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Week Two of the 2010-2011 General Assembly session started with a presentation by NCGA legislative staff to a joint House and Senate Appropriations committee on the topic of the economy. The presentation included information on forecasted state revenues, unemployment predictions and the revelation that the housing market has been in a slump for the past few years. We are glad the message has finally gotten through to the NCGA economists!
The House jumped right in to their agenda by taking up HB 2 Protect Health Care Freedom* on Wednesday. HB 2 would add North Carolina to the growing list of states pushing back against the federal mandate requiring uninsured individuals to purchase coverage by 2014. After a three hour debate, the measure passed 66-50 and now moves on to the Senate. (*Note: NCHBA does not have a position on this bill.)
Wednesday was also a full day in the Senate, when SB 13 Balanced Budget Act of 2011 was discussed in the Appropriations committee. As introduced, the bill authorized the Governor to make reductions in the current budget to reduce the expected budget shortfall in the next budget cycle. When the bill was brought up in committee, instead of giving the Governor leeway to make cuts of her choosing, it included a very specific list of reductions – marching orders, which would result in $800 million in savings in the current budget year. The bill, as amended, passed the committee and was on the Senate floor on Thursday where debate was heated and almost confrontational. Bob Rucho, a Republican Senator from Mecklenburg and Finance Committee Chairman, was visibly upset by Democratic efforts to amend the bill in order to keep funds in the business recruitment/incentive programs. His statement, as seen below, summed up his side of the debate well.
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