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Granger for the ones who get it done. It's 5.05 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT, I'm Nick Craig. Good Friday morning to you. Full steam ahead here on the Carolina Journal News Hour as we keep our eye on the November 2026 midterm election. We've got some brand new polling out this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com, to walk us through some of those details.
David Larson joins us on the news hour. David, as most of all of our polls, we ask folks what they think about the direction of the country and the direction of North Carolina, whether it's the war in Iran, gas prices, the economy as a whole, the right direction for the country and for North Carolina. Not looking too hot for North Carolina voters in the month of May. No, no, the voters are not too positive about everything. They give, let's see.
The um 39.58, so 39% say they have a positive sense of how things are going in the the the nation and and fifty eight negative. I believe it's wider than it had been. And then also at the state level, there's more undecided, but it's only 34% believe that our state is going to. in a positive direction and 54% negative.
So it's It's a number of things, obviously, that we can get into, but I think people are looking at gas prices and prices of things in general, and are just not seeing the positives at the moment. Let me ask you about that. It's been no surprise if, with rising gas prices and some of the concerns over the now three-month war in Iran, that the direction of the United States as a whole, a large majority thought that the country was heading in the right direction. But what do you make of only 33.5% of voters saying that North Carolina is trending in the right direction? David, we cover a lot of business news from across the state of North Carolina.
Things seem pretty good in this state, all things considered. Are we maybe a little insulated here in the political media across the state? Yeah, that's a curious one to me actually, that it would be worse than the national because you look where everybody's moving. The three states always at the top are Texas, Florida, and North Carolina. And if we take it population-wise, we were often number one, depending on the way you're cutting it and in terms of the number one business state.
We're often ranked number one.
So what people are concerned about, we'll get into those numbers a bit more, but I don't know that these numbers would be any better in other places and they may in fact be worse. No question about that. Let's look at two of the individuals responsible for the country and for the state of North Carolina. The job approval for President Trump and the job approval for our current Democrat governor in Josh Stein. No real surprise with President Trump.
41.5% approve, 56.6% disapprove.
However, on the North Carolina side, while a bunch of people say the state's heading in the wrong direction, more than 50% of voters say they approve of the job the governor's doing.
So maybe a little bit of disconnect there as well. Yeah, I think maybe something I should have added on the state level that the difference there, it could have to do with the budget. Did you see if Stein's numbers are a little bit higher, yet people's satisfaction is a little lower, it might have something to do with the legislature.
So you see that in the generic ballot, actually, that. The Democrats are seven points ahead. on the state legislature.
Some of that might have to do with the budget, which You know, people have been. Talking about now for a while that we didn't have one from last session.
So it looks like the legislature is pretty motivated to. Start, they just announced this week a framework.
So they have the bigger numbers in place, and looks like about an 8%. Raise for teachers, 3% for Other state employees and they have some other elements in place.
So I think they're pretty motivated. The state Republicans and in the legislature are motivated to fix that.
So that would be my guess on that. But in terms of Trump, you said you know, having over forty one percent, a little under forty two percent. Positive, that's a three percent drop. And also, a 3% increase in his dissatisfaction. It was measured, you know.
even on that on three percent up three percent down Um so I think that probably has to do with that Iran war having an impact on on gas prices. Because you look at people's top issues Foreign policy is actually very low on all these, whether national or state poll.
So I don't even know, it sounds bad, but I don't even know if people are really that concerned about the war itself. In terms of what they're saying are the issues of most concern to them, but they are I'm very concerned about prices.
So yeah, Trump's I would imagine that's part of why his numbers are slipping, but there's also just. In a midterm, usually the the Party in the White House suffers because of the lagging favorability. That it's just sort of the way it goes. I guess Americans tend to get tired of whoever, especially on a second term, even though Trump had kind of a a break between his two terms. I think he's having that kind of usual effect.
Let me ask you about Trump before we move on to Stein and then some other state stuff. You mentioned that it's a three-point drop from the last time we asked this question, which I'll note was all the way back in March when this war was still relatively new. I believe our poll was in the field just a week or so after the war really kicked off. Things were still very dynamic. I'm surprised, David, that it's only down three percentage points with all of the negative attention that this administration has received for this ongoing conflict.
What do you make of that? I think he is down at about where his floor is. I think he's got a base of support that once you get down to about forty percent, That's about As far because as you've seen, I mean, there's been his whole political career has had a lot of. You know, negative attention in various ways. There's been all kinds of stuff, and it kind of rolls off of him.
And in the moments that it seems like he has the most. His numbers kind of head down towards that about 40%, but he doesn't really break too much. Lower than that.
So, even if some people in his base, I feel like even are skeptical on. Tariffs, but there have been other times that people, I'm sorry, on the war, but there have been other times people have been. In his base, he has been skeptical on tariffs, and maybe he's just kind of swapped those because maybe the more traditional Republicans didn't like tariffs, but they liked the war, and then maybe some of the newer America first kind of crowd, it's vice versa. It might be just kind of swapping who's who in his base is frustrated with him at the moment, I guess. Speaking of a floor, we've been asking voters across the state about their thoughts on Governor Josh Stein going all the way back to September of last year in our most recent polling.
He seems to be at a low floor or pretty high floor, I should say. If you look at the margin of error in our polls, he is essentially at or been around 50% now for the better part of a year. Similar situation to what we saw with Governor Roy Cooper when he was in the Oval Office or in the governor's mansion, I should say, here in North Carolina. Do you think this has to do, David, with the fact that the governor really isn't responsible for all that much as it relates to the ongoings in government here across the state of North Carolina? It's been the case now for now two terms of Roy Cooper and now almost two full years of the Stein administration.
Yeah, I do. I think it's it's a position where if you just kind of You stand there and you look professional and you shake the hands and you cut the ribbons. And you can take some credit for things that the Republican legislature's done, for example, on. Cutting taxes and reducing regulations, getting all these people coming in for the jobs as we have these. you know, number one state in business.
And then, but you see, when CNBC comes, they'll have You know, the governor, whether Cooper or Naustine. uh having the interview about it as if like you said, he's he's more of a soft governor compared to a lot of other states, you know, where They they did have veto power a couple decades ago, but before that he was even um weaker powers for the governor but I do think they can kind of stay above the fray. Maybe take some credit when things are going well and then point fingers at the legislature when things aren't. There's a They they do have that advantage for sure. Speaking of the legislature, this should be some concerning number for those that work in and around Raleigh.
We asked voters the question, if the 2026 general election were held today, would you vote for the Republican or Democrat candidates for the North Carolina state legislature? 41.3% of voters said that they would support the Republican candidate, while 47.5% said that they would support the Democrat candidate. David, as best as I can understand this, this is the lowest that Republicans have been underwater in quite some years here in North Carolina. I would imagine that some folks in Raleigh looking at this poll might think that there could be some rocky waters ahead. Yes, this could be very concerning for them because they've already lost the supermajorities here.
And then they have some Democrats that have That had been voting for them that have now lost their primaries, and a couple of them have moved over to be independents. But you know, they won't have that, those kind of votes. And then if they lose a couple other seats, then really they'll be in a position where they really will have to do a lot more compromising than they've been used to since 2011.
So they'll really probably need to work with the minority leaders in the Senate and the House, and then also with Cooper to. On things like budgets and that for next session.
So, this might be: if the polls are looking kind of bad, you might see kind of a flurry of. of trying to get some big things done before things shift. Like notable examples of that are in Wake County, there's only a couple seats left in the whole. All of Wake County, I think they have 14. State House seats there, and only two of them are Republican, and both of them are toss-up districts, Sheet Self and Paré.
And then Tricia Cotham is the only remaining Republican, and she had switched over from being Democrat in Mecklenburg County, the other major county. And so it could be the case where you got 13. state house seats in Mecklenburg, all Democrat and 14 in Wake County, all Democrat as well, and then some of these other areas around them turning a little more Um You know, blue. as well so especially some of you know, the the top sub districts if if If it really looks like you know, a seven-point advantage from where it usually is. Um you know Or even, you know, sometimes Republicans have an advantage in these polls, so it could be almost a 10-point swing, then you'll start to see a bunch of seats that.
You know, had seams fairly safe, all of a sudden toss-ups and Um I don't know that there'll be a change in majority in either House, in either chamber, but it could be. a lot more need to compromise in a future session if things go Go uh away from the way that Republicans would want. We'll continue the conversation on our most recent Carolina Journal poll with David Larson coming up after this. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT. It's 21 minutes past the hour.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. Continuing our conversation with David Larson from CarolinaJournal.com on our most recent Carolina Journal poll. The United States Senate race here in North Carolina is likely to take a lot of air, a lot of oxygen out of the room. We have been polling this now, this race now for well over a year. And for the Democrat in this race and former Governor Roy Cooper, a very strong showing in our most recent Carolina Journal poll.
49.8% of voters supporting him, while only 38.7% supporting the former head of the North Carolina Republican Party and former head of the RNC, Michael Watley. He's got a lot of ground to make up in a relative short amount of time leading up to November. Yes, these are not encouraging numbers if you're working on that campaign. I think part of the frustration is just that people are not learning who Watley is, who Michael Watley, his background. Um, you know, Glenn Young had that issue, and he had some positive ads trying to put out.
that uh introduces himself But whatever work has been done on that has not quite cut through. I mean, there's a lot of time left, but. The most common answer on favorability, unfavorability for Michael Watley was never heard of him at 33%. 25% positive, 22% negative, 19% no opinion.
So no opinion is kind of probably similar to never heard of, like, ah, vaguely maybe here. That's over 50%. You know, so I think he's got to do some work in introducing himself and also trying to introduce himself before. you know, he's negatively defined in people's minds by negative ads, which are probably coming. We had been saying for a while: okay, this is going to probably be the most expensive.
US Senate race in history, people have been saying that a while. I now have my doubts about that because Democrats, they announced some big spending. Senate Majority PAC, the Democrat National PAC, said they're putting 31 A million dollars into ads, probably mostly negative ads against Watley to bolster Cooper. But they're putting more into other states. Ohio had, I believe, 46 million, and Maine, 34.
So they're spending more in other states. And I think that's a sign that, hey, if we're up, 9, 10, 11 points. Why do we need to, until the polling starts to get a little bit closer, maybe we don't need to spend all that money? That would be uh a sign maybe if this ends up not being the most expensive race or even not even close, then that's a sign that maybe Democrats They're seeing the polling and deciding to keep their powder dry for other races. Yeah, in terms of this Senate race, and again, just specifically looking at our Carolina Journal poll, this is the largest margin of victory.
And I say victory, but based on the poll, and the largest margin of victory that we have seen thus far for Roy Cooper. Yes, as you know, to David, it is still only May. It is still only early, but to get a lot of that rolled out to introduce yourself to millions of North Carolinians is not something that is done very quickly.
So I would suspect that sooner rather than later, we'll probably see the Awatley campaign really kick up some of that messaging. And of course, watch the reaction there from former Democrat governor here in North Carolina, Roy Cooper. You highlighted this earlier, looking at some of the top issues that are driving voters and opinions across the state of North Carolina. Again, we asked voters here in the Tar Heel State, which of the following issues are the most important to you in the elections, in the 2026 election overwhelmingly inflation and the cost of living, 46.1%. Percent, Mr.
Larson. What do you make of that? Yeah, and you add a couple of the other economic on the list. I mean, it's over. Over 50% easy on that.
And I think that probably is the reason why you have people seeing things on the wrong track. And also, you see Trump's numbers dipping down more. I think That's actually to me almost a hopeful sign a little bit for Republicans in that. A lot of their their fate rests on National issues, international issues, even. If Trump is able to create a closure in the Iran war, In a way that all of a sudden the Strait of Hormuz is open and oil is just flowing and the price drops way back down.
Inflation is very tied into the cost of transportation and And gas, so you know, prices come back down. You could see all of a sudden, you know, more cheery picture. And that that could almost Like I said, their fate kind of rests on that question. Will this all resolve? Will gas come back down?
I think there's a lot of time for that to happen, and it would probably have a big.
Sometimes it takes a little bit of time for that to really kick in and people's optimism to return. People are naturally kind of pessimistic, I guess, but Um if that happens, I think that's probably what would make the difference. Um because I do think you know, Cooper is kind of defined in people's minds. Um positively For whatever reason, he's been a 50% positive, and 50% of people said they're going to vote for him. And I think so it's going to be tough to redefine him.
I think there's a little bit of traction on the the Cooper releasing prisoners thing.
So maybe that will redefine There might be some undecided, but I feel like he's one of those that has been around long enough and people think they know what they think of him. Heh. And so as we look at some of those other top issues, as you mentioned, inflation and the cost of living at number one, economy and the jobs and jobs, number two, 18% there.
Social Security and Medicaid jumping up very high on our list. And first time seeing that up to over 17%. Taxes and spending, healthcare, immigration, education, the list goes on and on. Our bottom issue is climate change, with just 4.5% of voters across the state concerned about that. No big surprise there.
This is a pretty scattered issue list. David, typically you see crime and the economy as typically the top two issues. Crime isn't even cracking 12% in our most recent poll, even though when you look at especially our large cities here in North Carolina, specifically Charlotte more than anybody else with some of the news from late last year with the murder of Irina Zarutska, it seems to be a hot conversation. Maybe it's just not resonating with voters. Yeah, I think Republicans would probably prefer that crime be the top one and inflation and all of that lower.
But the way that it shook out, yeah, crime. Is an issue that they're trying, you know. Republicans, especially in the Wadley campaign, are trying to have crack in. It's also, you know, a topic that's that's. pretty frequent on Conservative circles and news and on social media, but that doesn't necessarily mean that likely voters are thinking about it.
A lot of them, I guess, are more bread and butter issues. They're looking at jobs and inflation and and things like that. But I do think having inflation as the top thing is just Probably going to be pinned on Republicans.
So it's not necessarily a good. topic to be at the top of the list for Republicans. More with David Larson from the Carolina Journal coming up after this. You're listening to the Carolina Journal News Hour. It's 5:36.
Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT, continuing our conversation this morning with David Larson from CarolinaJournal.com about our most recent Carolina Journal poll. Let's jump into some statewide issues. You talked about some of the work that the legislature is working on and will remain working on. One of those things is a levy limit, in which we asked voters a question about that. Which of the following property tax reforms would you support?
A constitutional amendment limiting the rate at which property tax collections can increase going forward, aka a levy limit or a one-year moratorium on property reevaluations, and then asking them a follow-up or both of these. Do you support a lot of overwhelming support for that constitutional amendment and moving forward that one-year moratorium?
So it seems like for lawmakers in Raleigh, that could be something that would move forward as a successful constitutional amendment coming up later on this year. Yeah, they have a few amendments. Looks like in the budget, there'd be that cap as well at 3.5, but the levy limit, I think that's. That's something that kind of bubbled up because there are a lot of revaluations.
So many people have been moving to North Carolina, and there hasn't been as much housing built to keep prices flat.
So you've had, you know, people who own houses haven't been that upset about the value of their home going up. But when the revaluations hit and all of a sudden they have a property tax bill that increases their mortgage payment $400 or something, then a month they're not happy about that.
So a lot of The legislators have been hearing about that, and I think it could be something that I would imagine gets passed in our You know, polling on it looks like people. Um Favor that as the most common answer, then also the moratorium is maybe. It just be a pause, I guess, because what they're talking about is then implementing those exact same That revaluation rate, but just not yet.
So that one, I believe, wasn't quite as popular as a standalone, but. Yeah, definitely the constitutional amendment just to kind of not let it exceed a formula. Um you know that has to do with Um inflation plus the uh new people coming in. One of the other issues that we've chatted in great detail here on the Carolina Journal News Hour about is certificate of need or CON. We had a question and asked voters not specifically about certificate of need, but the process of certificate of need.
If there are licensed and professional individuals that can provide medical service, would you support allowing more of those individuals into communities across the state of North Carolina with the state frequently being at the top of the list for some of the highest health care costs in the nation? David, it's no surprise that almost 65% of voters support having more of those individuals in their communities and getting state government out of the way through some sort of certificate of need reform. Yes, I think people are concerned, you know, in terms of the prices. It's just so much that you do in healthcare. It's also just so uncertain.
And a lot of it is because the hospitals do have kind of a lock on a lot of the care. They're able to use CON to say, we only really need one MRI machine in this county.
So we have the certificate of need and nobody else can really show that there's a need for another MRI. And that often will allow them to charge. much more, which they say the North Carolina Healthcare Association, used to be called Hospital Association, they say they need that. ability so that they can and they admit it to make prices higher in that area to make up for the fact that they don't make Um, you know, Medicaid doesn't reimburse at a rate that actually they can break even on, so they say they need the CON, so hospitals need that, but. what it really does is, you know, instead of dealing with the issue of Medicaid and trying to find a way to make that program work, we kind of sweep under those costs and then create monopolies to try to fix it.
And it just creates a very complicated system. I think North Carolinians They see that and they say, it's basic economics that if we would just allow, instead of the one MRI machine, allow as many as people are willing to invest to bring to the community, and then the prices will come down as pretty much happens in any other industry that we have. Um that you you know prices will only come down once the supply meets the demand. Yeah, and while many folks may not exactly know what certificate of need is or know what that process is, David, they are aware of these high medical costs here in North Carolina and would like the ability for some competition there. We'll see if lawmakers maybe move on that as a policy priority as the remainder of the short session continues.
There was a major teacher protest that took place back just a couple of weeks ago in Raleigh. One of the main calls from the North Carolina Association of Educators was to eliminate the Opportunity Scholarship Program here across the state of North Carolina. We asked voters if they were in support of or opposed to the Opportunity Scholarship Program. 65.1% of voters said that they supported the Opportunity Scholarship Program. That number has remained relatively high for this program for years now.
Seems to be a losing issue for those in the teachers' unions and other public school so-called advocates across North Carolina. Yeah, it makes sense to the public, I think. They see, okay, if somebody's going to take. Instead of taking the state's 13,500 or whatever per pupil allotment and being in the public school system, somebody's willing to take half of that, maybe 5,000, 6,07,000 in a scholarship. And then get an education that they prefer.
So it's cheaper for the public and it's an education that the person would prefer. What this seems like a win-win to most people when you explain it. What's funny about it, though, is: okay, 65% say we like opportunity scholarships, but then we asked them about the May teacher protest. 54% said that they thought the school closures were a good thing because they supported the teachers protesting. I think they probably more supported the teachers protesting because we do have kind of a lower on the lower end of teacher pay and In the legislature's framework for a budget, they're gonna raise it 8%.
And then we'll actually have on the high end, I think the highest in the southeast if that passes through. But I'm imagining that's why the The 54% supported the school closures. As somebody who has a kindergarten in the public schools, and we had to kind of scramble to find.
Somewhere to have our kid for the day. That you know, I didn't really appreciate it too much, but I'm sure, you know. It's not a majority of people that that have kids in the system and had to worry about that. Yeah, very good point there, following it up with that teacher rally question. Let's talk about alcohol for a little bit here as we round out the conversation.
North Carolina, with its ABC system, has a complete and total monopoly on the sale of liquor and other sorts of alcohol here across the state. We asked voters, would you support or oppose changing state law to allow license to private resellers, such as grocery storage or private liquor stores across the state? 58.6% support that, while only 30% oppose. I wonder if we'll see some movement on this. I know that the ABC Commission or the ABC committee within the legislature has been meeting about maybe pulling some items out of ABC and allowing them to be sold in grocery stores.
It really seems like privatization for the ABC system is on the move. Yeah, I mean that issue had been around forever. I think maybe about 15 years ago or so, I worked at the state legislature and I was over there for a period of five years or so. And it would always come up: this program evaluation division would always come back with: okay, what can we do to save money or to make things more efficient in the state government? And pretty much every time they'd have their report, it would include get rid of the ABC system.
But it never really fully went through. You know, I do think the the public supports it.
Sounds like when they do these You know, objective evaluations of state government. They say that's a good way to save some money, make things efficient. Other states do it as well, and they haven't. Turned into a bunch of alcoholics, you know, apocalypse out there where it seems like something that could happen that would. Would be fairly reasonable.
You know, not insignificant, about a third of people. That is a fairly big chunk that I think still feel like, you know, their alcohol should be. Um That's That could be good for public safety and all that. But I do think they'll probably find. you know, in other states where this happens that It doesn't go completely crazy with having it sold.
They just have to take some extra precautions in stores to make that. Safe for the public. And David, closing on this, one of the discussions I heard in a legislative committee this week about this was the rise of all of these additional spirits that are being sold across the state of North Carolina. You have a lot of these pre-canned cocktails that are available that a lot of folks are drinking out on the boat or out on the beach. Those are not sold in grocery stores like beer and wine.
And because there is so much market there, even lawmakers are toying with the idea now of allowing some of that to be sold in grocery stores, convenience stores, and gas stations that already sell beer and wine and some other services. And so maybe the market changing and some of the forces there might be pushing some of this public opinion. Yeah, I mean it it's the The market is moving even towards There's like THC infused things and I think There's a lot of, like, Virginia's going to a full recreational market this year, I believe, for THC. I think we're in an era of a lot of deregulation of sort of the old sins, the blue laws, and you know, in terms of gambling, in terms of THC, and for better or worse, you know, I think there are you know, a lot of concerns to each of those things, but the public is gonna Kind of weigh that, and it seems like in a lot of states the trend is to relax the laws on those sorts of things.
Now, you know. We'll see how that that goes in these various areas. But I know alcohol is definitely one that's Um They've loosened in quite a number of ways in terms of social districts, in terms of. Sales within stadiums. There's been just a series of things over the years where it's sort of reeling back those regulations.
Yeah, great point there on the social district. Seeing a lot more of those pop up across the state of North Carolina. There's a lot more detail that we don't have a chance to get into this morning. Folks can head on over to our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Click on the poll tab.
You can download the entire copy of the poll. We've got some graphics and images associated with it as well. All of that over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. We appreciate the insight and information this morning. David Larson joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
Ah! Good morning again. It's 5.53. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT following up on some details out of our most recent Carolina Journal poll. As we just chatted with David Larson about that, the North Carolina Senate Healthcare Committee has advanced legislation that would roll back parts, not all, but parts of the state's certificate of need law, CON.
Continuing a years-long push by Republican lawmakers and free market health care advocates to loosen the state's restrictions on medical facilities and services. The Senate Healthcare Committee favorably reported and gave a favorable report to Senate Bill 1040, which is called the Repeal Con for ASC and Inpatient Rehab Act that happened on Wednesday, with the bill sponsored by State Representatives Michael Lee, the Republican from New Hanover, Benton Sauri, the Republican from Johnson, and Jim Bergen, the Republican from Harnett. It was re-referred to the Senate Appropriations/slash Base Budget Committee, where it sits right now. Certificate of need laws do require health care providers to obtain state approval before developing or expanding certain medical services, adding facilities, beds, or equipment. With critics arguing that the process raises costs, restricts supply, and allows competitors to block new entrants into the market.
Market. And while Senate Bill 1040 would not repeal the entirety of North Carolina's certificate of need law, instead, it targets two areas, specifically looking at inpatient rehabilitation services, facilities and beds, and also dealing with ambulatory surgical facilities. The bill also requires the Department of Health and Human Services to develop a plan to phase out the state's remaining certificate of need laws, making the proposal both a targeted repeal bill and a potential roadmap for broader reform across state government. Donald Bryson, the president and CEO of the John Locke Foundation, said that this bill signals that lawmakers are treating targeted reform as a step towards a full repeal. With him saying in part, by repealing North Carolina's certificate of need requirement for those inpatient rehabilitation facilities and other surgical centers, lawmakers are directly attacking the regulatory barriers that inflate health care.
costs and restrict patient access. The bill's inclusion of dedicated funding for a comprehensive plan to phase out the state's remaining con laws signals that this targeted reform is not an endpoint, but a deliberate first step towards full repeal. The North Carolina General Assembly is clearly building momentum for this kind of pro-competition, pro-patient overhaul that North Carolina desperately needs. During the committee meetings, State Senator Michael Lee said that Senate Bill 1040 fits into a broader debate on health care affordability, saying in part, We need to find a way to move forward in the area of health care. There's a lot of other affordability efforts going on, site-neutral fees, and all the other stuff that's been worked on with this.
This is just one piece of the puzzle that we've got to move forward to help patients, consumers, and constituents on the healthcare front with access and affordability. Senator Brenton Sawyery added that repealing certificate of need requirements for some surgical centers would have a direct impact on health care costs, saying in part, as we continue to talk about billion-dollar rebates and the largest line items, one of the top two or three increases in rebates is hospital procedures. This is real dollars to the state, and this is something meaningful that we can do to save taxpayer dollars and drive down health insurance premiums. State Senator Ralph Heist, the Republican from Mitchell County, framed the issue around whether providers should be allowed to take their own financial risks when expanding care, as he said that North Carolina should welcome providers that are. Willing to build new facilities, particularly in areas of the state where access does remain a main concern.
Telling his fellow lawmakers if facilities want to build in western North Carolina, the answer should be yes. Thanks for coming in. If you think you have a capacity to build a 150-bed facility and you're taking that risk, have at it. Certificate of need remains a top of discussion and conversation here in North Carolina. We're keeping an eye on the progress right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
That's going to do it for a Friday edition. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. We're back with you Monday morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
