The madness surrounding the House budget debate last week subsided with its passage, and with the Senate yet to release its proposal, legislators turned their focus to bills that made the crossover deadline this week.
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After a whirlwind week of committee meetings and floor debate, the House passed its budget proposal in the wee hours of Friday morning that includes a 2-percent pay increase and 40 hours of bankable leave for state employees and a 2-percent cost-of-living adjustment for retirees.
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The House is expected to make its proposal public on Sunday night, so it can be debated in a House Finance Committee meeting Monday. The House Appropriations Committee will likely spend most of Tuesday considering amendments. Then it is House Speaker Tim Moore’s hope to have it approved Friday, in time for the Memorial Day weekend.
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This week, as leaders from both the House and Senate and Gov. McCrory praised the announcement of a $400 million revenue surplus, leaders of the House Appropriations Committee were telling SEANC “don’t get your hopes up” that the surplus will go to much needed raises for state employees and cost-of-living adjustments for retirees.
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SEANC had just one bill to be concerned with ahead of Thursday’s crossover deadline, but it was a big one. House Bill 495, an attempt by Gov. McCrory’s administration, particularly the Office of State Human Resources, to change key parts of the statutes that govern state employment and personnel rights, had to pass the House this week in order to survive the session.
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SEANC Government Relations Director Ardis Watkins spoke out Wednesday at the House State Personnel Committee’s meeting over an attempt by the Office of State Human Resources to rewrite several portions of the State Human Resources Act by sneaking the changes into an amendment of what they said was largely a technical corrections bill.
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SEANC Executive Director Mitch Leonard met with Gov. Pat McCrory at the capitol on Thursday, his first meeting with McCrory as executive director. With budget negotiations right around the corner, pay raises and cost-of-living adjustments are chief among SEANC’s concerns.
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The House and Senate approved a compromise gas tax bill this week, sending it to Gov. Pat McCrory’s desk for his signature. Unlike the original proposal, this bill contains no layoffs from the Department of Transportation, though it will leave cut 40 empty positions.
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Despite a mound of evidence to the contrary, including a report last year showing how it would actually be more costly and less efficient in prison maintenance, lawmakers continue to bring up the idea of privatizing vital public services. This time the target is the Department of Transportation’s ferry services.
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Two weeks after Gov. Pat McCrory presented the General Assembly with his $21.5 billion spending plan for 2015-16, House budget writers are busy crafting their own proposal. More details will begin to take shape as the April 15 tax filing deadline makes the state's revenue picture clearer.
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