The public weighed in on the fate of the city’s water system today, Feb. 23, with the majority telling a study group of four legislators that the utility should remain in the city’s hands. (In this photo, Asheville City Manager Gary Jackson and City council members Jan Davis, Esther Manheimer and Chris Pelly talk with Henderson County Commissioner Charles Messer. Photo by Bill Rhodes)
A recent news article stated that Gov. Bev Perdue is working toward a long overdue compensation package for an estimated 7,600 North Carolinians — women and men — many of whom were poor, undereducated, sick or disabled, who were sterilized by force or coercion under the authorization of the North Carolina Eugenics Board between 1929 […]
On Monday and Tuesday, July 25 and 26, North Carolina legislators overrode four closely watched gubernatorial vetoes, including bills that create medical liability reforms, set up sweeping state regulatory reform, establish new rules for Medicaid and health care providers, and make significant changes in the Employment Security Commision. Late Tuesday, in a party line vote of 67-52, the House failed to override the veto of HB 351 (Restore Confidence in Government), which would require photo ID for voting, but the bill remains alive through passage of reconsideration vote. Of the remaining bills considered for potential override, HB 854 (Abortion — Woman’s Right to Know) passed in the House and moves to the Senate.
Dubbing the maps a “fair and legal” alternative to those proposed by the ruling Republican Party, Democrats in the General Assembly have released their own proposals for redrawing congressional and state senate districts. The plan would keep Asheville in the 11th congressional district, instead of dividing it with the 10th.
Watching the N.C. General Assembly's 2011-12 session thus far has been like sitting through a civics lesson on steroids. There’s been the high drama of the Republican Party's complete takeover of the Statehouse for the first time since 1870; the crisis of looming budget deficits in the wake of a national economic tidal wave; the […]
Regarding the N.C. Legislative Committee and their lack of common sense to attempt to use their wisdom to merge 22 local community colleges: Their [attempts] to save money leaves a lot to be desired. "Career politicians" have failed to realize that — due to the rising cost of tuition this year and [that some] students […]
Standing in that room, surrounded by angry local government officials, I realized that the dividing line — or lack thereof — between state and local power would remain an issue for years to come. It still is.
The proposed 11th Congressional District, which includes the city of Asheville, would lose almost 9,000 registered Democrats and gain more than 26,000 Republicans, according to stats released on the North Carolina General Assembly website.
Two pieces of legislation affecting the city of Asheville — studying the transfer of the water system and giving the Asheville Regional Airport to an independent authority — won’t become law this year. Sen. Tom Apodaca‘s office confirms that, with the end of the session looming, neither bill will get through the Senate this session.
While the all-important $19.7 billion state budget labored its way through the General Assembly en route to Gov. Bev Perdue’s historic June 12 veto (the first time a North Carolina governor has ever rejected a budget), legislators also pushed a number of other bills along the Statehouse corridors toward the June 9 crossover deadline (after […]
The North Carolina General Assembly is the best money could buy. Sorrow lies in the fact that they are for the most part a group of ideologues who believe the political-ideology rhetoric that spews from their mouths. Their pockets are full while yours are empty. They have no concern for the future of the children […]
At its meeting on May 24, Asheville City Council passed $132.5 million dollar budget for fiscal year 2012 in a 6-1 vote. Mayor Terry Bellamy voted against the proposed budget citing concerns over the water-rate increase on commercial and industrial customers, the increase in the household recycling fee, the lack of a cost-of-living increase for city employees, and the city’s inability to meet their stated goal of keeping the reserve fund balance at 15 percent of the total budget. The budget contains no property or sales tax increases.
WNC representatives saw movement on a number of House bills carrying their names last week, but partisanship remains the general rule of sponsorship.
A number of individual bills with wide-ranging effects are slated for committee hearings this week, flying under much of the news radar.
The state House of Representatives passed Republican Rep. Tim Moffitt‘s bill to expand the Buncombe County Board of Commissioners from five to seven members and mandate district representation in place of the current at-large elections. The bill would institute this change without a local referendum.
While budget and redistricting plans for the state are boiling in the Legislature, the back burners are currently full of legislation that has been neither enacted nor discarded this session. As a result, the rules were changed last week to stretch the crossover deadline.
Government lumbers along in Raleigh, as the N.C. General Assembly checks off bill-filing deadlines and begins to jam committee schedules with hearings on this session’s crop of proposed legislation.
Former state Rep. Bruce Goforth who lost to current Rep. Patsy Keever in last year’s Democratic primary, has changed his registration to Unaffiliated and taken a job with Speaker Thom Tillis, a Republican, as an adviser on jobs and the economy.
In the midst of budgetary rancor, there was a trace of bipartisan support in the Legislature last week for reforming state election law and saluting the North Carolina’s Boy Scouts.
A look at what’s been making headlines: The North Carolina General Assembly continued to claim the spotlight last week as Republicans took control of both the House and Senate for the first time in more than a century. In other political news, Rep. Heath Shuler made waves by getting appointed to the powerful House Committee on the Budget. He also got made fun of in the famed Doonesbury comic strip. And in national attention of a different sort, news outlets nationwide reported that Fodors listed Asheville as a top travel destination.
The North Carolina General Assembly convened its new session in Raleigh this week. In a major power shift, Republicans are taking control of both the House and Senate for the first time since 1898. It might not be so grand a party, however, as they face a $3.7 billion budget deficit. In the online post […]
