It's 505 and welcome in to a Monday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. North Carolina Governor Josh Stein said that he is concerned with uncertainty surrounding the future of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that's FEMA, as well as the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, that's NOAA. And the impact it might have on the state now that the Atlantic hurricane season is officially underway.
As we've covered over the last couple of weeks, NOAA is calling for 13 to 15 named storms in this Atlantic season, of which 6 to 10 could become hurricanes. They are also predicting that 3 to 5 of those could be forecast to reach major hurricane status, which would be a category 3 or above, with winds of over 110 miles an hour. The Trump administration is considering cuts to NOAA as well as overhauling or completely dissolving FEMA to move disaster management to the states. Back in January of this year, the President established a 20-member committee via executive order to review the agency and propose potential reforms to its operation. In April, he tapped new leadership and members, keeping Michael Watley, the chairman of the Republican National Committee and former NCGOP chair on the council.
He obviously has spent a lot of time here in North Carolina. It would make sense while he's on the committee. FEMA faced intense scrutiny after Hurricane Helene impacted a good portion of western North Carolina in late September of last year, with criticisms ranging from running out of funds and allegedly avoiding houses with Trump signs to victims being forced out of hotels at last minutes with nowhere to go and nowhere to call. Stein said a hurricane season, Stein said a hurricane season briefing press conference on Thursday criticizing any of those cuts. This is what the governor had to say.
Even as we continue the recovery process across Western North Carolina from Helene's devastation, we must acknowledge that another hurricane season is already upon us. I also recognize that we're heading into this hurricane season with more uncertainty than usual as we wait to learn the futures of FEMA and NOAA, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
Okay. Cuts to NOAA and FEMA are a man-made disaster. We need these critical agencies to help us anticipate and respond to natural disasters. A lack of forecasting and a lack of funding both harm public safety.
So even as we advocate to protect NOAA and FEMA, we simply have to prepare for the very real possibility that these entities will be of diminished capacity. That's the governor, audio and video, courtesy of PBS North Carolina. Stein said reimbursement rates could change with FEMA going from a 90% split right now to a potential 75% federal match, leaving the states to come up with a 25% match instead of the normal 10%, which he said could cost the state hundreds of millions of dollars. The governor said that the potential cuts mean that the state will need the possibility of hundreds of millions of more dollars to go into the rainy day fund or the state's savings reserve account. He told reporters that the issue is currently being negotiated between the Senate, which he said proposed spending it down to nearly the bottom, and the House, which has added more money.
The governor's budget calls for adding $500 million to that fund. Stein also said that he was concerned about cuts to the National Weather Service, including fewer people monitoring things like weather balloons, which have also been potentially on the chopping block, interpreting data and ultimately impacting people's lives. There were other concerns with the uncertainty of FEMA at the press conference last week, including a lot of turmoil in emergency management positions in both the state and local agencies in the western part of the state. The governor said, quote, this is one reason why it's critical to have a strong FEMA, because most states don't have experienced natural disasters on an annual basis, the way it feels like we do here in North Carolina. Other states may not have a natural disaster for eight or ten years.
And so those people in those positions are brand new and have never been through a big storm before and won't have much muscle memory on how to respond in the moment when all of a sudden a storm goes from a Class C to a class A.
So we need expertise that exists within FEMA. There was some discussion about lessons learned from Hurricane Helene, again impacting so many portions of western North Carolina last year. There were lessons that were learned, including the need to improve communication when the ability to get a cell phone signal and other forms of communication in many areas were wiped out for weeks on end, which was discussed during the press conference. Dealing with that, the governor said. There was a speed of misinformation that also spread on social media.
The governor noted, quote, we have to figure out what we can do to get factual information out and to encourage people to seek out that factual information rather than just to repost some outrageous claims that they happen to see on social media. It was stressed that people should find reputable sources of information, for example, the National Weather Service, local media, and local emergency management to take action as necessary. Obviously, that was incredibly complicated throughout many portions of western North Carolina last year, where there were no forms of communication for many days, in some cases weeks on end. Will Ray, the state's director of emergency management, said that they have restructured their cross-training program and some of their exercises that they are doing internally as well as with some of their state partners. He said that the funding model for emergency management, both at the state and local levels, heavily rely on federal grant funding.
They continue to work with the governor, the legislature, as well as the delegation of congressmen and senators in Washington, D.C. to create a more sustainable funding model to support critical emergency management services across the state. Ray said that the logistics with Helene was a catastrophe and was a very significant event, noting, quote, what we are looking at at this point, the volume of needs across the disaster area, has caused us to reevaluate our logistical supply chain, the type of commodities, the amounts, and what we have staged in our warehouses, what we have available through contracted services, and making sure that we're diversifying those contracts as we look at whether we may or may not be what may or may not be available from the federal government in the future. There was also some emphasis on how North Carolina is preparing and is currently prepared for the upcoming season, with Will Ray saying that they are taking action on identifying areas for improvement. The state emergency response team is hosting workshops as well as planning sessions, conducting plan reviews and conducting operational and logistical readiness checks.
They are also expanding their training and exercise program. The state is also in the middle of putting together floodplain mapping for the entire state using light detection and ranging. You may have heard it also described as LIDAR. He said, quote, We're very fortunate to have some capabilities both within the various agencies at the state level, but also some partner agencies as well that allow us to take up references pre- and post-disasters. In addition, Ray said that they are looking for all available funding streams, both federal and state, and seeing how they can bolster things like flood gauges across the state to ensure that they've got good data, as well as maximizing the alert and warning system associated with those gauges.
He also stressed that the interstate mutual aid will continue to be an important focus of theirs as uncertainty surrounding FEMA does continue. With that, there were some questions about that story. Last week, we covered an audit or a rapid response audit of the Suananoa Community Center. A reporter did ask the governor how the state could keep costs down for recovery contracts like that Like the one highlighted that we talked about, which showed that a community care center in Suannanoa. operated for one hundred eighty nine days and cost the state of North Carolina a whopping twenty seven point four million dollars.
That was an average daily cost of over one hundred forty five thousand dollars per day. He replied that while the state is always prudent when it comes to spending taxpayer monies, Hurricane Helene was a catastrophic storm and the top priority was the health and safety of people in the community. With the governor telling reporters, This is a community that had no running water for weeks. Folks needed a place to shower and they needed a place to wash their clothes. They needed that from a realistic perspective.
It was also immediately following a catastrophic storm where we're asking people to leave their families and go live in who knows where and what kind of condition for weeks on end. All of the water that was generated by those stations had to be disposed somehow and somewhere, and they weren't connected to a water or sewer system.
So that was how the governor kind of tried to brush off this exorbitant cost, $27.4 million for that facility in Suannanoa. Likely to probably get some more details on that in the coming weeks. We'll keep an eye on it right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It is Ryan Seacrest here. There was a recent social media trend, which consisted of flying on a plane with no music, no movies, no entertainment.
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21 plus. Terms and conditions apply. It's 5:21. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110, 99.3 WBT has some civil unrest unfolding in a major U.S.
city, Los Angeles, over the weekend. And with that, a statement from the Democrat governors has come out, and one of those is, in fact, Governor Josh Stein of North Carolina. The letter reads as follows: President Trump's move to deploy California's National Guard is an alarming abuse of power. Governors are commanders-in-chief of their National Guard, and the federal government activating them in their own borders without consulting or working with the state's governor is ineffective and dangerous. Further threatening to send U.S.
Marines into American neighborhoods undermines the mission of our service members, erodes public trust. shows that the Trump administration does not trust local law enforcement. It is important that we respect the executive authority of our country's governors to manage their National Guards. And we stand with Governor Newsome, who has made it clear that violence is unacceptable and that local authorities should be able to do their jobs without the chaos of this federal interference and intimidation. With this letter coming out yesterday afternoon, the situation did unfold into more civil unrest last night in Los Angeles.
Cars being burned in the middle of the streets, buildings being looted as law enforcement attempted to grab control of that situation. The statement from the Democratic governors of the United States, again, did include Democrat Governor Josh Stein here in North Carolina. We'll see if we get any more reaction from him. If so, we'll pass it along to you right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. As state lawmakers consider bringing back the state's back-to-school sale tax holiday starting in 2026 as a savings benefit to families.
Critics warn that the tax breaks may be more alluring than substance, offering political appeal.
However, they may have very limited economic impact. The North Carolina House's budget proposal would revive the once popular initiative that gives families a break at the register for one weekend during back-to-the-school season. If approved, the state would reinstate its sales tax holiday beginning in 2026, allowing shoppers to buy school supplies tax-free for one weekend a year. Supporters say it's a win-win for families and businesses, while critics argue it's more of a symbolic gesture than substantive economic policy. Two voices on tax policy offer very different viewpoints on whether the popular weekend reprieval would have meaningful relief or just mask broader fiscal trade-offs.
Andy Allen, the president and general counsel of the North Carolina Retail Merchants Association, is a strong proponent of the measure. He argues that the sales tax holiday would offer a real savings at times when parents are stretched thin financially as they prepare for the school year. He said to the Carolina Journal: A sales tax holiday is a win for both North Carolina's hardworking families and retailers. Coupled with sales that many retailers time to coincide with sales tax holidays, shoppers will see meaningful savings on necessary items. He also believes that reinstating the tax-free weekend could strengthen North Carolina's retail economy by pulling shoppers who have traditionally gone out of state for some of that shopping.
He noted, quote, a sales tax holiday could also bring shoppers back to North Carolina who are taking advantage of the sales tax holiday from some of our neighboring states such as Virginia, Tennessee, and South Carolina. North Carolina previously did offer a sales tax holiday, but it was repealed in 2013 as part of a broader tax overhaul. Since then, neighboring states have continued to offer similar incentives, often around the same time in the late summer. But not everyone is convinced that this sales tax holiday delivers substantive tax policy for North Carolinians. Joseph Harris, a fiscal policy analyst at the John Locke Foundation, cautions that the benefits are overstated and may not reach the families that are most in need.
He told the Carolina Journal, quote, while a sales tax holiday may seem to offer meaningful tax relief to working families, they are more of a symbolic gesture than substantive policy measure. Sales tax holidays impose compliance costs that disproportionately burden small businesses, and rather than stimulating new economic activity, they typically only shift the timing of purchases to the tax-free period. That means that the state sacrifices tax revenues without generating any new economic growth. Harris also raised concerns that the policy unintentionally favors wealthier households that have the flexibility to time their spending. He noted that many lower income families may not have the financial flexibility to wait and do all of their shopping during a single weekend if they are living paycheck to paycheck.
He said, quote, moreover, the sales tax holidays are often touted to help working-class families.
However, wealthier individuals can more easily shift their spending to the tax-free period, thus enjoying a greater benefit.
Furthermore, sales tax holidays are often accompanied by price increases that in some cases can erase much of the savings that the end consumer might see. North Carolina's debate over the sales tax holiday mirrors broader national conversations. According to the Tax Foundation, 19 states are offering some form of sales tax holiday offered those in 2024. The Tax Foundation noted that while sales tax holidays, quote, remain popular despite their economic inefficiencies, unintended consequences, and frequent inability to achieve their stated goals, the organization noted it's not only politically popular with elected officials due to the high visibility of the direct discount, but is also popular amongst consumers who often believe that they're getting a good deal, whether it's real or if that's something that is just perceived. When it comes to North Carolina, the North Carolina Senate tax policy proposals, leaders have offered up increased income tax reductions for all workers in the state instead of a weekend tax break for school items.
As we have been tracking over the last couple of weeks, budget negotiations do continue in Raleigh. The members of the North Carolina General Assembly are slated once again to be back this week. Tuesday and Wednesday are jam-packed with committee meetings and many behind-the-scenes conversations continuing as leaders from both the House and the Senate from the two chambers continue to debate things like taxes, various spending across various state programs as well. Those discussions do continue. We'll keep an eye on them right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
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Terms and conditions apply. It's 5:36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News talk 11:10-99.3WBT. This morning, the North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicle is warning residents across the state of fraudulent tech scams that are making their rounds once again.
NCDMV said that these scam techs are falsely claiming or falsely asking you to request for payment for fees, fines, or tolls that may appear to be coming from NCDMV. Officials said that the Department of Motor Vehicle will never request payment through text message. The Department of Motor Vehicle said that residents should report any suspected text messages as spam, which you can do on either an iPhone or Android device, and delete them. They warn you not to click any links or provide any personal information in response to the text. The North Carolina Department of Motor Vehicle says for residents to be cautious of those scams and to protect themselves, noting that they want you to verify any NC DMV-related inquiries through their official channels, which are most of the time would come through their website or a physical letter in the mail.
Again, the DMV noting that these fraudulent text messages, which claim that if you do not pay these tolls, you could potentially find yourself having your driver's license suspended, your vehicle registration suspended, or even in some cases, threatening jail time looking at North Carolina administrative code.
So make Make sure you're keeping an eye on that and not providing any information to these text scammers. They also note that you can send some of those to either the Federal Trade Commission or the North Carolina Department of Justice. Both of those entities have websites set up where you can, in fact, provide details on those phishing texts or scam messages. It's now 5:38. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour.
We've been talking a lot about the Reigns Act over the last couple of months as it relates to movement in the North Carolina General Assembly. To get some more details on that this morning, it's my pleasure to welcome Tyler Voigt, the Executive Director of Americans for Prosperity here in North Carolina to the Carolina Journal News Hour. Tyler, thanks for the time this morning. Before we get into some details as to the current status of the Reigns Act, can you give our audience a broad overview of what we're talking about when we mention the Reigns Act? Yeah, Nick, thanks for having me on today.
So, the Reigns Act, to put quite simply, is a bill that's kind of sweeping the country. We've seen this pass in states all over the across the map this year: red states, blue states, swing states. And what it does is it recognizes that right now there are unelected bureaucrats in Washington, in Raleigh, and state capitals across the country that are making rules that really function as laws, that cost people money. There's a litany of rules that you wouldn't even believe that have what we call a fiscal impact on the state.
So, what Reigns does, like I said, is it recognizes that fact and says, hey, this probably isn't the place for unelected bureaucrats to be making these decisions who are not accountable to voters. This should be in the hands of lawmakers.
So, once a rule hits a certain dollar amount that it's going to cost the people in the state, the Reigns Act, what it does is it triggers that to automatically. Go in front of the General Assembly.
So the lawmakers that North Carolinians are electing every two years are actually responsible for these. They're accountable to these. And they can, in a lot of ways, stop these bad ones in their tracks to make sure that there aren't these unnecessary rules that are costing everybody money every day. It is, like I said, I think we saw an election in November that focused on waste, fraud, and abuse and this unelected bureaucracy that has kind of taken control of DC, of state capitals, and the necessary pushback on that because we elect state legislators to do this job, to kind of govern our state. We're not electing these bureaucrats, which is why the Reigns Act is just a crucial issue.
It's one, like I said, we've seen pass in states across the country. And in North Carolina, we've really got a lot of momentum behind it. Before we get to what's going on in North Carolina, another state just last week had some significant movement. I believe it was Louisiana. What's going on down there?
Yeah, so Louisiana actually saw their bill pass unanimously, and then we've concurred in the Senate.
So they agreed with the changes. But the fact that this is passing unanimously in a state like Louisiana, where a lot of these states have been Republican-led on reins, but Democrats are understanding the importance of it too. They're understanding that people are electing them to do this job, not bureaucrats who work for some agency. It's something that we haven't quite seen in Raleigh. We've seen some pushback, a lot of it being from the left, almost exclusively from the left.
And it's something that we've kind of said: hey, if you guys take a step back and look, this is a bipartisan issue. This is not something that's partisan. This is a good governance issue, good governance issue, excuse me. And it's something that we should all get behind because, like I said, citizens are out there every two years electing their state legislature. They should be the ones responsible for passing these costs down, and then they're the ones who could be held accountable for it.
And the movement in North Carolina is pretty significant. The original legislation, as we talked about back a couple of months ago, has been introduced in North Carolina. It did meet the crossover deadline. It's been working through some various committees. It's presumably something that's maybe right on the precipice here in North Carolina.
Yeah, we hope so.
So we saw the House bill pass a couple of weeks ago, right before crossover, get through. We knew that there was going to be changes along the way. We've been having conversations with sponsors and with leadership about What should this look like? What will be the most beneficial and the best outcome that we can get from this bill? And we've seen, like I said, just a significant movement this week.
The Senate brought back in language that brings in that legislative approval, which is the key point to reigns, is the legislative approval. Once it meets a certain dollar threshold, it passed the Senate Reg Committee just this last week. It passed the Senate Rules Committee. Going to the floor, it will go back to the House. And again, like I said, The key issue here is that legislative approval.
That is now back in its that is what the language looked like when it was first introduced in the House and the Senate with a companion bill, where we saw a majority of Republicans or majorities of both chambers support this kind of legislation. Obviously, here in North Carolina, we do have Republican control in both the House and the Senate.
However, there is a Democrat currently sitting in the governor's mansion. That is Josh Stein. Have we heard any rumblings or anything from him as to whether he would be in favor of something like the Reigns Act, or is this going to be an uphill battle for the legislature going forward? Yeah, we haven't heard much from his office about it. I would say, like I said, this is an issue that we've seen bipartisan support across the country for.
So I would hope, with the message that Governor Stein has brought in about how he wants to be that changemaker, he wants to work with leadership in both houses, and he wants to reach across the aisle. I would hope this is something that he can see as a really, really great opportunity for him to do that. Excuse me. Like I said, when you have something that should be non-controversial, legislators should vote on issues that meet a certain financial threshold to the state. it's good governance.
And I would hope, like I said, that Governor Stein sees this as a real opportunity once he finally reaches his desk to kind of put his money where his mouth has been and say, I'm willing to actually work on these issues that are bipartisan, that have this kind of overreaching support, and we can get this done. We'll continue to track that progress here in North Carolina. It's how this has been a big push, not only for Americans for Prosperity here in North Carolina, but across the country. Tell folks how they can keep clued in with what's going on here with AFPNC. Yeah, you can follow us on our social medias.
We usually update on X quite frequently with the process of this bill. But you can go to Americans for ProsperityNorth Carolina.org and see where we're at. We also have Northstar for the OldNorthstate.com. If you go to that, that's North Carolina specific. But the best place, like I said, to keep track of this is the AFPNC X account.
We're keeping up to the second almost updates on what's going on with Reigns, thanking legislators when they're sponsoring this, when they're voting for this, when they're just getting out there and talking about the benefits of this.
So follow us on there, and we're going to continue to provide these updates as they come. And hopefully we have a lot of good news soon. We appreciate the details this morning. Tyler Voigt with Americans for Prosperity for North Carolina joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It is Ryan here, and I have a question for you.
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Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 1110-993WBT. An investigation into missing campaign finance records from candidates from a candidate in Rockingham County, including nearly two decades' worth of paperwork from County Sheriff Sam Page, will take place starting this week. And some sort of investigation ongoing from the North Carolina State Board of Elections. The missing reports came to light after an investigation by TV station WBTV.
Page, who is currently challenging Senate leader Phil Berger for his seat in the 2026 Republican primary, has been a sheriff in Rockingham County since 1998. He also ran for the Republican nomination for the lieutenant governor primary in 2024. WBTV contacted the Rockingham County Board of Elections to try and locate Page's campaign finance reports before 2017, but were told that those records couldn't be located. They were also told that no current County Board of Elections employee had worked at the office prior to June of 2020. According to state law, county boards of elections are required to retain campaign finance reports and other filings while a candidate holds public office.
The county may then destroy those records three years after the candidate has left office and closed all of their candidate committees.
However, candidates and treasurers are subjects to record retention requirements that are different from those of county boards of elections. Pursuant to general statute, a candidate committee treasurer is only required to retain such reports and records for two years from the date of the election to which such reports refer to. That means that the treasurer for Page Page's campaign committee was not required to retain records for any at issue beyond November of 2020. According to NCSBE spokesman Pat Gannon, the state board contacted the current treasurer for Page's campaign committee as they are assisting the Rockingham County Board of Elections and looking for those reports. They asked him if he had any further information regarding the records or any contact information for Page's former campaign committee chairman, who would have been serving during the time in question prior to 2017.
the reply of which took place Said that Page and his committee has consistently complied with filing requirements for reports before July 1st, 2017. The email also noted: quote: In his 27 years serving as sheriff, his campaign finance records were filed timely, a fact that has never been questioned by the State Board of Elections or any other authority. In addition, the campaign noted that the campaign committee had fully complied with the requirements of the general statute that all disclosures prior to july first, twenty seventeen, were filed in paper form. The email from the current treasurer for the sheriff, Sam Page, reads, No audit or investigation has ever been initiated regarding Sheriff Page's campaign finances and the statutory two-year retention period for reports filed to July 1st, 2017, since that has long expired. It is possible that paper copies of some pre-2017 reports may exist, but I cannot confirm that Sheriff Page, Mr.
Gunn, or anyone else associated with the Sam Page campaign for sheriff has possession of these documents. Moreover, we understand that North Carolina general statute imposes no obligation to maintain or produce such records beyond the statutory period, which has now since expired. The North Carolina State Board of Elections Director Sam Hayes issued a statement on Friday afternoon that he will be sending an investigator from the state board this week to meet with the county's board of elections director to gather potential additional details on some of those missing reports. The statement reads in part, quote, I am aware of the situation involving campaign finance reports that are missing from Rockingham County records prior to 2017. I have spoken with the Rockingham County Elections Director, and I am committed to getting to the bottom of what happened here.
We understand that reports prior to 2017 are missing from files for other candidates in addition to Sheriff Page.
However, we have no evidence or indication that Sheriff Page or any other county candidate from before 2017 failed to file any required campaign finance disclosure reports. And quote, they are from the State Board of Elections. He said that the current county Current Rockingham County Board of Elections and staff inherited the problem from a prior board and are working diligently with the State Board of Elections and their staff to address those issues. The Carolina Journal did, in fact, reach out to Sheriff Page for comment, but did not receive a reply prior to the publication of our article that ran on a Friday afternoon.
So, with the new North Carolina State Board of Elections, some potential investigations ongoing, at least what we're talking about this morning in Rockingham County, as there does appear to be at least a plethora of files and various data points missing from the time of prior to July of 2017. We'll keep an eye on those details and all of the other ongoing changes and things happening with the North Carolina State Board of Election. You can keep up to date with those details online by visiting our website, CarolinaJournal.com, or, of course, right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Well, that's going to do it for a Monday edition. WBT News. News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 1110 and 99.3 WBT.
