It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Wednesday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993 WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. We, of course, keep our eye and coverage this morning on the North Carolina General Assembly, as both Republicans and Democrats have been back in Raleigh at the state capitol since Monday as they continue to deal with a litany of issues. The biggest and most popular topic over the last couple of days continues to be redistricting.
So, here is the latest that we are watching this morning. In an early morning session yesterday, the North Carolina Senate once again gaveled in and held a third reading or a final vote on these newly proposed congressional districts ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. That final vote was 26 to 20 in the third reading, and after that, it was sent to the North Carolina House via special message. The process, as you're well aware, began last week when the Republican-led General Assembly proposed changes to North Carolina's first and third congressional districts and opened the public comment period for citizens to share their feedback. After it passed the third reading in the North Carolina Senate, it made its way over to one House committee where a similar process to the one that we described in the Senate, we had lawmakers, including Senator Ralph Heiss, who was a special guest of the House hearing, describe the map.
Lawmakers on the Democrat and Republican side of the aisle were able to ask him questions, a little bit of back and forth there. And then, similarly, to the Senate and what we saw on Monday, a pretty lengthy public comment period, including some of the same speakers that spoke in the Senate on Monday. Really, nothing positive to say about these maps from the public comment period. After that, it was referred to the North Carolina House of Rules Committee, where it now currently sits. It is expected to make its way to the full House floor for a vote a little bit later on in the day.
Today it will get that final approval Wednesday in the North Carolina House. We will. Keep an eye on what goes on in Raleigh there and pass those details along to you right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
So the redistricting debate and discussion likely will be wrapped up either today or tomorrow. One other thing to note in terms of additional business to get done in the North Carolina Senate, after they passed another piece of legislation that we'll get into here in a minute, they decided, and Phil Berger, the leader of the North Carolina Senate, provided guidance to his colleagues saying that there will be no additional voting sessions this week, meaning that all of the work in the North Carolina Senate is done. And some of those lawmakers will stay in Raleigh. There are still some committee meetings, but the full Senate will not be voting on anything else, meaning no other legislation will move forward in the Senate this week. That picks up just or puts forward just one additional set of voting days in the month of November before the end of the calendar year and the start of the biennium in 2026.
Keep our eye on those details. One of the things that the Senate did work on yesterday was approving an additional mini-budget. This seemingly materialized very quick in Raleigh this week. And on Tuesday, the North Carolina General Assembly approved a targeted spending plan that directs millions of dollars towards disaster recovery, education, infrastructure, and government operations. The legislation's name, Senate Bill 449, Continuing Budget Operations Part 4, is the latest mini-budget to fund essential state operations for the 25-26 fiscal year after lawmakers were unable and remain unable to agree on a full final state budget by the end of the fiscal year, which was June 30th of 2025.
Unlike what you're currently witnessing and seeing in Washington, D.C., in North Carolina, the previous budget continues in the absence of a new one, preventing what you would call and what we are seeing in Washington as a government shutdown.
However, lawmakers have used mini-budgets to fund priorities on which the chambers can agree. This is the second such mini budget for the Republican-led legislature this year. Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, signed the first one while conducting a call on lawmakers to a full budget deal.
So, taking a look at some of the top priorities in this legislation, Disaster Recovery received several of the largest allocations in the budget measure, and it now heads to the governor's desk as it sped through the Senate and the House. I'll note it wasn't that long of a bill, only about 17 pages. And when you think about a budget being only 17 pages, that would be very short with a variety of billions. Yeah. uh policy issues and uh uh priorities from lawmakers being relatively straightforward.
So uh starting with uh Helene funding, businesses affected by Hurricane Helene will see relief through extended Golden Leaf Bridge loans, which now allow twenty-four months of interest only payments and repayments uh to through the year twenty thirty two. Local governments in storm damaged areas can delay repayments of state cash flow loans until after FEMA reimbursements are received and a grant program supporting infrastructure repairs not covered by the FEMA Public Assistance Reimbursement Program.
So a couple of big priorities there in terms of Helene funding, giving businesses, giving local governments that have borrowed money from the state a little bit more flexibility, a little bit more breathing room, as unfortunately the tail continues is big time slowdowns and delays from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in Washington, D.C.
So a little bit of breathing room for them there. In some other priorities, education funding includes updated allotments for the Cooperative Innovation High School program with $275,000 per school in Tier 1 counties, $200,000 in Tier 2, and $180,000 in Tier 3. The bill also raises non-resident tuitions at NC Promise universities, which do include universities like Elizabeth City State, Fayetteville State, UNC Pembroke, and Western North Carolina. Those non-resident tuition rates are jumping from $2,500 to $3,500 per semester beginning in 2627. The fee for in-state residents remains the same.
Agricultural and environmental programs are set to receive some $3 million for avian flu response and laboratory work, some $581,000 for the state's meat inspection program, and $700,000 for five new full-time staff positions at the Environmental Management Commission. And in the realm of public safety, some investments there as well, including $2.1 million to maintain the Viper Emergency Radio Network. That is the radio network that state law enforcement uses to communicate not only within the agency in which they represent, but other state law enforcement and local law enforcement agencies.
So a pretty penny there, $2.1 million to make sure that that network is up and running. And some of the discussion there is the Viper network needs some upgrades for a situation like Hurricane Helene. God forbid another situation like that was to affect the State.
Some of these maintenance and continued upgrades to the Viper system will allow law enforcement and other emergency response personnel to stay in touch during mass power outages and things of that nature. $7.2 million for court technology upgrades, $600,000 to increase the number of special assistant U.S. attorneys, and $2 million for the State Bureau of Investigation.
Some other key expenditures, some interesting ones in there. $12 million to rebuild broadband fiber damaged by Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina, getting individuals back stable, reliable, and hopefully affordable Internet access to $20.85 million to replace the North Carolina Integrated Budget Information System. $7.5 million for state fair receipts for repair and renovation projects at the fairgrounds. That, of course, is in Raleigh, just off the campus of NC State, and $7 million for ferry maintenance and dry docking. Two other key measures in the bill affected the capital city of Raleigh, authorizing the State Department of Administration to sell two properties.
One is on Dawson Street downtown, the other, the old Rex Hospital building, which currently houses the state's Department of Employment Security, situated on the corner of Wade Ave and St. Mary Street. The old hospital is a high-value area. Under this bill, it would put it up for sale or lease by April 1st, 2027. After costs associated with a redevelopment plan, proceeds from that transaction would go into the state capital and infrastructure fund.
The budget also this mini budget, I should say, also directs the state's Department of Administration to come up with a new location for the Department of Employment Security by April the 1st of 2026. There are some other details in this legislation, this mini-budget, Senate Bill 449. You can read those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. The headline there. State legislature approves funds for storm recovery, schools, and infrastructure.
That legislation, again, has passed the House, has passed the Senate in the Senate, completely unanimous, pretty close to unanimous in the North Carolina House. It now makes its way to Democrat Governor Josh Stein's desk, where it would appear very clear and obvious this morning that he will sign it into law, even as he continues to call on the General Assembly, the legislature, to get a full budget prepared and ready. We'll keep our eye on all of those details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 21 minutes past the hour. Good Wednesday morning to you.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 1110-993WBT. There are some proposals to tighten North Carolina guidelines for pretrial release. As North Carolina's judicial system, everybody well aware of this, especially in the Charlotte Metro, has been under heavy scrutiny in the wake of the recent murders of Irina Zaruska and Logan Federico. Bail policies have especially been under a microscope since the state of North Carolina and magistrates are not required to check an arrestee's criminal history and have no guidelines for setting bail bonds. While ARENA's Law, House Bill 307, was passed on September the 23rd by the North Carolina General Assembly and signed into law by Democrat Governor Josh Stein.
However, it does make some changes, such as eliminating cashless bail and tightening pretrial release conditions for repeat offenders. Experts in the field assert that many changes are still needed. William Allen, who is a government affairs associate for the John Locke Foundation, wrote, Two critical needs would need to be implemented statewide. systematic bail slash bond guides, a standardized evidence-based reference with offense categories, recommended bail ranges, and risk factors, and mandating that all magistrates in North Carolina conduct a criminal background check for each arrestee before uh brought before them. The current process for setting bail in North Carolina is based on judicial discretion and often involves insufficient data.
According to William Allen, he believes this system can lead to inconsistencies in setting bail amounts, the release of repeat offenders, and other public safety concerns. While some counties do have policies regarding bail range, judicial discretion still plays a very significant role. John Guise, who is a senior fellow of the legal studies for the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal, quote, Irina Zaruska's murder was a wake-up call. We need to upgrade our systems for protecting public safety in North Carolina, including by providing better training, better support, and better supervision for magistrates. During a bail hearing, this is currently in North Carolina, the judge or magistrate assesses public safety concerns, the defendant's risk of failing to appear in court, aka flight risk, and arguments from the defense related to community ties, employment, and specific circumstances of each individual case.
They do all of that before setting a secured bond. The judge or magistrate must first consider less restrictive alternatives and document the reason for requiring a secure bond, particularly when such a bond is mandated by a local policy. The decision is then recorded on the conditions of release and release order form completed by both the judge or magistrate and the defendant. Magistrates, however, sometimes claim that they do not have time to check an arrestee's criminal history. And in other cases, sometimes they choose not to do so.
Magistrates can set bail in a matter of minutes in many counties without knowing an arrestee's criminal record. This lack of knowledge puts both victims and communities at risk, according to critics and experts in the field. These critics also say that implementing a statewide systematic bail bond guide system for magistrates and requiring them to verify that they have checked an arrestee's criminal history when making decisions would significantly reduce some of these public safety risks. William Allen's proposed bail bond guideline system aims to improve consistency and fairness in bail decisions while enhancing public safety by ensuring that prior violent offenses are carefully considered. It seeks to mitigate judicial liability and minimize efforts in decision-making in the decision-making process to promote a more reliable and transparent system.
Additionally, the guide supports data driven justice to prevent the use of arbitrary bail amounts and works to eliminate any potential for racial or other forms of bias in bail determination. According to Jeanette Doran, Constitutional Studies Counsel for the John Locke Foundation, she told the Carolina Journal: IRENA's law is just the beginning of what will be a long period for reform. Proposals to create both a systematic statewide bail guide for magistrates and a framework ensuring that magistrates consider each arrestee's prior criminal history will likely play an important role in any reform. The public probably assumes these basics have always been a part of the bail system, but they have not been so. Concerns with reforms may arise regarding issues of time and cost.
Judicial discretion and technology gaps.
However, William Allen believes that while background checks can make first appearances take longer, they must be balanced with the cost of not running background checks and thereby not making fully informed decisions. Rather than stripping officials of power and judicial discretion, these reforms would enable greater transparency and accountability for both magistrates and judges. Allen told the Carolina Journal the AOC CR200 form, which is the one for those secured bonds, could be amended to include a box for magistrates to check to attest that they conducted proper background checks on penalty of removal or even a class one misdemeanor for failing to complete those duties. To make this possible, Allen believes that all magistrate offices should be equipped with state-of-the-art technology to enable them to conduct comprehensive background checks on arrestees in a very prompt fashion. The proposal also calls for magistrates to be offered training in the use of a newly formed bail or bond guide system.
Obviously, public safety continues to be a major topic of discussion. Especially in some of our larger cities across the state, as places like Charlotte over the last few weeks have seen a massive increase in violent crime with multiple shootings and deaths over the weekend. These discussions over the criminal justice system, some of these guidelines set for bail and bond to make sure that violent repeat offenders are not roaming the cities and towns of North Carolina will continue to be a major political discussion, likely as we head into the next legislative session coming up in early 2026. You can read some additional details on this story this morning by visiting our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That story's headline there: proposal calls to tighten NC guidelines for pretrial release.
It's 5:36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour. News Talk 11:10-993WBT. Keeping our attention this morning on a busy week in the North Carolina General Assembly, and it will continue on your Wednesday, keeping you up to date with where we stand right now on redistricting. On Monday, the North Carolina Senate had a Senate elections committee that we covered in great detail, in which they walked through the proposed changes to the North Carolina Congressional District map, shifting some of the counties between the first and third congressional district.
Those are in the northeastern and eastern half of North Carolina, north of the Wilmington area, and between that and the Virginia border.
So, those changes were proposed in the Senate. And yesterday, in a final third reading vote, the full North Carolina Senate, in a 26 to 20 vote, sent the maps to the North Carolina House via special messenger. And it is expected that coming up a little bit later on today, that the North Carolina House will act on those maps. They made their way in front of the House Rules Committee or the House Elections Committee yesterday before being sent to the House Rules Committee ahead of a final vote on the full floor of the North Carolina House. Party line vote in the Senate.
You would expect something very similar in the House as well. One of the things that makes these maps interesting, or the congressional map discussion interesting, is unlike most legislation, redistricting maps cannot be vetoed or blocked by the governor. Meaning, if this proposal is set to be approved in the House by a simple majority, which from all accounts is exactly what will happen today, there is nothing that Democrat Governor Josh Stein or Democrat lawmakers in the North Carolina General Assembly can do to block or stop those maps from going into effect. This will be incredibly relevant. As candidate filing for these elections, even though they are in November of next year, many of them will have a March 2026 primary.
Candidate filing for those elections opens in less than six weeks. Early December is when that. Process and period open.
So, those maps will have to be solidified and laid out for the potential candidates to determine where they are going to file for those congressional districts coming up here in just a couple of weeks.
So, we will watch some of the movement on that in the North Carolina House today. And we'll have the latest coverage for you over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, and of course, bring the latest to you right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's now 5:39, News Talk 11:10-993, WBT. Continuing our coverage this morning of what has been a busy week in North Carolina politics, lawmakers in Raleigh this week dealing with some redistricting. And we've heard comments from both Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate.
However, we are also getting some additional comments from Democrat Governor Josh Stein on some of these new proposed congressional maps to walk us through some of those details this morning and some other comments from the governor. Teresa Opaca, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour. Teresa, all the rage this week has been redistricting. What does Governor Stein have to say? Sure, Nick, thanks for having me.
So, yeah, he basically called the redistricting very manipulative. That's what he said during a press conference earlier in the week. You know, he talked about Senator Berger and Speaker Hall announcing last week that they were going to be, quote, manipulating North Carolina's congressional maps for partisan advantage, even more than they already have.
So, what he said, he was extremely disappointed by the cynical power grab that they were doing and understands that the Republican legislature is abusing its power to take away yours, talking to the people when he had this press conference. He said, And in our representative democracy, voters are supposed to choose their representatives, not the other way around, and they are going to be doing some long-term damage.
So, he was, yeah, not too happy with that. He says, you know, the Republican legislature is trying to take away the ability of the people from the districts to vote on their own and, you know, kind of. up for that power grab he kept mentioning. And so, as we continue our discussion of this, of course, we'll continue to track what goes on in the General Assembly. With that, I will note once again that the governor, unlike normal pieces of legislation, Teresa, does not have the ability to veto or stop these maps.
It is a full responsibility of the legislature.
So, we'll be keeping an eye on Raleigh throughout the rest of the week.
However, this was not the only topic of discussion from the governor at this press conference. The budget continues to be a main discussion as well.
Some ongoing deadlines with Medicaid. What else are you learning from Governor Stein? Sure.
So in addition to talking about the maps, he said he sent a letter last week to lawmakers detailing in steps that he believes the General Assembly should be taking. One of those was for public safety. He said that he, although he signed rather, House Bill 307, what didn't do enough for public safety.
So he was calling on the General Assembly to fund his $195 million public safety package that would basically provide. Money for law enforcement, more pay increases, recruitment, retention bonuses, you know, and things to fight the drug crisis. He also said. In that statement, that there should be more concentration on mental health services, talking about, of course, the deadly. The death of Irina Zarutska on the light rail in Charlotte, and also the deadly shooting in Southport.
He says he believes both assailants were suffering from serious mental illness. Of course, we know that DeCarlos Brown, the alleged assailant for Irina Zarutska, was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
So he basically said the lawmakers cut a bunch of funding. That would help off for anything with mental illness. But that was quotes basically going back to the The cuts for reimbursement for Medicaid that took place on October 1st. And going back to the original story that we had, you know, House Speaker Dustin Hall said Stein's claim was a manufactured crisis, that they could have pushed out the Deadline further than October 1st, and there's plenty of money in the rebase that they had that.
So he made the statements for public safety. mental health funding Funding the police, that was more of his comments that he had during that press conference. And obviously, Teresa, and we've kind of talked about this throughout this year, and you and I have made the point, and you've discussed in the past that this relationship between Stein and the General Assembly started off pretty friendly at the beginning. But as the months have gone on and as we've gotten deeper into this long session where we sit right now, it appears that this relationship is continuing to fracture. And now the General Assembly, you talk about people like House Speaker Destin Hall, Senate Leader Phil Berger, and the governor are kind of butting heads on a variety of different political matters, whether we're talking about maps, the budget, some of the discussions ongoing with Medicaid.
Seems like maybe business as usual as it comes to North Carolina politics. Yeah, it sounds like the honeymoon period is basically over between Governor Stein and the legislature. You know, like I said, they have come to agreement on a few different things. The first bill he signed, I believe, for lean relief, and you know, it basically has slowly gone downhill. I mean, he's been pretty.
more moderate compared to former Governor Cooper. But you're seeing as you that's a pretty good analogy of fractured. You're seeing that happen as the months progress here, especially now where the You know, Medicaid rebates, talking about not having a budget in place, even though North Carolina has the biennium.
So, technically, they do have a budget in place. It just goes falls back onto previous funding that they've already had. Unlike what he did mention, two states don't have currently have a budget in the U.S., North Carolina being one of them, a new budget. Pennsylvania is the other.
Now, Pennsylvania does not have a biennium.
So, if they're running out of money, they're running out of money.
So, at least North Carolina does have a backup plan for that.
So, yeah, you are definitely seeing the situation between Governor Stein and the legislature start to unravel at this point. We will, of course, keep an eye on all of these big political issues and stories, some discussions on mini budgets, the congressional redistricting, and this deadline for the Medicaid rebase coming up as well. We appreciate the details and the updates this morning. Teresa Opeka joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Good morning again.
It's 5:51. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, News Talk 11:10-993 WBT. Continuing our coverage of a busy week in Raleigh. And this morning, we've got a new mini budget that has passed both the North Carolina House and Senate. On Tuesday, members of the General Assembly approved a targeted spending plan that directs millions of dollars towards disaster recovery, education, infrastructure, and government operations.
Senate Bill 449, continuing budget operations, is the latest mini budget to fund essential state operations for the 25-26 fiscal year. After lawmakers earlier in 2025 were unable to agree on a full state budget and they remain unable to agree on a full state budget. The deadline to get that in was June 30th of this year, as the new fiscal year. year kicked off on July 1. Under North Carolina statute, the previous budget continues in the absence of a new one, preventing a government shutdown, unlike the situation that you are currently watching unfold in Washington DC.
Lawmakers in North Carolina, however, have used many budgets to fund priorities on which the chambers can agree. This is the second such mini-budget from the Republican-led legislature this year. Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, signed the first one while continuing to call on lawmakers to reach a full budget deal.
So let's diving into some of the details on what is actually going on in here.
Some of the top funding priorities do continue to be and remain to be Western North Carolina recovery and relief. As disaster recovery receives several of the largest allocations in this mini budget, which is now headed to the governor's desk, businesses affected by Hurricane Helene will see relief through extended Gold Leaf Bridge loans, which now allow 24 months of interest-only payments and allow a full repayment of those loans through 2032. Local governments in storm-damaged areas can also delay repayment of state cash flow loans until after FEMA reimbursements are received and a grant program supporting infrastructure repairs that are not covered by FEMA public assistance reimbursement.
So, a little bit of breathing room there for not only businesses but local governments in the western half of the state that have borrowed money from either the Golden Leaf Foundation or from the state in terms of those state cash flow loans for some of those small and municipal governments. Education funding included updated allotments for the Cooperative Innovation High School program with $275,000 per school in Tier 1, $200,000 in Tier 2, and $180,000 in Tier 3. The bill also raises non-resident tuitions at NC Promise universities, which include Elizabeth City State. Fayetteville State, UNC Pembroke, and Western Carolina. That now out-of-state tuition rate.
Will go from where it is right now at $2,500 per semester to $3,500 per semester beginning in the 26-27 school year. Agricultural and environmental programs receive $3 million for avian flu response and laboratory work, $581,000 for the state's meat inspection program, and $700,000 for five new full-time staff positions at the Environmental Management Commission. On some other fronts, public safety investments include $2.1 million to maintain the Viper emergency radio network that is used by first responders and law enforcement to communicate both in and out of the agencies in which they represent. seven point two million dollars for court technology upgrades, six hundred thousand dollars to increase the number of special assistant U. S.
attorneys, and two million additional dollars for the State Bureau of Investigation for them to purchase new and additional equipment.
Some other key expenditures include $12 million to rebuild broadband fiber damaged by Hurricane Helene to restore fast, reliable Internet connectivity to folks out west. $25 million for the state pay plan reserve, $20.85 million to replace North Carolina's integrated budget information system, $1.1 million for a new state human resource system, $7.5 million for the state fair receipts for repairs and renovation projects at the fairgrounds, and $7 million for ferry maintenance and dry docking. This legislation, Senate Bill 449, did receive bipartisan support in both the North Carolina House and Senate, setting up what everybody would argue would be a signature by Governor Josh Stein as Democrats in both the House and the Senate voted in favor of this mini budget. It now sits upon his desk. We will wait and see what he decides to do in terms of a signature or veto, and we'll keep you up to date over at CarolinaJournal.com.
Again, lawmakers in the North Carolina House will be back in Raleigh this morning as they are likely to take the final steps to approve new congressional maps. Unlike other legislation, the governor cannot veto or block those from going into effect.
So, very likely later on today, we will have brand new congressional maps for the first and third congressional districts. We'll keep you up to date with those details over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. That's going to do it for a Wednesday edition. WBT News is next. Followed by Good Morning BT.
We're back to you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on News Talk 11.10 and 99.3 WBT.
