NC Politics in the News

Agriculture

WRAL: NC Senate leaders strike controversial ‘right to repair’ from 2022 Farm Act
The 2022 Farm Act passed its first committee Tuesday following considerable public opposition to a “right to repair” provision in the annual omnibus.

Right to repair is a national movement that pits consumers and independent service businesses against manufacturers and dealers. 

Economic Development

THE CAROLINA JOURNAL: Incentives package worth $1.2 billion draws electric car plant to NC
A Vietnamese automaker has announced plans to build a $4 billion electric-vehicle assembly and battery-manufacturing plant at Triangle Innovation Point in Moncure, about 30 miles west of the Triangle. To attract the newly formed company, the state and Chatham County promise to spend nearly $1.2 billion in incentives over the next 32 years. Meantime, VinFast is working to secure $1 billion in investment money to build the plant.

CHARLOTTE BUSINESS JOURNAL: Food manufacturer Häns Kissle to add 219 jobs, invest $42.3M at Gaston County industrial park.
Häns Kissle will invest $42.25 million into a new manufacturing facility at Apple Creek Corporate Center in Gaston County. It is the fourth manufacturer to commit to the county-owned industrial park.

Education

WITN: Parents’ rights bill passes state Senate Education Committee
North Carolina Senate Republicans have announced that a wide-ranging proposal they say would help parents stay informed about what their children are being taught and how they’re being treated by doctors has moved passed the Senate Education Committee. According to a statement from Senate Republicans, the measure passed the committee along party lines.

Environment

WNCT: NC Marine Fisheries Commission meets to discuss management plans
Over the last two days, the Marine Fisheries Commission meeting has had public comments on two big fishery management plans, Southern Flounder and Estuarine Striped Bass. On Thursday, the commission voted to approve the Division of Marine Fisheries’ recommendations for Amendment 2 to the Estuarine Striped Bass Fishery Management Plan as its preferred management options. Final action on the amendment is scheduled for August. 

WNCN: 4 NC river sites fail fecal bacteria test ahead of Memorial Day weekend
A group that monitors river quality in North Carolina says four sites are unsafe for swimming due to high levels of fecal bacteria. The group, Sound Rivers, monitors over 50 areas in the Tar-Pamlico and Upper Neuse watersheds. Each week, a team of volunteers from the group gathers water samples from popular recreation sites from the Raleigh-Durham area to the Pamlico Sound.

Government

THE CAROLINA JOURNAL: Bills would waive property taxes for permanently disabled veterans
Two similar bills that would give a full property tax waiver for permanently disabled veterans were filed in the North Carolina House and Senate this week.

S.B. 821, sponsored by Sen. Sarah Crawford, D-Wake, and H.B. 1076, sponsored by Rep. Terence Everitt, D-Wake, were filed on May 26. Both are known as the Disabled Veterans Property Tax Waiver.

WNCN: Governor Cooper seeking changes to NC gun laws
Gov. Roy Cooper (D) urged lawmakers in Raleigh and Washington to pass a series of bills after the mass shooting at a Texas elementary school, but Republican state House Speaker Tim Moore criticized some efforts by Democrats to restrict gun access as “disingenuous.” In a video, Cooper called on federal lawmakers to pass a universal background check law and ban assault weapons. He also urged state leaders to close a permit loophole for shotguns and rifles and to pass a red flag law. 

Healthcare

WGHB: Affordable Care Act ‘not going away’: NC Sen. Berger pushes to expand Medicaid
Saying “this is the right thing to do” and that he believes “the Affordable Care Act is not going away,” North Carolina Senate Leader Phil Berger ended years of opposition and, on Wednesday, proposed a bill that would expand Medicaid and offer health care coverage to perhaps a half-million or more residents. Berger (R-Eden) said he had changed his mind after years of vocally blocking expansion available to states under the federal Affordable Care Act and said he now believes that the time is right and that he has been convinced that the federal government will continue to support the 90% reimbursement program.

Politics

THE CAROLINA JOURNAL: Legislature’s critics urge U.S. Supreme Court to reject redistricting appeal
Opponents of the N.C. General Assembly’s legal arguments about election maps are urging the U.S. Supreme Court to reject an appeal from state legislative leaders. Briefs filed Friday with the nation’s highest court ask justices not to accept a case tied to North Carolina’s congressional map. State legislative leaders filed paperwork on March 17 asking the Supreme Court to accept the case. That paperwork arrived 10 days after the court declined, by a 6-3 vote, to grant an emergency stay in the case.

Transportation

THE NEWS & OBSERVER: As hurricane season approaches, NC now has ways to predict when roads, bridges will flood.
Flooding caused by Hurricanes Matthew and Florence washed out more than 1,000 state roads, culverts and bridges in North Carolina in 2016 and 2018. Now, NCDOT and the state Division of Emergency Management are developing systems that use about 400 stream gauges, rainfall data, software and computer models to show where road flooding is likely to happen in advance and monitor flood waters at key locations in real time.