/>iLegislature Extends Its Summer Break
Budget talks and summer travel are delaying actions the Republicans want to complete before this year's main legislative session ends, so the North Carolina General Assembly is postponing formal work for an additional week. No votes were taken this week, and no committee meetings were held. The same is anticipated for next week.
During a brief non-voting session of the House earlier this week, House Speaker Tim Moore announced that votes to override the vetoed bills that reside in the House would be put on the House calendar for August 7, with the budget likely to soon follow.
Budget negotiations between the House and Senate continue and apparently, progress has been made. Speaker Moore told reporters that they, “have agreed on raises for teachers and state employees. And so we haven’t released what that is, but we’re very pleased with that number.” The raises will probably fall within the range of what each chamber has already pitched. For the Senate, that translates to 5 percent raises over two years for the majority of state employees and 4.5 percent over two years for teachers, though the exact percentage varies depending on the teacher. The House wanted state employees to receive raises averaging 7.5 percent, with some employees in positions that are more difficult to fill receiving raises as high as 10.2 percent. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger has been reported to have said that two major factors remain to be negotiated before the final resolution can occur. Those factors are how much money to put in reserves and certain tax aspects of the budget.
As noted above, the fate of the five bills Governor Roy Cooper vetoed earlier this month is still uncertain. House Bill 808 to ban gender transition surgeries and medications for children; House Bill 574, the Fairness in Women's Sports Act to limit college and high school sports to correspond with biological gender; and Senate Bill 49, a Parents' Bill of Rights increasing public school transparency, are among the most contentious.
House Bill 618, which would create a Charter School Review Board to make decisions about charter schools, and House Bill 488, which would restructure the state Building Code Council and establish a Residential Code Council, are two additional bills that are likely to face veto override challenges.
Senate Bill 747 is still up for consideration by lawmakers and would make a number of changes to North Carolina's election laws, including: (1) eliminating the three-day grace period for absentee ballots — meaning all ballots reach the tabulators on or before Election Day — which would bring North Carolina into line with more than 30 other states; (2) prohibiting private funding for elections; (3) removing noncitizens from voter rolls; (4) allowing public inspection of absentee ballots; (5) lengthening the retention of election records; (6) bolstering voter verification for same-day ballots, and (7) establishing two-factor authentication for mail-in absentee ballots.
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Four New Casinos Under Consideration
Legislative leaders announced Thursday that as part of a deal to finalize the state's budget, they are considering approving the construction of four new casinos throughout the state.
The proposal calls for the construction of casinos in the counties of Anson, Nash, and Rockingham, which are referred to as "entertainment districts" by lawmakers. According to House Speaker Tim Moore, the Lumbee Tribe would manage a fourth casino in the state's southeast. The lack of sufficient federal tribal recognition has prevented the Robeson County-based Lumbees from running their own casino. Moore suggested that the tribe instead offer gambling through a state licensing procedure.
Casinos have been a hot topic during the session, especially since Virginia announced the construction of casinos near the border with North Carolina. The issue heated up this week when Speaker Moore reported that the House had received a draft of potential casino legislation from the Senate. Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger said that there is not a full bill yet, and the House and Senate are continuing to exchange concepts. He said that neither chamber is leading the charge on the issue.
As part of the proposal, video lottery terminals (VLTs) or video gaming terminals (VGTs), which resemble slot machines, would also be made legal. The terminals would have been legal under earlier legislation in establishments with an ABC license, including bars, restaurants, convenience stores, and others.
Supporters view the legalization of casinos in North Carolina as a means of reducing the influence of out-of-state gambling, bringing in money for state and local coffers, and boosting economically struggling regions where the casinos would create jobs. If the legislature authorized three more casinos, a recent analysis estimated $1.6 billion in additional revenue.
The entertainment districts, according to Senate President Pro Tem Berger, go beyond traditional casinos. "It wouldn't just be a stand-alone casino," he said. “The idea would be that there would be a district that would include a casino, a hotel, possibly residential, commercial, office-industrial and it would be sort of a package that would be developed. That’s at least the concept.”
The Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, who run two casinos in the state's far west, should be included in the conversation, according to Moore. Additionally, a temporary casino is run by the Catawba in Kings Mountain.
Moore stated that although lawmakers have spoken with local elected officials in the communities where the casinos may be located, the most recent draft of the bill does not call for a referendum in those areas. According to Berger, the bill would give localities a voice. That decision might be made by a governing body like the county commissioners.
Read more by Associated Press (7/13/23) / Associated Press (7/20/23)
NCInnovation’s $1.4 Billion Budget
A bipartisan state budget proposal would give more than $1.4 billion to a nonprofit organization planning to support innovation in North Carolina and the creation of tens of thousands of jobs. If approved, it would represent North Carolina's largest-ever injection of public funds into a non-state organization.
By commercializing domestic research and ideas, especially those that benefit the state's rural areas, NCInnovations intends to use the funding to promote innovation in North Carolina. The organization hopes that by collaborating with universities in eastern and western North Carolina, it will be able to support economic growth in the state's more rural regions, which have seen population declines as a result of the booming populations of the state's major cities, and better compete with other states that the organization believes have an advantage in commercializing research.
NCInnovation would find university research that could be applied commercially and then use funding to assist researchers in marketing the ideas. According to NCInnovation’s CEO, Bennet Waters, "We would kind of cover this 'valley of death' (the gap between academic research and the commercialization of technology) from the end of federal funding to the beginning of commercial investment."
The state Senate's budget proposal, which was approved by the chamber on a bipartisan vote, included $1.425 billion for the project. The concept has also received approval from the House of Representatives and Governor Roy Cooper, albeit with much less funding, calling for $50 million to start.
The Senate's proposal would use a one-time transfer from the state's sizable reserves, which NCInnovation would then invest. Profits would be converted into loans for new businesses. With a focus on regions of North Carolina that lack the Triangle's robust economic engines, the group anticipates that the endowment will increase over time and eventually generate more than $100 million annually to assist researchers in establishing businesses that will create jobs.
The big number and questions about whether the model can really fuel economic growth in the state’s rural regions have some questioning the plan. Speaker Moore recently said that there is support in the House for the concept. He stated, “it’s a large number,” and the question is how much money would we put into it.
When the budget is finalized in the coming weeks, whether the concept is approved and the precise sum that lawmakers intend to award NCInnovation will be made public.
