Education, Health and Human Services and Juvenile Justice all hit harder than Governor's budget April 15, 2011
Greetings!
As mentioned earlier in the week, House Appropriations subcommittees released their draft budgets this week. The House's cuts-only approach meant that children's programs and services received deep cuts. There are a few bright spots. Click below for more detailed resources.
Line-by-line comparisons of House vs. Governor budgets from Action for Children:
Money reports from the relevant legislative subcommittees (sometimes these don't open easily): Click here for highlights from Wednesday's email, in case you missed it.
Youth Advocacy and Involvement Office Cut We did not report on Wednesday that the House budget cut the staff of the Youth Advocacy and Involvement Office in half. All three Child Advocate position, the Assistant Director of Youth Advocacy & Involvement and the Intern Coordinator positions were cut.
Bill Update Tracking lists of bills in each of Action for Children's four areas of interest will be maintained on the website and updated weekly. Please visit our Policy Action page for full lists. Here are highlights of the bills that were introduced or moved this week. Safety HB49: LAURA'S LAW. Passed Senate Judiciary I, re-referred to Senate Finance. Would increase penalties for repeat DWI offenders SB397: EXPUNGE NONVIOLENT OFFENSE BY MINOR. Passed Senate Judiciary II.
SB573: RESTRICT PRODUCTS CONTAINING BPA. Introduced.
Education HB7: COMM COLLEGES/OPT OUT OF FED'L LOAN PROGRAM. VETOED by the Governor. HB776: TESTING IN THE PUBLIC SCHOOLS. Passed House Education and calendared on the House floor.
SB8: NO CAP ON NUMBER OF CHARTER SCHOOLS passed third reading in the House and sent back to the Senate for concurrence.
SB498 (HB579): MODIFY LAW RE. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT. Passed Senate Education/Higher Education. Would require parental consent before corporal punishment is administered in public school. Economic Security SB558: HEALTHY FAMILIES & WORKPLACES/PAID SICK DAYS. Introduced and sent to Senate Rules. Health HB115: NC HEALTH BENEFIT EXCHANGE was heard in the House Insurance Committee on Tuesday but no votes were taken. The bill will be heard again in the Insurance Committee next week. The bill would establish the health insurance industry as a voting presence on the Board that regulates the state health exchange, to be implemented in 2014.
Sincerely, Action for Children North Carolina | 
