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The three federal judges could have just come right out and said it: The Republicans who rule the N.C. General Assembly have elevated foot-dragging to a fine art. Their stall […]
The optics, as they say, are terrible. But in a state whose motto is “To Be Rather Than to Seem,” it’s even more important to look at the substance. And […]
Better get used to it. The N.C. General Assembly, after an all-too-brief adjournment during July, is about to reopen for business in its marble and masonry maze on Raleigh’s Jones […]
Presented with a new state budget that, whatever its occasional virtues, is mainly about easing tax burdens on the well-off while grinding opponents of legislative Republicans into the dirt, Democratic […]
Members of the United States Senate have released their proposed health care plan, all 142 pages of the “Better Care Reconciliation Act of 2017” developed in secrecy, with a score […]
By now the strategy is familiar – the strategy used by the N.C. General Assembly’s Republican chiefs to try to make a fundamentally flawed state budget appear, well, not that […]
As the Senate continues its secret deliberations on a health care plan that will effect all Americans, the potential impact on one of the most vulnerable groups in our society […]
The Council’s commitment to health care as a basic justice issue dates back decades. Significant progress toward health care for all was made with the Affordable Care Act, progress toward […]
The Republicans who took control of North Carolina’s General Assembly with the elections of 2010 were, it could be said, licking their chops. They knew that when they came to […]
The General Assembly leaders meeting to resolve differences between the House and Senate versions of the budget are working with two deeply flawed proposals. As our friend Chris Fitzsimon at […]
UPDATE In separate, party-line votes on June 8, the state House and Senate rejected Gov. Cooper’s attempt to convene a special session for the purpose of redrawing legislative voting districts. […]
Representatives in the General Assembly are scheduled to take up H.B. 746 this afternoon. Calls are still needed against this bill. As our friends at NC Policy Watch reported, the […]
Consider the shame of the North Carolina General Assembly working to rush through a bill that weakens gun laws as National Gun Violence Awareness Day approaches. It is right up […]
As was feared, some members of the General Assembly may be bringing back legislation that would roll back existing gun safety laws. A version of the previously introduced H.B. 746 […]
Following the elections of 2010 – tilted as they were by an intense right-wing pushback against President Barack Obama midway through his first term – Republicans in the N.C. General […]
Last week was a mixed bag for children and youth in terms of activity at the General Assembly. Among accomplishments was further progress on raising the age at which juveniles […]
So, the question as always comes down to one of vision. The elected chieftains who decide how much money North Carolina’s state government will spend, what it will be spent […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [For more information on bills, including committee referrals and re-referrals, texts of bills, procedural histories, and recorded votes, go to the General Assembly website […]
As Shakespeare’s King Lear famously put it, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.” Top Republicans in the N.C. General Assembly now might well […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [The deadlines for the introduction of most new bills have now passed, and we are in Crossover Week. By the end of the week, […]
A change in New York law earlier this month leaves North Carolina alone in a place 49 other states have found to be indefensible: only NC automatically prosecutes 16- and […]
How many times do we have to say it? Well, it’s worth repeating – especially in the aftermath of recent income tax filing deadlines, when the subject becomes a sore […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director [For the latest committee referrals and re-referrals, go to the General Assembly website www.ncleg.net. There you can also find the texts of bills, procedural […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills BUDGET AND TAXES H 540, Teachers & State Employees Pay Raise, would give annual raises of $2,400 to teachers and other […]
North Carolina’s failure under Republican leadership to improve low-income residents’ access to health care via the Medicaid program has been like a persistent, throbbing pain in the state’s civic and […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Bills are being introduced at a rapid pace as the Senate’s deadline for new bills has passed and the House’s deadline on non-money approaches. […]
Our national politics are in an ugly place, driven by an accelerating cycle of suspicion, accusation, blame, recrimination and retaliation. The circumstances by which Neil Gorsuch takes office as a […]
Call it a head-on collision between politics and principle. Is anyone surprised that politics prevailed? Yet here’s the twist that perhaps makes the outcome somewhat understandable, if no less regrettable. […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills BUDGET AND TAXATION H 356, Tax Reduction Act of 2017, would increase the standard deduction for state income taxes from $17,500 […]
They might not care for the image, but Republican members of the N.C. General Assembly act as though they were drunk with power. They have the votes not merely to […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills BUDGET AND TAXATION HB 329, Home School Education Tax Credit, would give a $1,250-per-student-per-semester income tax credit to the parents of […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills CRIMINAL AND JUVENILE JUSTICE H 233, Ban the Box, would govern how state and local governments could use criminal histories in […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills BUDGET AND TAXES S 147, Reenact School Sales Tax Holiday. The school sales tax holiday was a three-day weekend shortly before […]
The fight over North Carolina’s House Bill 2 – the law that notoriously stamps the state’s seal of approval on discrimination against lesbian, gay and transgender folks – has devolved […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills ENVIRONMENTAL CARE H 171, Change Exclusion for Solar Energy Systems. Current law provides an 80% exclusion from property taxation for the […]
Politics, at least in a democracy, is competitive. The analogy to sports may be simplistic but it’s not too far off the mark. Participants seek to win, and to do […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Newly Introduced Bills BUDGET AND TAXES S 75, Constitutional Amendment – Maximum Income Tax Rate of 5.5%. The Constitution currently sets a maximum rate […]
North Carolina’s governor gets to live in a mansion whose handsome property occupies a full city block in downtown Raleigh. He or she gets to meet with assorted dignitaries, here […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director As the legislative session continues, there’s been a marked increase in the number of bills being introduced. Here are summaries of several which will […]
Compared with some of the provocatively, even outrageously unsuited people whom President Trump has chosen for high office, Neil Gorsuch barely moves the needle. But that’s not to say Americans […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director The 2017 General Assembly has begun its work. Elected in November, it came to Raleigh for a day in early January in order to […]
For many of us, these are troubling times as Donald Trump ascends to the nation’s highest office. We can hope for the best but it’s hard not to anticipate the […]
As we watched the egregiously unqualified Donald Trump campaign for and win election to the White House, any good news on the government and politics front was likely to be […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director Updated December 21, 9:50 p.m. Special Session #5 of the General Assembly adjourned this evening without passing anything. The Senate moved first. But the […]
The ugly truth can’t be evaded or denied: North Carolina’s General Assembly, in the grip of an arrogant Republican majority, has plunged ahead with a shocking, shameful abuse of power […]
Remarks delivered by Jennifer Copeland at a December 15 press conference in Raleigh on the General Assembly’s second special session. For Christians around the world it is the third week […]
The NC NAACP has called for a People’s Assembly at 4:30 p.m., today, Thursday, December 15, in the General Assembly building, 16 West Jones Street. Details can be found here. […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director The General Assembly returns to town this coming Tuesday, December 13, for a special session called by Governor McCrory to consider disaster relief legislation […]
He and his supporters twisted and turned, wriggled and squirmed. But 27 days after the Nov. 8 election, Gov. Pat McCrory finally bowed to the inevitable and conceded that his […]
No one reading this post is likely to pull a brain muscle describing ways in which the recent elections could have consequences ranging from the unfortunate to the dire. Our […]
Donald Trump’s campaign for the presidency was a waste-pit wallow through a sludge of fear and hate. That millions of Americans voted for him presumably without hating anyone says a […]
Those of us aligned with the Council of Churches share a political outlook whose priorities include equal rights, equal opportunity, environmental stewardship, ample investment in public services and fair allocation […]
As the 2016 campaign season grinds along the final stretch toward Election Day on Nov. 8 – and with thousands of North Carolinians already having cast their ballots – we […]
So far, our family of five has stood in line, collectively, for five hours and 15 minutes in order to vote. That’s actually the total for four of us — […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director of the NC Council of Churches There has been a lot of confusion about voting this year. Voter suppression laws, designed to make it […]
Donald Trump may strike a populist, anti-big business note a la Bernie Sanders from time to time. But he also has a tendency to gloat over his own cutthroat business […]
Who can blame North Carolina’s restaurant and hotel operators for wishing the whole House Bill 2 controversy would just vanish into thin air, as if it had never existed? They’d […]
When ultra-visible organizations with major economic leverage press for political change, sometimes the right thing to do is to tell them to take the proverbial long walk off a short […]
The folks in North Carolina who want to make it harder rather than easier for people to vote – a category that features top officials of the state Republican Party […]
The Republican Party developed a national strategy to seize and hold legislative power, and in North Carolina executed it with relentless precision. Six years into that process, however, the adverse […]
Even for ardent voting rights advocates, there’s little comfort to be gained from a federal appeals court’s finding that the N.C. General Assembly engaged in a multifaceted scheme to discriminate […]
There was a time, back in the range of 2008, when Pat McCrory looked as though he probably would do a pretty good job if elected as North Carolina’s governor. […]
The N.C. General Assembly’s 2016 regular session, which drew to a sudden close on July 1, will be remembered as much for what didn’t happen as for what did – […]
Sorry for the sugar-coating, but the state Senate’s attempt to enshrine its preferred tax policies in North Carolina’s constitution is arrogant, presumptuous, wrongheaded and profoundly undemocratic. Who will be penalized […]
There wasn’t a lot to like about what occurred the other day in a state Senate committee. First, legislative rules – notoriously rubberized – were stretched to the point where […]
Let’s face it. We, that would be all of us who proudly claim the title of American, must do more to forestall the situations and grievances and opportunities that can […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director of the NC Council of Churches The Senate Finance Committee is scheduled to vote tomorrow afternoon on a proposed constitutional amendment which would solidify […]
Let’s assume the worst, which for the moment would mean that the N.C. Senate’s version of a new state budget sails through to enactment without change or compromise. The sun, […]
Well, did anyone really expect North Carolina’s General Assembly, in finalizing a new state budget, suddenly to see the light and swerve toward more effective, fairer government? The same General […]
The update is compiled on a volunteer basis by George Reed, the Council’s retired executive director. Weekly Update May 25, 2016 (Legislators’ identifications are listed only the first time they […]
The update is compiled on a volunteer basis by George Reed, the Council’s retired executive director. Weekly Update May 17, 2016 The deadline for introduction of most new bills into […]
Take heart, fair-minded North Carolinians. The state’s not-always-pristine but still vaguely operative image as a place where “the weak grow strong and the strong grow great” is in the process […]
By George Reed, Retired Executive Director of the Council North Carolina has a second primary coming up next month, and in contrast to second primaries of old, this one is […]
Today, the weekly update from Raleigh Report resumes as a supplement to Steve Ford’s commentary. The update is compiled on a volunteer basis by George Reed, the Council’s retired executive […]
A federal judge’s ruling that upholds changes in North Carolina election laws, despite their effect of making it harder for some citizens to vote, seems to rest on his conclusion […]
Here’s a funny thing about House Bill 2, the “bathroom bill” (now law) that’s causing North Carolina so much grief: The Charlotte ordinance that the General Assembly was in such […]
North Carolina’s House Bill 2 – rammed through the General Assembly and signed into law in less than half a day – manages to rope together a herd of provisions […]
Yes, it was a pretty neat trick — one bill that manages to expose many vulnerable North Carolinians to unfair, hurtful treatment, that threatens to put a dent in the […]
Almost 24 years ago, leaders of the North Carolina Council of Churches approved a policy statement opposing discrimination against beloved children of God based on their sexuality. Progress has been […]
If Donald J. Trump successfully concludes his so-far-dominant push to become this year’s Republican presidential nominee, North Carolinians will have played a role. Some will view that role as a […]
After a panel of federal judges threw out North Carolina’s congressional district map because it trampled the rights of African-American voters, the General Assembly followed orders and redrew the map. […]
After a five-year exercise in seeking to put a lasting stamp on North Carolina government and policy, the General Assembly’s majority Republicans have provoked a parade of lawsuits challenging a […]
The Republicans who control North Carolina’s General Assembly are determined to draw election-district boundaries favoring their party’s candidates and promoting their conservative agenda. But when Republican voters are outnumbered by […]
With an eye toward the battles over redistricting that have roiled North Carolina politics for the last quarter-century, once again push is coming to shove. This time, the advantage lies […]
It was just one little comment, perhaps ventured with the flicker of a wry smile. But we can doubt that Tom Farr saw the humor in being ribbed by a […]
The ongoing legal challenge to North Carolina’s voter ID rule, now playing out before a federal judge in Winston-Salem, could end up reminding us that it’s not the job of […]
Few of the decisions made by the men and women of our General Assembly are so prone to self-serving, partisan abuse as the setting of boundaries for voting districts. When […]
For those of us who want to see North Carolina governed with the interests of all its residents in mind – not mainly the interests of the well-off and privileged […]
In the game of bridge, when a trump card is played to win a trick, that’s known as a ruff. In the game of politics, when Donald Trump uses tricks […]
Photo by I. Prickett, UNHCR Against the toxic brew of fear and political opportunism that has enveloped America’s response to the Syrian refugee crisis stand principles of compassion and common […]
The notably dapper Thom Goolsby, member of the University of North Carolina Board of Governors, made a mark of sorts with his put-down of the NAACP-led Moral Monday protest movement […]
The senators and representatives who make up North Carolina’s General Assembly let their 2015 session run on far longer than it should have. Let’s be glad that the curtain has […]
These closing weeks, or days, of the General Assembly’s session are sometimes known as the silly season, when weirdness is the watchword at the maze-like Legislative Building on Raleigh’s Jones […]
The proverbial elephant labored and, against all hopeful expectations, brought forth a mouse. The “elephants” who run the Republican-controlled General Assembly labored and now have brought forth, if not a […]
When North Carolina legislators by the narrowest of margins 10 years ago approved a state lottery, capping a long debate over the wisdom of state-sponsored gaming, they set aside warnings […]
Even while North Carolina was still in the grips of the Great Recession, with thousands of residents suffering the slings and arrows of joblessness because they were caught in the […]
North Carolina has two legislative bodies, the 120-member House of Representatives and the 50-member Senate. They’re set up to be equal in power, although it could be said that the […]
With its misguided “Taxpayer Protection Act” scheme, the state Senate looks to put a crowning touch on its efforts to turn North Carolina into a veritable Promised Land for conservatives, […]
The principle of judicial restraint is a wonderful thing. It helps keep judges – as they go about their business of determining whether laws are constitutional – from horning in […]
