APPLE DELAYS DEAL ON RTP CAMPUS
Apple executives briefed state officials last week on its plans. The company decided to delay the start of the project by up to four years after a review of its real estate, according to people familiar with the company's plans.
Consumer electronics giant Apple Inc. is delaying plans to build a corporate campus in Research Triangle Park. But the company says it’s still committed to growing in the region.
Apple executives briefed state officials last week on its plans to move forward with one of the region's biggest economic development projects. The company wants to delay the start of the project by up to four years after a review of its real estate, according to people familiar with Apple’s plans.
The maker of MacBook computers and mobile devices such as iPads and iPhones announced plans in 2021 to build a 1 million-square-foot research and development campus in RTP — a project expected to create 3,000 jobs in Wake County.
Apple said at the time that it planned to invest more than $1 billion in the state by 2032. The project is expected to grow the state’s economy by $79.8 billion over 39 years, state officials said in 2021.
In the past three years, Apple has hired more than 600 people in the Triangle and it continues to hire in the region, according to the company and government officials. The company now employs roughly 1,600 people in the state.
Gov. Roy Cooper said in a statement Monday that he’s spoken with executives at the company. “They emphasized their commitment to build this transformative campus here in North Carolina,” he said, adding that the project “will ultimately be among the company’s most significant campuses."
State commerce officials approved an economic incentives package in 2021 that included grants of up to $845.8 million to be paid out to Apple over 39 years, provided the company hit various performance goals. The promised jobs were expected to offer salaries that average $187,001 — almost three times the county average at the time of the announcement.
Read More at https://www.wral.com/story/apple-delays-plans-for-rtp-campus-in-rtp-company-says-it-s-still-committed-to-region/21497098/
STATE PUSHES FORWARD ON LEGALIZING MARIJUANA
There's a renewed push to get medical marijuana over the finish line after years of efforts going up in smoke in North Carolina. On Monday, the North Carolina Senate voted in a wide bipartisan majority vote, 36-10 to legalize medical marijuana.
But in past years, similar efforts have stalled on the House side.
In order to appeal to conservatives in the House who might be on the fence, this version of HB 563 has some changes.
Recreational marijuana wouldn't be legal in the state unless approved by the General Assembly even if the federal government legalizes it.
Read More at https://abc11.com/post/north-carolina-senate-gives-initial-approval-legalizing-medical/14981799/
HOUSE AND SENATE DO NOT AGREE ON BUDGET
At the end of the month, lawmakers might leave Raleigh without making adjustments to the two year state budget. I addressed this issue on STATELINES this week.
The state’s new fiscal year begins on July 1. The two-year spending plan passed last year does cover the upcoming fiscal year, but usually lawmakers add funds or move around allocated money.
What You Need To Know
While North Carolina does have a budget for the upcoming year, lawmakers traditionally use the short session to make updates.
The House wants to add additional pay raises for employees, while the Senate proposal keeps the raises at 3%.
Democrats in the House attempted to amend the bill, but most proposals were voted down
Members of the Senate will vote on their proposal on Monday.
Weeks ago, Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger said House Republicans wanted to spend more money than the Senate was willing to.
House Speaker Tim Moore pushed back against that, saying the House wanted to put more money toward state employees and retirees dealing with inflation.
When a compromise couldn’t be met, House Republicans released their own budget proposal on Monday. It included hundreds of millions of dollars to give every family on the Opportunity Scholarship wait list a voucher for private school tuition, additional raises for state employees, a one time cost-of-living bonus for state retirees and money to cover 75% of the child care stabilization grants that run out at the end of the month.
State employees are scheduled for 3% raises in the new fiscal year, and the House proposal added one more percent.
In a statement, a bus driver union said, “Teamsters Local 391 and the public school support personnel we represent are pleased the House budget invests an extra 1% this year on top of the 3% invested last year in compensation adjustments. While we are grateful and we hope the Senate follows the House’s lead, we are not expecting a 4% increase to reverse the recruitment and retention problem for non-certified school support personnel.”
The Senate did not follow the House’s lead. Later in the week, their budget proposal was released with no additional raises.
It instead focused on eliminating the Opportunity Scholarship wait list and providing about 75% of the child care grants.
Both leaders have said they’re comfortable leaving this session at the end of the month without an updated budget, as there is already one in place.
Read More at: https://www.wral.com/story/nc-senate-passes-bill-requiring-its-approval-of-dmv-commissioner/21488754/
NC SENATE BILL REQUIRES DMV COMMISSIONER CONFIRMATION
North Carolina state senators believe they should be involved in appointing the person who runs the state's Division of Motor Vehicles.
The DMV commissioner is currently appointed by the state Secretary of Transportation, but that process would change under a bill passed by the state senate Tuesday. Under House Bill 309, the governor would nominate a candidate to become DMV commissioner and the nominee could only be seated after receiving approval from the state Senate.
State senators voted along party lines — with Republicans in favor and Democrats opposed — to advance the bill. It still needs approval from the GOP-run state House and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to become law.
Lawmakers didn’t debate the bill when it was on the Senate floor Tuesday, but supporters have said the bill is necessary to bring more oversight of an office that faces mounting complaints over ID cards, license plates and service as DMV offices. State lawmakers asked DMV Commissioner Wayne Goodwin to appear for questioning twice this year, including earlier this month, when they interrogated him about the division’s problems.
As complaints mount over long waits, DMV head questioned by NC lawmakers
“Each new administration blames a lack of progress on its predecessor while failing to make measurable improvement during their tenure,” Sen. Michael Lazzara, R-Onslow, told the Senate Transportation Committee meeting this month.
“We as legislators need tools in our toolbox to provide proper oversight for this division,” Lazzara said.
Democrats, meanwhile, have argued that changing the appointment process is unnecessary and suggested bill sponsors are motivated by partisan politics.
Goodwin, who was appointed in 2022, was elected to two four-year terms as state Insurance Commissioner before serving as chairman of the state Democratic Party from 2017 to 2021.
Read More at: https://www.wral.com/story/nc-senate-passes-bill-requiring-its-approval-of-dmv-commissioner/21488754/
WAKE COUNTY PASSES $2 BILLION BUDGET
Wake County commissioners have unanimously passed a $2 billion budget for the next fiscal year.
It increases spending on public schools by $58 million. That's $9 million more than the city manager's recommendation, but $5 million less than the amount Wake County school board members requested.
The school board proposed supplemental raises across the board for teachers and non-certified staff members.
At Monday's meeting, Commissioner Susan Evans said state lawmakers should do more to support public schools.
"We have now just passed a budget where we will be contributing over $700 million to the operating budget of Wake County Public Schools," Evans said. "And I'm proud we can help, but we shouldn't have to help to that extent."
The budget also includes funding for more ambulances and law enforcement officers as well as WakeBrook, a behavioral health facility in Raleigh.
It lowers property tax rates, but some homeowners will still have a higher bill this year due to revaluations.
WAKE COUNTY SCHOOL BOARD WILL WAIT ON STATE BUDGET
The Wake County Board of Education will need to make adjustments to its proposed budget for next school year, but the board won’t make any until the state legislature approves a new budget for next year, Chairman Chris Heagarty said Tuesday.
The board is currently planning to approve an interim budget at their June 18 meeting. That would be a budget to continue current spending and services into the next school year. That wouldn’t include any raises for school employees, although the board still plans to eventually provide them.
That’s because the county won’t have any new funding from the state to pay for any increased costs until a budget is passed, Heagarty said. Most of the district’s funding comes from the state.
“We would need to take the money from someplace without any new funds” to pay for raises, Heagarty said.
The state budget could, possibly, include raises or funding for new programs that would affect decisions the school board needs to make about what to keep in their proposed budget and what to cut.
Still, county commissioners adopted a budget Monday night for next year that provides the school system with $58.3 million more — part of a package that lowers the current tax rate but effectively increases tax payments because of higher home valuations.
That increase was less than the $63.2 million increase the school board had requested from commissioners.
The school board will need to agree to adjustments, but Hegarty said he believes the board is still committed to the raises they approved in their budget request last month.
Read More at https://www.wral.com/story/wake-school-board-will-wait-on-a-new-state-budget-to-finalize-plans-for-raises-keeping-temporary-employees
FEDERAL JUDGE BLOCKS ACCESS TO ABORTION BILLS
A federal judge has permanently blocked some efforts in North Carolina to restrict how abortion pills can be dispensed, saying they are unlawfully in conflict with the authority of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. But she allowed other state laws to remain in effect, granting only a partial victory to a doctor who sued.
The injunction entered Monday by U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles in Greensboro gives permanence to her April 30 ruling that some of North Carolina’s regulations on medication abortion have been preempted by decisions of federal drug regulators that determined they were not needed.
The order Monday means North Carolina cannot require that only doctors prescribe the pills; that the drugs be provided to the patient only in person; and that the patient schedule a follow-up appointment. It also prohibits state and local prosecutors, state health and medical officials and other defendants from enforcing such rules or penalizing people who don’t follow them with criminal, civil and professional penalties.
Congress delegated authority to the FDA to scrutinize the use of mifepristone, which the agency approved in 2000 to end pregnancy when used in combination with a second drug, misoprostol. The FDA expressly determined that restrictions similar to North Carolina’s were no longer necessary, based on evaluations of their safe distribution and use, Eagles wrote in April.
Her order appears to mean patients in North Carolina can now receive the pills through pharmacies — prescribed through someone like a nurse practitioner or physician assistant or using telehealth — and take them at home, in keeping with FDA decisions.
But Eagles also upheld some challenged restrictions, such as requiring an in-person consultation 72 hours in advance, an in-person examination and an ultrasound before obtaining a prescription. She said these rules had either not been expressly reviewed and rejected by the FDA, or focus more on the practice of medicine or on general patient health.
Dr. Amy Bryant, who provides abortions and raised this legal challenge last year, said in a prepared statement that the permanent injunction will “allow for increased access to safe and effective medication abortion care throughout North Carolina.”
The challenged regulations on medication abortion are in a 2023 law enacted by the Republican-controlled General Assembly that carried onward or expanded many previous abortion restrictions. One change reduced the time frame for most abortions from after 20 weeks of pregnancy to 12 weeks.
Tami Fitzgerald, executive director of the conservative North Carolina Values Coalition, said Tuesday that the ruling “lowers the standard of care for women.” She also criticized the order for stopping a state requirement that “non-fatal adverse events” related to mifepristone be reported to the FDA, saying it would conceal “dangerous complications and side effects of abortion drugs.”
Democratic Attorney General Josh Stein, an abortion rights supporter now running for governor, didn’t defend the restrictions in court because he already contended they were preempted by the FDA’s decisions. He blamed Republican lawmakers on Tuesday for the unlawful provisions and said, “this ruling helps women regain some control over their personal health care decisions.”
The offices of House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger, who joined the case to defend the laws, didn’t immediately respond Tuesday to an email seeking comment. They could appeal Eagles’ order. An upcoming ruling in a separate case at the U.S. Supreme Court brought by anti-abortion doctors who want the justices to restrict access to mifepristone could affect the results of the North Carolina litigation.
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