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It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Thursday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. We kick off this Thursday in the North Carolina General Assembly, where the North Carolina House and Senate leadership there have reached an agreement on legislation to overcome a shortfall in the state's Medicaid program, all while tightening oversight of one of North Carolina's largest government expenditures. The legislation, House Bill 696, would allocate an additional $319 million to cover the Medicaid rebase for the remainder of the fiscal year.
Lawmakers say that the measure also includes a series of reforms to reduce waste, fraud, and abuse within the Medicaid program. The agreement comes as Medicaid costs have exceeded early projections, prompting Republican leaders' concerns about the long-term sustainability and program accountability. House Speaker Destin Hall, the Republican from Caldwell County, said in a statement, quote, Medicaid should serve the people who truly need it, and this bill makes sure that that happens. After Governor Stein and his administration let costs run wild, we're tightening things up by adding common sense guardrails that cut down on waste, fraud, and abuse within the program. North Carolina taxpayers deserve confidence that their money is being spent wisely, and patients deserve a system that prioritizes care for those who depend on it the most.
Hall also followed up with some social media posts about the Medicaid rebase about some of these changes, taking to X this week, writing, Medicaid should serve the people who truly need it. After North Carolina Governor Josh Stein let costs run wild, we're tightening things up to add some of those common sense guardrails. North Carolina taxpayers deserve confidence that their money is being spent wisely, and patients deserve a system that can prioritize that level of care. House Bill 696 would implement several policy changes designed to strengthen eligibility verification as well as program integrity. A couple of highlights of the legislation: shifting eligibility reviews from a quarterly process where it exists right now to something that would happen monthly, as well as requiring stronger documentation standards and limiting self-filling out of those documents and self-attestance of those forms, mandating citizen.
And immigration status verification during enrollment and redetermination, which that eligibility will again now happen every month if this legislation does pass, directing the state auditor to conduct a comprehensive review of Medicaid and related workforce programs, and finally requiring annual reports from the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services on efforts to combat fraud and abuse. The bill also calls for DHHS to develop long-term Medicaid integrity and efficiency plans to identify cost-saving opportunities and reduce some level of administrative burdens that could exist within the program. In addition, lawmakers included new guardrails on what is called applied behavioral health analysis therapy or ABA therapy. which is a service used to treat children with autism. These include these limits include on telehealth use, stricter supervision requirements, and updated credentialing standards for providers providing that ABA therapy.
These changes aim to ensure quality care while controlling costs. Beyond Medicaid, the legislation includes funding for several state agencies and programs in the upcoming fiscal year, getting our first look at what could potentially be a series of mini-budgets and additional funding of four state agencies across North Carolina. As this legislation is written right now, $80 million in non-recurring funds to the Department of Adult Corrections, $13.1 million recurring and $8.5 million non-recurring to the DMV, that's the Division of Motor Vehicles, $10 million worth of reoccurring funding for scholarships benefiting children of wartime veterans, and $2.5 million worth of recurring funding for the State Bureau of Investigation. Many of the bill's policy changes are scheduled to take effect in either late 2026 or 2027, while some provisions, including immediate Medicaid fund allocation, will apply retroactively to the current fiscal year. Key reformers to eligibility verification and guardrails for specific services such as ABA therapy will be rolled out according to an implementation schedule that is outlined in the legislation.
The House is expected to take up measures for a final vote on House Bill 696 as lawmakers will continue to work through a busy legislative session, a very busy legislative short session. We have seen this officially pass the House and it is placed on the Senate calendar for next week, passing the House in a vote of 212 to 1. We will see what happens in the North Carolina House, presumably with very strong bypass. Bipartisan support in the Senate, or in the House, excuse me, you would see, expect that the Senate will pass it as well with strong bipartisan support. Then it will make its way to Democrat Governor Josh Stein's desk for a signature.
He has been rallying the General Assembly for months now to provide additional funding and make additional resources available for the Medicaid rebase, which is what this process is called, essentially refunding large portions of Medicaid as the Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies have warned that that system is running dangerously low on money. We'll continue to track this as the short session continues next week. We've got additional coverage over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline: North Carolina House and Senate reach deal on Medicaid funding and oversight reforms. We'll keep an eye on those details.
In some other statewide news this morning, one of the world's Largest bio pharmaceutical manufacturers known as Abvile Inc., which currently has its headquarters in Illinois, is coming to North Carolina. This is according to an announcement from Governor Josh Stein yesterday with the large pharmaceutical manufacturer investing $1.4 billion to build a 185-acre manufacturing campus in Durham, promising to create 734 jobs. The governor is saying in a press release, quote: We welcome Abivile's major investment to North Carolina. When you combined our world-renowned research and innovation with a strong, thriving life science hub, North Carolina quickly becomes the premier location for biopharmaceutical companies to do business. As part of a $100 billion U.S.
commitment for research and development capital investments in manufacturing over the next decade, the Durham campus will be the company's first investment in the state of North Carolina. The facility will support the company's manufacturing across its therapeutic areas, including immunology, neuroscience, as well as oncology. By integrating laboratory innovations and enhanced manufacturing with artificial intelligence, the company's portfolio also includes products and services from other companies within that business as well, the pharmaceutical or biopharmaceutical industry. Joseph Harris, who is a fiscal policy analyst at the John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal: Abviles' announcement is a major investment, but it's worth looking at the J Dig track record over time. According to the state data for fiscal years 2003 through 2025, so a relatively long time span there, more than 20 years.
449 agreements have been awarded, yet only 50 have been completed successfully, while 222 have been terminated or withdrawn. Harris notes that the long gap between announcements and outcomes shows why lasting economic growth depends more on keeping taxes low and energy costs affordable for employers than rather these targeted incentive deals.
Some of the jobs will include engineers, lab technicians, manufacturing operators, and scientists. And of course, while the salaries will vary by position, the average salary is set to be $118,000 a year, which I was pretty interested to find out that Durham County's average salary is already $100,002 a year, meaning that the average salary will exceed that by about $15,000. The Economic Investment Committee of North Carolina's Department of Commerce did, in fact, approve a job development. Investment grant, a JDIG VANT to fund the project, at least partially, with it slated to receive some $8 billion within the state's economy over the next 12-year period, as we have seen with many of these other JDIG grant programs. With tax revenues generated by new jobs and capital investments of nearly $1.3 billion, calculated by a formula that accounts for new tax revenue, the JDIG agreement authorizes a reimbursement of up to $19 million spread over 12 years.
State payments are only made after the North Carolina Department of Commerce completes its annual performance verification with the company, ensuring that it has met its hiring goals and its investment targets. Durham County is a tier three county under the state's economic tier system, meaning that it is among the 20 least economically distressed counties. That is the least economically distressed counties in the state. Because the county falls in tier three, the J Dig agreement also calls for moving up to $6.4 million into the state's industrial development fund utility account to continue to address some of the rebates or some of the benefits as part of this job development investment grant. You can read more on this.
Many of these JDIG announcements, of course, as we cover here on the program, unfortunately, very few end up coming to fruition. Those details over on our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. Cash Carnival Casino Slots. Feel the rush now. Spin the reels fast.
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WBT got a great event coming up here in just a couple of weeks. It's WBT's News and Brews. It's back for 2026. Join the WBT Air team on Tuesday, May the 12th at Heist Brewery and Barrel Arts for a night of conversation about everything happening, whether we're talking about state issues, national issues, or even international news. We'll be covering all of that as WBT's News and Brews heads back to Heist Brewery and Barrel Arts at May the 12th.
Visit wbt.com this morning for tickets and event details. Keeping our eye on some statewide news this morning, school districts across the state of North Carolina are facing potential teacher shortages coming up on Friday, May the 1st. This is as the North Carolina Association of Educators, known as NCAE, has scheduled a teacher protest at the state legislature in Raleigh. The North Carolina Association of Educators is calling the event the Kids Over Corporations Rally, with the campaign set to mobilize educators, parents, and community members across the state to push for major changes in public education funding and policy. Tamika Walker Kelly, who is the NCAE president, said, This is our line in the sand.
We will not back down when it comes to ensuring our children receive the education they need and deserve. We will not back down in demanding qualified educators in every classroom and safe, well-resourced schools for every student. Bob Lubke, the director of the Center for Effective Education at the John Locke Foundation, says that the state continues to fund public education while enrollment declines, saying in part, if you believe the NCAE, you'd think that North Carolina spends no money on public education. In the 24-25 fiscal year, North Carolina spent $18 billion in state, federal, and local dollars on K through 12 education. Since 2016, enrollment in North Carolina public schools is down about 5%, while real spending per student is up about 7%.
The NCAE also has a list of demands, a list of changes that they are requesting from lawmakers as part of this rally on. May the 1st, which includes investing at least $20,000 per student by the year 2030, a whopping 25% raise for all school employees, eliminating the opportunity scholarship program, lifting the ban on collective bargaining for public school workers, passing fair maps, protecting voting rights and restoring checks and balances in state government, and fixing our tax system so that the wealthy finally pay what they owe. As you can hear from the demands there from NCAE drifting into far-left progressive causes with this event, supposedly about North Carolina education funding. Back to Dr. Bob Lubke.
He says setting a spending floor of about $20,000 per student is a terrible idea. There are school districts that spend much less than that and do well. And there are those that spend much more than that and do not so well. Money is not unimportant, but it. but how it is spent is more important than how much.
Governor Josh Stein this week laid out his recommended state budget for the fiscal year 26-27, calling for nearly 19 more than $19 billion in education spending in the fiscal year. The governor wants to restore master's pay, expand advanced teaching roles, increase funding for school safety grants, adding more support staff such as counselors, nurses, and social workers, funding needed repairs, and introducing free school breakfast across the state of North Carolina.
So, school districts are, of course, reacting to this. Wake County Public Schools, the state's largest district, already had a teacher workday scheduled for Friday, May the 1st, meaning that students were not planned to be in the classroom anyway.
Meanwhile, several other large districts across the state are now adjusting their calendar to meet the NCAE protest. Durham County Public Schools, Chatham County Schools, the Chapel Hill Carborough City School. District, Asheville City Schools, and Guilford County Schools have all adjusted their calendars ahead of the NCAE protest as educators plan to either take time off or just call out sick on Friday, leaving those schools without enough staff. Superintendent Dr. Maggie Furman of the Asheville City Schools took to social media this week to explain the calendar change and the reasoning behind the decision, saying in part, the school systems cannot provide adequate supervision of students due to the volume of leave requests that have been submitted.
I have reviewed various options in lieu of closing schools. With such a high number of staff out of the building on a single day, ensuring that we can appropriately monitor students becomes exceedingly challenging. And that is why the Asheville City School District has decided to close school on May the 1st. In New Hanover County, a specially called the school board meeting ended in a five to one vote to keep the current calendar unchanged and not designate May the 1st as a teacher workday. Board member Josie Barnhart called the request politically motivated and said that the district would not bow to political pressure.
She said in part during a meeting last week, as a member of this board, my duty is to put students first, and that means recognizing that education is a partnership with parents, not a tool for political activism. When we alter, delay, or close schools, it creates real disruptions for families across this district, especially working families and those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds who don't have the luxury of flexible schedules or backup childcare. These decisions have real consequences. Ending the quote there from Josie Barnhart, a member of the new Hanover County Board of Education. According to the 2026 North Carolina House Calendar published just a few weeks ago by House Speaker Destin Hall, lawmakers are not scheduled to be in Raleigh on May 1st as part of the short session.
They will be in Raleigh next week, Tuesday and Wednesday, the 28th and 29th, but are not scheduled to be there on Friday.
So for the NCAE and their day of action, these mass protests that they've called for from around the state of North Carolina, lawmakers will not be in Raleigh. We will be keeping a very close eye on this story as we approach it late next week. We'll bring you all the details right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. You can read some additional details, including that list of demands from the North Carolina Association of Educators by visiting our website this morning, CarolinaJournal.com. Look for the story with the headline, school districts.
Shift schedules ahead of May 1st teacher protest. It's 5.36. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good Thursday morning to you.
A pretty major election integrity lawsuit is continuing to play out in the state of North Carolina as the State Board of Elections is now asking a three-judge panel to jump in on a case dealing with so-called never residents to walk through some of those details this morning. Mitch Kokai with the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch, before we get into the three-judge panel and some of the asks here from the State Board of Elections, what is a never resident and why is this a relevant discussion currently playing out across the Tar Heels State?
Some people, Nick, might remember this term from the long-running election dispute that we had after the 2024 election between Allison Riggs and Jefferson Griffin for a seat on the North Carolina Supreme Court, because this was one of the issues that Griffin was raising in challenging some of the votes in that election. Basically, we're talking about what should be a fairly small and select group of people who are U.S. citizens. Who are eligible to vote in elections in the country? But they live overseas and they don't really have a home state.
So mainly we're talking about people who were too young to have voted before they moved overseas, but they live with family members who at one time did live in the US. And North Carolina has a state law that allows these so-called never residents to vote in a North Carolina election if they have a tie-in in that their parent lived in North Carolina before they moved overseas. And so they don't really have a home state, but since their parent Had North Carolina as the home state, they get to vote in North Carolina elections.
Now, in October of 2024, so in the heart of the 2024 campaign season, the Republican National Committee, North Carolina Republican Party, and a couple of individual voters filed a lawsuit against the state board of elections saying, wait a minute, our state constitution bans people from voting in North Carolina elections if they're not residents in North Carolina. And so that lawsuit was asking the state board of elections to throw out any votes from people who are in this never-resident category, despite the fact that state law says they could vote in North Carolina. No resolution to that lawsuit before the election, but after the election, this is one of the issues that Jefferson Griffin brought up as people he wanted to challenge from being counted in the votes in that hotly contested state Supreme Court race.
Now, as we know, that Issue ended up turning out that a federal judge said that Allison Riggs, the Democrat, had to be declared the winner. But that didn't resolve this issue. The state Supreme Court, Had signaled in its rulings that never residents should not be counted. And basically, what has happened most recently is that the Republican groups filed a motion saying that a judge in the case should grant summary judgment to the Republican groups and that never residents should not count. Their votes should not count in North Carolina elections.
The latest development is that the State Board of Elections is saying, wait a minute, this is a facial constitutional challenge to this state law allowing the residents to vote because even though it's been Said that this is an as-applied challenge and it only affects the plaintiffs in the case, the Republican groups, and the two voters who are involved, that actually what this would do is. Totally throw out the law. And so, by state law, this should be heard by a three-judge panel appointed by the state Supreme Court Chief Justice Paul Newby.
So, that's the interesting technical development that's happened in recent days. But in a larger aspect, there are a couple of interesting things to note. One, if the Republican groups are successful, this would chop out a group of voters that had been allowed all the way up through 2024 to be able to vote in elections. The other thing that's interesting is that when the Republican groups filed their latest court filing in this case, they had suggested that they'd been working with the state board of elections on a possible resolution. And even when they filed their court document asking to have the ruling for summary judgment, they said we'd like to have the trial that's been scheduled in this case delayed.
It had been scheduled to take place this month. And a court agreed to delay the trial to July. But they said while that was happening, they were still working out a possible resolution to come up with some sort of deal.
So there has been no deal yet. And the latest filing from the State Board of Elections suggests that the prospect of a deal is a little bit less likely than it was before if they want to get this case moved now to a three-judge panel, rather than just saying, give us more time to come up with the deal. Looks like maybe the State Board of Elections and the Republican National Committee and North Carolina Republican Party might not be able to come up with some sort of deal that would resolve this. Yeah, Mitch, you talk about the possibility, the potential of a deal. It is not the first time that the state board of elections, whether we're talking about the federal government or other lawsuits here across the state, have come up with some of these deals.
That is in large part due to the power shifting on the state board of elections last year due to new legislation passed by the North Carolina General Assembly giving appointment authority to state auditor Dave Bullock, keeping it within the executive branch. You joined us plenty of times to talk about that, keeping it in the executive branch, moving it away from the Democrat governor to the Republican state auditor. And so a lot of, and especially some of these longer outstanding lawsuits, Mitch, have been settled pretty rapidly with the brand new state board of elections because now there's an ideological, they're ideologically on the same side of many of these political issues. But as you're noting here, maybe not the case, which does seem a little bit odd with the challengers in this lawsuit. Yeah, it is interesting because this suit was filed in October of 2024 when Democrats still held a 3-2 majority.
And so not shocking that the Republican Party groups at both the state and national level were raising concerns about steps taken by a Democrat-led state board of elections. There were a number of lawsuits filed from the summer of 2024 into the fall, questioning things that the state board of elections had done. And as you alluded to, Once you had that shift in power from a 3-2 Democratic majority to a 3-2 Republican majority, some of these lawsuits miraculously got resolved because the Republican Party groups and the new Republican majority state board of elections had the same or similar ideas about how to move forward. In this case, though, it seems as if there may not be the agreement that you have seen in some other cases.
Now, it isn't entirely off the charts that you could have some sort of agreement. There could be some sort of resolution. But at this point, With the plaintiffs in the case trying to put forward a motion to have the court rule directly in their favor, and now with the state board of elections saying, well, let's move this case to a three-judge panel, it doesn't look like they're getting very close to a deal, so we'll have to see whether something can be resolved or whether we'll go to trial. Right now, if it goes to trial, it's set for a trial, I believe, starting on July 20th. And obviously, that would be very deep into the political election cycle here in 2026.
So, we'll, of course, watch and see if there are any impacts on that. And, of course, potentially moving forward. Mitch, Republican groups will call this and claim that this is all about election integrity. Democrat groups will push back against that. In a lot of cases, they claim that these groups are trying to disenfranchise voters.
That seems to be kind of the buzzword of many of these election lawsuits that are taking place across the country. What are the base arguments that are being made on both sides of this case?
Well, the most interesting thing about this is this is challenging a state law. I mean, this is not a case, as we've seen in some other of the election lawsuits filed by Republicans, in which they looked at what the state board of elections was doing and said, wait a minute, that's not what the law says. The state board of elections, under the leadership of Democrats, is trying to mess with the rules and loosen them in such a way that you would have a bunch of votes counting that should not count under the law. In this case, the suit is actually challenging provisions of a state law. The state law that was passed said that these never residents can vote in North Carolina elections.
And so the challenge is saying that that law conflicts with a provision of the state constitution that says you have to be a resident of North Carolina to vote in North Carolina elections. And interestingly enough, though the case was resolved on other issues, when this issue cropped up in the Griffin versus Riggs fiasco or scenario, however you want to say it, the appellate court judges who dealt with this issue, including the state Supreme Court, seem to suggest that they agreed with the Republicans that this whole never residence issue was one that should be resolved in such a way that they can't count in at least a North Carolina election. They would likely be able to vote in federal elections since they are citizens. But in terms of North Carolina elections, you could throw out. Their votes based on what the state constitution says.
So it'll be very interesting to see what happens and how it ultimately gets resolved. Yeah, and we've seen some of these very close statewide elections, whether we're even talking about the current Justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court and Paul Newby, that can be decided statewide elections with millions of ballots literally being decided by handfuls of votes.
So, while we're not talking about a large pot of individuals that fall into this never-resident category, we have seen some razor-thin margins at the local and state level here in North Carolina. We'll keep our eye on this legal challenge. We appreciate the information this morning. Mitch Coke from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Uh Good morning again.
It's 5:52. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT turning our attention back to the North Carolina legislature. As it has already been a busy week in Raleigh for the first week of the 2026 short session, some North Carolina lawmakers filed a proposal this week that would dock their own pay if they failed to pass a state budget on time, an idea that appears to have overwhelming public support. The no budget, no pay act filed this week in the North Carolina General Assembly would require legislative salaries to be placed in escrow if a budget for the 26-27 fiscal year is not approved by June the 30th, 2026. The bill lays out the requirements in detail, reading directly from the legislation.
If by midnight on June the 30th, 2016, 2026, the presiding officers of the Senate and the House of Representatives of the North Carolina General Assembly have not ratified a current operations appropriation act for the 26-27 fiscal year. The Legislative Service Officer shall direct the General Assembly Controller to deposit in an escrow account all compensation and allowances earned by or accruing to each member of the General Assembly on or after July the 1st, 2026. The measure includes a provision to release the withheld pay once a budget is passed or the session ends, meaning that legislators would eventually receive their compensation, just not on the normal schedule. The bill's patrons say that the measure is designed to create urgency to pass a balanced budget before the start of the new fiscal year, which is July the one, July 1st, each and every year. But budget delays have been a reoccurring issue in North Carolina.
With lawmakers In recent years, missing the deadline amid negotiations between the House, Senate, and the governor. The proposal does align strongly with voter sentiment on the issue. A recent Carolina Journal poll, the one that we did in March, we asked a question in our poll about said issue, and we found out that 84.4% of likely general election voters support requiring state legislators to forego their pay for the time a state budget expires until a new biennium budget is passed. Less than 8% of voters in our poll oppose the idea, making it the issue with the highest level of agreement among respondents. The finding suggests broad bipartisan frustration with the prolonged budget stallmate in Raleigh and a strong appetite for mechanisms that increase accountability for elected officials.
The proposal has drawn criticism from some who argue that it lacks any substantive impact, with Dr. Andy Jackson, the director of the John Locke Foundation Civitas Center for Public Integrity, saying the bill is a political stunt rather than a serious proposal. noting that in the unlikely event it is enacted, it would only hurt the relatively small number of legislators who depend on legislative compensation to pay their bills. Continuing by saying legislative pay is so low that most members would hardly notice going weeks or months without it, especially since they would eventually get back pay once the budget is passed. Jackson added that while the concept may have limited practical impact, there is some precedent for tying legislative pay to performance, noting that in other states, for example, that does take place in Iowa.
Legislators are not paid their per diem for office expenses if their session extends past the statutory limit. It does remain unclear this morning whether the North Carolina proposal will gain traction in the current legislative short session. Lawmakers in previous years have debated structural reforms aimed at preventing the prolonged budget impasse without success. If enacted, the measure would take effect immediately. This is something that we are going to be keeping an eye on.
This House Bill 1039. The no-budget, no pay legislation introduced by Representative Deb Butler out of New Hanover County. We've got some additional details this morning on this legislation. It's pretty short, just a page over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. And of course, we'll keep you up to date right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
That's going to do it for a Thursday edition. WBT News is next. Followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9, WBT. Yeah.
