NEWS FROM RALEIGH…
I always welcome your comments, project updates, suggestions, and visits. My office door and electronic door are always open to you! As always, thank you for your support!
NEWSLETTER INDEX
· Around the District and More
· Grant Awards and Opportunities
· Events
· Legislative News
· Hear and See Legislative Live Daily
· Ethics Tip
· A Note of Thanks
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AROUND THE DISTRICT AND MORE
Youth Speaker Javan Richardson visits the General Assembly
Recently Javan Richardson, of Rocky Mount, came to the General Assembly to work as a youth intern for the day. Not only did he give his services to the office but he impressed us all with his oratorical skills by speaking during a Moral Monday rally as well as the Legislative Black Caucus Youth Day. Javan was very appreciative of the opportunity and certainly enjoyed his time here!
Wise 4th of July Festival
Last month Senator Bryant celebrated with the Wise community by attending the Wise 4th of July Parade and Festival. She is pictured above with Oscar “Butch” Meek, one of the organizers for the event and the President of the Warren County Public Facility Company. Thank you to Butch and all those volunteers who made this parade a great success for the community.
KERR-TAR REGIONAL TRANSPORTATION PLANNING ORGANIZATION TAC/TCC MEETING ON AUGUST 22ND
The next Kerr-Tar Regional Transportation Planning Organization (KTRPO) TAC/TCC meeting on August 22 will be focused on North Carolina’s new transportation funding legislation; transportation project prioritization and funding process; and, a discussion about the Kerr-Tar region’s transportation project priorities and objectives including our programs to enhance job access and regional economic development. Several members of our region’s Legislative delegation, in addition to our new Board of Transportation representatives and NCDOT Division 5 Chief Engineer, are expected to attend this meeting so please join us.
If you have any questions, please contact Kerr-Tar Regional Council of Governments at (252) 436-2040 or find more information at http://www.kerrtarcog.org/rpo/
NORTH CAROLINA COMMUNITY COLLEGE ANNOUNCEMENT
UNC-TV has partnered with the North Carolina Community Colleges Foundation to profile all 58 community colleges as the North Carolina Community College System celebrates its 50th anniversary. North Carolina Now, profiles Halifax Community College. By clicking on the link below, you’ll be taken straight to this feature story: http://video.unctv.org/video/2365057279. These feature stories air each Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. on North Carolina Now. We understand the important role the colleges play in communities to train workers, restore economic competitiveness, and improve the quality of life across the state. We are very proud to share these stories with UNC-TV’s statewide audience. If you have any questions about this series or story, call 919-549-7158.
GRANT AWARDS
The Rural Economic Development Center, Inc. has awarded grants for the 2012/2013 fiscal year. These programs will assist units of local government with planning efforts supporting needed infrastructure projects and spur economic activity and job creation. The following grants were awarded to District 4 counties:
Planning Grants Program:
- Town of Enfield for the Asset Management Plan in the amount of $15,000.00
Building Reuse & Restoration Program:
- City of Rocky Mount for the Pencell Plastics Building Renovation Project in the amount of $91,900.00
Rural Hope Initiative Program:
- City of Rocky Mount for the Happy Hill Capital Project in the amount of $103,720.00
GRANT OPPORTUNITY
CFAT Grant Funding Opportunity for New / Enhanced Fleet Vehicles
Deadline: September 10, 2013
The North Carolina Solar Center is pleased to announce a call for projects through the Clean Fuel Advanced Technology Project for up to $1,000,000 to award to governments, business, and/or non-profit fleets and fuel providers for transportation technology-related emission reduction projects. Funding assistance is allocated in the form of a reimbursement, which can cover up to 80% of the project cost.
In order to be eligible, a project must reduce transportation related emissions within eligible NC counties. Project managers anticipate a wide range of applications including alternative fuel vehicle conversions and up fits for operation on cleaner-burning propane or natural gas, alternative fuel refueling and electric recharging infrastructure, on-board idle reduction and telematics technology for fuel savings and emission reduction, and emission control retrofits for school buses and other heavy duty diesel vehicles
Download funding guidelines and application HERE<http://ncsc.ncsu.edu/index.php/clean-transportation/clean-transportation-projects/clean-fuel-advanced-technology-project/>
For more information please contact Chris Werner at chris_werner@ncsu.edu or call 919-515-6366 with any questions regarding the RFP.
EVENTS
- 50th Anniversary March on Washington Bus Trip- August 24th: Now Taking Bus Reservations! ; Deadline for Registration and Non-refundable Deposit of $20.00: Monday, August 12, 2013; Deadline for Balance Due: Thursday, August 22, 2013; Departure date: Saturday, August 24, 2013; Bus departure location & time: Littleton Municipal Parking Lot @ 12:00 AM; Bus departure location & time: Big Lots Shopping Center, Roanoke Rapids @ 12:30 AM;Bus Coordinators: Ophelia Gould-Faison and Lori Parrott; Bus Coordinators Phone: (252) 532-0071 or (919) 358-0980; Bus Coordinators email: gouldfaison@hotmail.comor laneashe@yahoo.com; Total Cost: $60.00 per seat (Cash or Money Orders)
- Roanoke Valley Chamber hosts 6th Annual State of Our Community: The Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce will host a luncheon featuring our local elected officials. Speakers will be the Chair of the Halifax County Board of Commissioners, a Mayor from one of the 7 municipalities, a Chair of one of the 3 school Boards and the Chair of the Chamber of Commerce. This event is set for Thursday, August 29 and will be held at the Centre at Halifax Community College 12:00 – 1:30pm (buffet opens at 11:45am). To reserve a table or individual seat contact Allen Purser at 252-537-3513 or apurser@rvchamber.com
- 29th Annual Littleton/Lake Gaston Festival Aug 30 – Aug 31, Littleton, NC (252) 676-1428 www.LittletonLakeGastonFestival.org Additional information … Festival starts August 30 with street dance at 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. – “The Castaways”. Food vendors open at 5 p.m. On Saturday, August 31, Festival continues from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. with a day filled with live entertainment, arts and crafts vendors, carnival rides, A great time for all the family. Festival is located in Littleton at the intersection of Hwys 903 and 158.
- Summer Camps at the Arts Center – Various Camps are offered for children ages 5 – 12. Location: The Imperial Center, Rocky Mount, June 17 – August 19th. More Information: Call 252-972-1163.
- NC Freedom Monument Reception and Emancipation Proclamation Exhibition–The Board of the North Carolina Freedom Monument Project has embarked upon an ambitious project to set aside (an art and park) space in North Carolina’s State Capital where generations can meet to discuss our state’s history, and to celebrate and be inspired by symbolic representations of the struggle for freedom among all people. The place will be called “Freedom Grove.”
- Traveling Exhibition Tour-Begins– July 2013-September 2015, NC Museum of History. For more information contact Dianne Pledger (919) 224-0408 or dpledger@ncfmp.org
- 12th Annual Golf Classic- Boys and Girls Club of Halifax County
- Date: Thursday, August 22, 2013; Location: 800 Country Club Road Weldon, NC Time: Lunch served at 12:00pm, Shotgun Start at 1:00pm; Cost: Registration Fee $300/Team; More Information call (252) 537-8090
- Free Dutch Lunch Seminar- Strategy Performance Business Women’s Network of Wilson Thursday, August 8th 12:00 p.m. For more information contact Michole Brown at 252.237.0165, or email mbrown@wilsonncchamber.com.
- Norlina Voluntary Fire Dept 1st Annual Car Show. Saturday September 14, 2013 Show Registration begins at 8am at Norlina Fire Dept. All cars, trucks and motorcycles welcome. Trophies will be awarded to the Top 25 participants. Entry Fee $15 and all proceeds will benefit the Norlina Vol. Fire Department. For more information contact John Carter at (252) 432-7869
- The Silver Elegance Ball and Banquet” sponsored by Warren County Senior Center at the Armory Civic Center, contact 252-257-3111 for ticket information.
- Back to School Supply Drive for Warren County Students, contact Lori Parrott at (252) 257-1134 (working with JCPC Youth Forum at Armory Civic Center).
· The 2013 Ducky Derby Saturday, September 21. For more information contact Ginny Lewis at 252-537-3513 or apurser@rvchamber.com
- 29th Annual Littleton/Lake Gaston, Festival Aug 30 – Aug 31, intersection of Hwys 903 and 158, Littleton, NC. Festival starts August 30 with street dance at 7 p.m. until 10 p.m. – “The Castaways”. Food vendors open at 5 p.m. On Saturday, August 31, Festival continues from 10 a.m. until 4 p.m. with a day filled with live entertainment, arts and crafts vendors, carnival rides and more. For more information call (252) 676-1428; for visit their website at www.LittletonLakeGastonFestival.org.
- EastPointe and Detective Muse: Edgecombe County Sheriff’s Department
- Narcotics and Gang Investigation August is Gang Awareness Month, Aug 8, 2013, 3:00pm-4:00pm at the Edgecombe County Memorial Library, 909 Main Street, Tarboro. For more information call Kimberly Hickerson at 800-913-6109 or khickerson@eastpointe.net.
LEGISLATIVE NEWS
Teacher Tenure and Continuing Education Information
Most career status teachers will keep their career status until 2018 when it is phased out completely. As described below, some career status teachers may be among the 25% of teachers that are offered 4 year contracts beginning in 2014—if they accept the contract, they will lose career status in 2014 rather than 2018.
Beginning 2018, no one will have career status.
The Budget bill also phases out master’s salary supplements, beginning with the 2014-2015 school year. If a teacher was not already being paid a salary supplement for a Master’s (or higher) degree by June 30, 2014, that individual would not be eligible to receive a supplement in any future years. The same applies to instructional support personnel that don’t require an advanced degree as a condition of licensure or to school nurses. Any employee that has previously been paid on the “M” schedule is effectively grandfathered in to receive the supplement in future years, even if they have a break for service in NC schools.
Career Status Elimination
SL 2013-360 (SB 402, Sec. 9.6) eliminates career status in North Carolina over a five-year period and requires that all teachers be employed on contract. The implementation timeline for the elimination of career status is as follows:
- For all probationary teachers (those teachers who do not have career status now, usually teachers who have taught for less than 4 years), career status is eliminated as of August 1, 2013. Between the 2014-2015 and 2018-2019 school year, those teachers will remain on one-year contracts.
- All teachers that have taught more than 3 years (including probationary teachers) will be assessed during the 2013-2014 school year, and 25% will be selected to be offered 4 year contracts which come with a $500 annual bonus. A teacher must have shown effectiveness as demonstrated by proficiency on the teacher evaluation instrument to receive one of those contracts. The 4 year contract will begin with the 2014-2015 school year.
- The new teacher contract law will apply to all teachers on contract, 1 or 4 years, beginning July 1, 2014.
- For all other teachers, career status will be repealed on June 30, 2018. Beginning July 1, 2018, all teachers in the State will be offered 1, 2, or 4 year contracts.
The new teacher contract law requires local boards of education to employ teachers upon the recommendation of the superintendent. Teachers employed less than 3 years by a local board can only be employed on one-year contracts. Contracts or contract renewals between a local board and teachers employed by that board for three or more years could be for 1, 2, or 4 school years. For teachers employed more than 3 years, a teacher may only be recommended for a contract term of longer than one year if the teacher has shown effectiveness as demonstrated by proficiency on the teacher evaluation instrument.
Dismissal during the term of the contract can only be for one of the 15 grounds set out in the statute which are the same grounds for which teachers currently with career status can be dismissed. Teachers have the right to petition for hearing for a nonrenewal of a contract but the local board has discretion in whether to grant such a hearing. For teachers being dismissed during the term of the contract, they have a right to a hearing before the local board and the board must grant them this hearing and there is a right to a further appeal to superior court.
A teacher can request a hearing for non-renewal of a contract, but it is discretionary—the board does not have to grant it and there is no appeal of that denial and there is no appeal from the hearing if one was granted.
Resources for Citizens with Criminal Records
Over the last few years, our Alliance has called on elected leaders at the state legislature and in communities across North Carolina to increase access to resources for individuals with criminal records, and lower barriers to reentry. We have gained much through our advocacy, including:
- Certificates of Relief (SL-2011-265)
- Expunction of Nonviolent Offense by Adult (SL 2012-191)
- Establishment of Local Reentry Councils and State Reentry Advisory Board (SL 2012-168)
- Reasonable Use of Criminal Records by Licensing Boards (SL 2013-24)
- Prohibit Expunction Inquiry (SL 2013-53)
We must be vigilant. Civil disabilities imposed on individuals with felony convictions undermine the basic opportunities and resources essential to productive citizenship, including gainful employment, affordable housing, and family unification. The right to vote for citizens with felony convictions who complete their sentences is about preserving their voice and their survival need to engage in our state’s democratic discourse as full-fledged citizens with equal voice. The right to vote is the cornerstone of our democracy, when someone has paid their debt to society, he or she should have their citizenship rights restored. They should not be treated like second-class citizens.
For more information on rights, opportunities and challenges for citizens with criminal records, contact Daniel Bowes, Staff Attorney, Collateral Consequences Initiative, NC Justice Center, (919) 861-2061, ncsecondchance.org
On July 9, 2013 The New York Times published an article detailing the recent legislation passed by the General Assembly. We have included this article for your review.
The Decline of North Carolina
Every Monday since April, thousands of North Carolina residents have gathered at the State Capitol to protest the grotesque damage that a new Republican majority has been doing to a tradition of caring for the least fortunate. Nearly 700 people have been arrested in the “Moral Monday” demonstrations, as they are known. But the bad news keeps on coming from the Legislature, and pretty soon a single day of the week may not be enough to contain the outrage.
In January, after the election of Pat McCrory as governor, Republicans took control of both the executive and legislative branches for the first time since Reconstruction. Since then, state government has become a demolition derby, tearing down years of progress in public education, tax policy, racial equality in the courtroom and access to the ballot.
The cruelest decision by lawmakers went into effect last week: ending federal unemployment benefits for 70,000 residents. Another 100,000 will lose their checks in a few months. Those still receiving benefits will find that they have been cut by a third, to a maximum of $350 weekly from $535, and the length of time they can receive benefits has been slashed from 26 weeks to as few as 12 weeks.
The state has the fifth-highest unemployment rate in the country, and many Republicans insulted workers by blaming their joblessness on generous benefits. In fact, though, North Carolina is the only state that has lost long-term federal benefits, because it did not want to pay back $2.5 billion it owed to Washington for the program. The State Chamber of Commerce argued that cutting weekly benefits would be better than forcing businesses to pay more in taxes to pay off the debt, and lawmakers blindly went along, dropping out of the federal program.
At the same time, the state is also making it harder for future generations of workers to get jobs, cutting back sharply on spending for public schools. Though North Carolina has been growing rapidly, it is spending less on schools now than it did in 2007, ranking 46th in the nation in per-capita education dollars. Teacher pay is falling, 10,000 prekindergarten slots are scheduled to be removed, and even services to disabled children are being chopped.
“We are losing ground,” Superintendent June Atkinson said recently, warning of a teacher exodus after lawmakers proposed ending extra pay for teachers with master’s degrees, cutting teacher assistants and removing limits on class sizes.
Republicans repealed the Racial Justice Act, a 2009 law that was the first in the country to give death-row inmates a chance to prove they were victims of discrimination. They have refused to expand Medicaid and want to cut income taxes for the rich while raising sales taxes on everyone else. The Senate passed a bill that would close most of the state’s abortion clinics.
And, naturally, the Legislature is rushing to impose voter ID requirements and cut back on early voting and Sunday voting, which have been popular among Democratic voters. One particularly transparent move would end a tax deduction for dependents if students vote at college instead of their hometowns, a blatant effort to reduce Democratic voting strength in college towns like Chapel Hill and Durham.
North Carolina was once considered a beacon of farsightedness in the South, an exception in a region of poor education, intolerance and tightfistedness. In a few short months, Republicans have begun to dismantle a reputation that took years to build.
Ethics Tips
Ethical Principle and Guideline 2 states:
“A legislator shall not use his mailing privileges to mail personal or nonlegislative business-related correspondence.”
If you have any questions, please contact the SEI staff at the State Ethics Commission at 919- 715-2071 or by e-mail at SEI@doa.nc.gov.
A Note of Thanks
Thank you very much for handling my problem with the SHIIP Office of the NC Department of Insurance. Sincerely, Robert T. Clark
Dear Senator Bryant,
Thank you so much for taking time to meet with Sha’heem Moore, a Northampton County 4-H member, and Ann Lawrence, my coworker, recently. Thank you for all that you do for the counties you represent and North Carolina at large! Sincerely, Carolina Brown
Dear Sen. Bryant,
On behalf of the NARAL Pro-Choice NC Foundation and our thousands of supporters across the state. I want to thank you for being an advocate for women and families throughout this legislative session. We appreciate your strong commitment to maintaining women’s access to comprehensive reproductive healthcare. Sincerely, Suzanne Buckley, Executive Director.
Dear Senator Bryant,
I want to take this opportunity to thank you for working with the North Carolina Bar Association during the long session. On behalf of our more than 17,000 members, we appreciate your willingness to serve in the North Carolina General Assembly and we thank you for making an incredible professional and personal sacrifice. Lawyers are the backbone of the law-making process and the quality of the laws which are enacted depend upon the expertise and hard work of lawyer-legislators like you. Thank you for your service to the lawyers and citizens of North Carolina. I look forward to working with you on a number of important issues in the future. Sincerely, Kim Crouch, Director of Governmental Affairs
Dear Senator Bryant,
The Halifax County Arts Council is very grateful for your support of the arts in North Carolina. With the funds we have received from the NC Arts Council we have been able to undertake a variety of activities in the past year that have increased awareness and access to the arts in our community. In addition, we have been able to support other grassroots organizations and their arts programs. Without your support these programs would not be possible. The funding from the state provides a foundation for the arts in Halifax County. Without it we would not be able to continue to grow in our community and enrich the lives of all our citizens.
Sincerely, Joseph Jensen, Board Chair
HEAR AND SEE LEGISLATURE LIVE DAILY
You don’t have to miss the Legislative Session. WRAL will live stream legislative sessions daily on their website.-www.wral.com. Also, please remember that you can listen to some committee meetings and press conferences on the General Assembly’s website at www.ncleg.net. 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 view the bills I sponsor and co-sponsor from this website address.
Contact: Senator Angela R. Bryant, North Carolina Senate • District 4•
North Carolina General Assembly • State Legislative Office Building • 300 N. Salisbury Street, Room 520, Raleigh, NC 27603 • 919-733-5878-P • 919-754-3289-F •Angela.Bryant@ncleg.net or
Karon Hardy, Legislative Assistant at bryantla@ncleg.net.