The ability of voting groups to form a recognized political party in North Carolina just got a whole lot easier. Senate Bill 656, the Electoral Freedom Act of 2017, lowers the threshold for establishing a recognized political party in a number of ways. The bill also makes it easier for unaffiliated candidates to participate in […]
The U.S. Census Bureau recently released wage data estimating North Carolina had the fourth fastest household income growth in the nation during 2016. According to the Census Bureau study, North Carolina’s median household income was $50,584 in 2016 — up 4.5 percent from last year after adjusting for inflation. North Carolina’s wage growth ranked substantially […]
The Republicans have enjoyed majorities in both bodies of the General Assembly for nearly seven years now, and pretty soon Phil Berger and Tim Moore will be asking for two more. This is an appropriate time to assess their performance on the economy. Even under the Perdue and Cooper governorships, policy outputs were shaped greatly […]
North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper has declared a State of Emergency for all 100 counties as the state prepares for almost certain impacts from Hurricane Irma early next week. “There is a lot we still don’t know about this storm, but we do know that North Carolina can expect to feel some sort of effects […]
Twelve years ago today, former Governor Mike Easley signed legislation establishing the so-called “North Carolina Education Lottery.” From the very start, the proposal sharply divided the public; opponents considered the lottery a regressive, thinly-disguised tax on the poor — and the way the controversial bill became law is a case study in political shenanigans. During […]
North Carolina’s unemployment rate dropped once again to 4.1 percent in July, decreasing 0.1 percentage points from June and remaining below the national average of 4.3 percent. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, most economists consider full employment (otherwise known as the “Nonaccelerating Inflation Rate of Unemployment,” or NAIRU) to be in […]
Four months after being overwhelmingly passed in the House, the Restore Campus Free Speech Act has become law. House Bill 527 is bipartisan ‘campus free speech’ legislation that strengthens standards for free expression in our state university system and mandates that all public universities “ensure the fullest degree of intellectual freedom and free expression.” HB527 […]
Bipartisan legislation overwhelmingly passed the General Assembly last month that takes steps to fix the ongoing challenges in North Carolina’s child welfare system. It was signed into law on June 21. “Rylan’s Law” (House Bill 630) was named after Rylan Ott, a Moore County toddler who drowned in a pond after he was put back […]
Hundreds of thousands of hardworking North Carolinians will no longer pay any state income tax by 2019, thanks to several rounds of tax relief provided by the legislature’s Republican majority. A recent memo from the head economist at the non-partisan Fiscal Research Division notes that “of the nearly 4 million tax returns anticipated for tax […]