated calls to protect the public health, safety, or welfare will be allowed under a new state law (S.L. 2009-364). The system is intended to inform telephone subscribers that they have purchased products or medication that may be subject to a safety recall; that the telephone subscriber has not picked up a filled prescription drug or that an account maintained by the telephone subscriber may be subject to potential fraudulent activity. The calls could not be used for any commercial purposes.
More local mental health agencies are now required to report how they are spending money twice a year under a new state law (S.L. 2009-191). The intent of the law is to require more transparency and accountability for state-funded mental health providers.
A new state law directs the Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities, and Substance Abuse Services, to take certain actions to improve supports for persons with developmental disabilities (S.L. 2009-186).
We have passed a law that authorizes County Departments of Social Services to conduct follow-up monitoring of adult care homes (S.L. 2009-232). The law is meant to improve patient safety by improving oversight of adult-care homes.
We have passed a new law that will increase transparency of state facilities that provide mental health, developmental disabilities, and substance abuse services by requiring the disclosure of certain information about death reports, facility police reports, and incident reports (S.L. 2009-299).
Counties interested in establishing health insurance pilot demonstration projects to provide a model for affordable employer-based health insurance would be authorized to do so under a bill that has been ratified by the General Assembly and sent to the Governor to be signed into law (HB 212).
Notes
I am saddened to inform you that former North Carolina Rep. Bob Hensley Jr. died Tuesday at Rex Hospital from complications of leukemia at the age of 62. He represented Wake County in the state House for 12 years, from 1990 to 2002. He is survived by his wife, Pat Granger Hensley, and sons, Preston, Chris and Robert Hensley III.
Meetings/Events
I plan to attend the following meetings/events:
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.
Please remember that you can use the General Assembly’s website to look up bills, view lawmaker biographies and access other information. The site also contains detailed information about the state budget and legislative schedules.