Document Actions
Thursday Roundup
posted at 2009-04-23 08:52 | Last modified 2009-04-23 09:00
Our spring fund drive is keeping me out of Raleigh this week - and what a week to miss! Fortunately, the rest of the press corps is still very much on the scene.
House and Senate negotiators struck an eleventh-hour deal yesterday on changes to the state health plan. The conference report was added to both chambers’ calendars yesterday, passed both, and now goes to the Governor’s desk. Premiums for dependents will increase 18% over the next two years. The calendar-year change was taken out, and the obesity/smoking provision was put back in – at, I’m told, the Governor’s behest. The N&O’s Dan Kane and Ben Niolet have the details.
Senator Dan Clodfelter rolled out the Senate’s finance proposal, an ambitious plan to make big changes in the state’s revenue structure, lowering the rates but broadening the base. Clodfelter says the changes would lead to more stable revenues over time, evening out some of the current highs and lows. Opponents say we’ll all still end up paying more taxes. Greensboro’s Mark Binker has the numbers and figures, plus the audio and documents from yesterday’s meeting.
Senate smoking foes are trying to put the teeth back in H2, Holliman’s smoking ban. Senator Bill Purcell’s committee substitute would remove an exemption for adult-only businesses that was added on the House floor. Winston-Salem’s James Romoser has the story.
And Senator Vernon Malone will be laid to rest today. A horse-drawn caisson will bear his casket through the streets of the city he served for more than three decades. Meetings and sessions in both chambers have been rescheduled to allow lawmakers to attend the noon funeral at Martin Street Baptist Church, where Malone was a deacon. Governor Bev Perdue is expected to speak.
Comments? Drop me a line.
& Newsletters
