The Caucus: Balancing Act

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Balancing Act

The House plans to release its budget proposal on Monday. While it’s too soon to say what’s in it, here are four things I’ll be watching:

• NCInnovation: In 2023, the Senate wanted to spend more than $1 billion on a private nonprofit established to bolster public university research. The House wanted $50 million. In the end, they landed on $500 million. A number of House Republicans didn’t like that and have since called for scrapping the initiative altogether through House Bill 154. The Senate budget calls for reclaiming the $500 million and giving NCInnovation $25 million a year over the next several years (the amount the group made from investments last year). So what lies ahead for NCInnovation? The House budget should give us some clues.
• Teacher Pay Raises: A proposal led by Republican state Reps. Erin Paré, Donny Lambeth, Tricia Cotham, and Mike Schietzelt would set starting teacher pay at $50,000. House Bill 192 got a shout-out during an off-script moment at Gov. Josh Stein’s State of the State address. The proposal has attracted the support of a bipartisan group, but it hasn’t gotten any hearings. The House budget should tell us where leadership stands on this issue.
• NC DOGE: The Senate budget sets aside $12 million to create a DOGE-like entity led by Auditor Dave Boliek and more funds for him to work with the Government Data Analytics Center. Boliek would be tasked with providing lawmakers his recommendations of state agencies/divisions/offices that should be dissolved and government positions that should be eliminated. We’ll find out if the House is on board.
• Pork for Dems?: House Democratic Leader Robert Reives said this week that House GOP leadership had asked for his input on the budget, which he took as a refreshing sign of bipartisanship under new Speaker Destin Hall. Will anything come from it? We shall see.

Stein Budget 2.0?

When Stein signed a Hurricane Helene recovery bill into law on March 19, he said he’d make a supplemental request in the next couple of weeks. It’s now been a couple of months. So where do things stand? Stein’s office says a proposal will be out “soon.”

Revenue Forecast

The Office of State Management and Budget says it plans to release an updated revenue forecast the week of May 26. That should tell us how tariffs and tax collections are affecting the state’s fiscal health. In the meantime, lawmakers are operating under a consensus revenue forecast released in February.

Water Woes

On Tuesday, we reported on a provision in a bill that would claw back $10 million from a water project in Oxford. Stein signed it this week. He made no mention of Oxford but did voice concerns with a provision that transfers the North Carolina Center for Missing Persons to the State Highway Patrol. Even so, Stein said he signed the bill because it gives farmers impacted by Hurricane Helene more time to apply for crop loss grants.

It’s the second bill he has signed into law since he took office.

Pretty Fly

I’m super late to the party on this one and feel like the Jonah Ryan character from Veep. But hear me out.

When I got my license renewal reminder in the mail, it got me thinking: What ever happened to that proposal for a specialty Venus flytrap license plate? I hate insects, so carnivorous plants are my heroes. There was a bill in 2021 that never went anywhere and another bill in 2023 that unanimously cleared the House but died in the Senate.

What I missed: Buried in a 29-page bill approved just before summer recess last year was a provision for those specialty Venus flytrap plates. And, unbeknownst to me, those license plates started making their way to people in the fall. 

(Yes, The Assembly covered this legislation, as did other news outlets.)

You can order these specialty plates now through the DMV. For every $30 specialty plate sold, $20 goes to the North Carolina Botanical Garden Foundation. Kudos to Durham-based artist Preston Montague for designing a seriously awesome license plate that will soon be headed my way. The Botanical Garden said 3,362 flytrap license plates have been purchased since the specialty plates launched. Thus far, the group has received $69,620, said Jennifer Peterson, the Botanical Garden’s communications director.

Pro tip: If you want to see Venus flytraps in person, check out Flytrap Trail at Carolina Beach State Park.

— Bryan Anderson

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Thanks for reading The Caucus, a politics newsletter anchored by Bryan Anderson. Reach us with tips or ideas at politics@theassemblync.com.

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A Knotty Felon Voting Rights Case Reaches the Court of Appeals

As politicians and election law experts sort through the long-term implications of the state Supreme Court race, voting rights advocates might want to turn their attention to a case before the U.S. Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals.

A three-judge panel there seems poised to strike down a Reconstruction-era law that authorizes North Carolina district attorneys to charge convicted felons with a crime if they mistakenly vote before their voting rights are restored.

But like much these days when it comes to election law in North Carolina, the case is a bit knotty, which the appellate judges were quick to point out.

— Anne Blythe

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Around the Hill

Duke Kunshan: Two U.S. House committee chairmen are urging Duke University to sever ties with Wuhan University. They say the partnership supports “China’s military-industrial complex.” Read the full story. 

First in Forcing the Trans Issue: North Carolina was the first state to pass an anti-trans bathroom law. HB2, AKA “the Bathroom Bill,” went on to serve as a model for state-level legislation across the nation. Conservative operatives like Terry Schilling have seized on transgender rights as a cultural flashpoint in recent elections. Read the full story.

— Grace McFadden

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Bow Your Heads

What a whirlwind of emotions for Democrats on Tuesday.

At the North Carolina State Capitol, Democrats like Rep. Marcia Morey were celebrating a long-awaited swearing-in for Supreme Court Justice Allison Riggs. 

But less than 1,000 feet away, the manufactured mood was bleak, as other lawmakers dressed in black to attend a “bill funeral” for Democrats’ many proposals that didn’t pass either chamber before the crossover deadline. (Sen. Sophia Chitlik and Rep. Dante Pittman dressed most accordingly.) Democratic Sen. Woodson Bradley threw papers from the lectern to signal her frustration with a domestic violence bill that died. 

Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch insisted folks take this solemn occasion seriously. “Us calling this a bill funeral might seem silly, but there’s actually nothing funny about this,” she said.

If I may offer a fact-check: Some of the bills on a death list Democrats displayed at the event aren’t actually dead. A number were election proposals that aren’t subject to the crossover deadline. So if you want to be accurate: Democrats buried their best friends alive. But hey, here I am writing about this news conference, so maybe it achieved its goal.

When I asked Batch’s office for comment, spokesman Eddie Sheehy replied, “You’re right that a few of the bills on the list aren’t technically subject to crossover, and so may not be fully ‘dead’ yet. Let’s just say they have been on life support long enough to be included in the memorial.” 

— Bryan Anderson

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Upcoming Birthdays: Rep. John Bell on Sunday, May 18; Sen. Paul Lowe on Monday, May 19.

Let us know what’s on your radar at politics@theassemblync.com.

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