Senate Appropriations Committees Meeting Next Week; Expect to Pass Senate Budget by June 1 May 20, 2011
Greetings!
The Senate Appropriations committees did NOT met this week, suggesting that a lot of the budget writing is being done behind closed doors. The Appropriations committees are scheduled to meet next Tuesday, and many other (non-budget) committee meetings for next Tuesday and Wednesday have been canceled, suggesting those two days will be focused on the budget. The Senate is aiming to pass their budget by June 1.
House Budget Documents
Line-by-line comparisons of the final House budget vs. the Governor's budget are below. Amendments passed on the House floor are highlighted in yellow.
Budget documents of the final House budget from the Legislature are below. If you have difficulty opening these, please visit www.ncleg.net and look under "News and Information" for "2011 Budget Information" and click on the items: - Money Report: Lists the dollar amounts cut or added to each line-item
- Special Provisions: Changes in statute that go along with the dollar amount changes.
Visualization of House Budget To help explain the cuts in the House budget, Action for Children has created a visualization of the various child-focused areas of the budget. The infographic displays the funding levels of the agencies, in proportion to each other, and uses shading to show the various percent cuts in the House budget. Click here to see the great interactive graphic. Bill Update Tracking lists of bills in each of Action for Children's four areas of interest are maintained on the website and updated weekly. Please visit our Policy Action page for full lists. Here are the bill highlights from this week: Safety HB145: PHOEBE'S LAW was pulled from House Judiciary A committee and sent to the Rules committee. This is a setback. The bill would authorize the use of electronic speed-measuring systems to detect speed violations in work and school zones.
Education HB736/SB648: AMEND LAW RE. SCHOOL DISCIPLINE. The Senate bill moved into the House and was sent to House Education committee.
SB498 (HB579): MODIFY LAW RE. CORPORAL PUNISHMENT was eferred to the House Education committee, but no hearing date has yet been set. SB724: ACT TO IMPROVE PUBLIC EDUCATION passed the Senate and was referred to House Education committee. The bill would strengthen teacher education, enhance the use of performance evaluations (EVAAS system), establish a goal for pre-K for all at-risk children, provide transition teams for at-risk preschoolers, and lengthen the school day and year at the schools with the highest drop-out rates. Health HB115: NC HEALTH BENEFIT EXCHANGE was supposed to have been heard on the House floor, but has been postponed another 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. Click here for more information on the issue.
Economic Security
HB188: TAXPAYER BILL OF RIGHTS has been referred to the Judiciary A committee in the House after languishing since February. The bill is scheduled to be heard on Wednesday, May 25. This bill would prevent the state budget from growing any faster than inflation plus population change. The one state that tried TABOR for a short while - Colorado - very quickly found its public investments defunded.
SB247: ELIMINATE MEANS TEST FROM 529 DEDUCTION passed the House Finance committee and the full House. The bill would allow all families to deduct contributions to 529 education savings plans from their income taxes, rather than just middle- and low-income families. The current cut-offs are $100K for married couple, $60K for single; the bill would eliminate the income cap.
ACTION ITEM - Send an Email to Help Raise the Age: Get the bill heard in Judiciary B committee
A bill to Raise the Age of juvenile court jurisdiction from 16 to 18 for youth accused of minor crimes is ready to be heard in the House Judiciary B committee. We need to convince the co-chairs of the committee to bring the bill forward for a vote. The bill must pass the House by June 9 in order to continue on in the bill process!! TAKE ACTION: - Ask Representatives Stam (represents Wake county) and Stevens (represents Alleghany and Surry counties) to schedule Juvenile Age to 18 (HB 632) for a committee hearing as soon as possible.
- Contact members of the Judiciary B committee. Message: Join 48 other states: Raise the age to improve public safety and save the state money! Vote yes: House bill 632!
- Send this alert to your family and friends
ACTION ITEM - Help Protect Family Tax Credits (EITC, etc) We are hearing that the joint House and Senate Finance committee is considering elimination of the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC), the Child Credit and the Child and Dependent Care Credit as they consider the tax package. These tax credits typically have strong bi-partisan support and have been proven successful at pulling families out of poverty. It is critical that our lawmakers maintain these key tax credits that break down barriers to the middle class and help working families make ends meet. Click here to TAKE ACTION! (Alert from our friends at the NC Justice Center) Sincerely, Action for Children North Carolina | 
