Carolina Journal Radio No. 724: Solar industry’s reliance on taxpayers highlighted

North Carolina’s solar energy industry depends on heavy subsidies from taxpayers and electric ratepayers. State legislators recently heard a presentation from Duke Energy spelling out the details of those subsidies. Dan Way, Carolina Journal associate editor, recaps the presentation’s highlights and the reaction from state lawmakers. North Carolina’s premier higher education watchdog recently changed its name. The James G. Martin Center for Academic Renewal honors North Carolina’s only two-term Republican governor of the 20th century. Martin explains why he was willing to lend his name to the group, while Martin Center President Jenna Robinson explains the group’s priorities for the future. Some N.C. lawmakers want to take an in-depth look at funding formulas for the state’s public schools. You’ll hear highlights from a recent legislative debate about a proposed task force that would investigate alternatives to the current system of sending money to schools. Free speech has secured at least a limited victory on college campuses across the country. The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education reports improvement in its latest analysis of college speech codes. Robert Shibley, FIRE’s executive director, shares highlights from the new speech code report. Shibley also reminds us about other lingering challenges to free speech at colleges and universities. North Carolina has seen positive results from its recent adoption of a regulatory reform that places state rules under the microscope at least once every 10 years. It’s known officially as “sunsetting” rules with “periodic review.” Jon Sanders, the John Locke Foundation’s director of regulatory studies, explains why that reform has generated benefits for taxpayers and business owners. Sanders also describes a proposed change that could make the reform work even more effectively.