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Thurs.: Unexpected, sort of
posted at 2009-04-09 23:46 | Last modified 2009-04-10 00:04
“Machete-cuttin’ time”
House senior budget chair Mickey Michauz couldn’t find much nice to say about the budget measure sent over by a 30-16 vote in the Senate today. He says Senate leaders rushed the bill to beat the mid-April revenue update, expected to be bad news.
I’m not trying to be critical of them, but they didn’t have to rush it… And you understand what they’re trying to do. What I don’t understand is why they would send it over in an unbalanced situation like that, with that half a billion dollar hole sittin’ in it.
Michaux says he's concerned about cuts to DPI, but says there’s plenty of House support for other Senate proposals like cutting ABC bonuses, furloughing state employees, and adding more kids to classrooms. He was cagey about revenue increases, saying he’d have to see the latest budget numbers before he could say whether tax hikes would be on the table.
But Michaux also made it clear he expects the state’s economic picture to worsen before it improves. He’s worried the state could be another billion dollars short by the end of the fiscal year. “If what those of us think is gonna happen happens, it’s gonna be machete-cuttin’ time.” But, he added, “I hope people prove me wrong. I hope I’m wrong as three left shoes.”
Bank run
Governor Bev Perdue announced today she’s freezing all non-emergency spending and seizing $145 million dollars from 17 different funds to bolster the state’s cash flow. The full list of raided funds is here.
$22M of the seized money comes out of the Health and Wellness Trust Fund, which Perdue used to chair. It uses tobacco settlement money to underwrite grants for anti-smoking programs and other public health initiatives. HWTF Director Vandana Shah says that’s a substantial chunk of her budget, but she thinks her fund will be okay – at least, for now.
We understand the state’s in a real budget crunch, and tough decisions are being made every day. So I think based on this current cut, we should be able to scrape through and make good on all of our existing commitments. But any new cuts could potentially impact our ability to fund our existing programs.
Perdue is also taking $36M from a half-dozen trust funds at DENR. Agency spokeswoman Diana Kees says the seizure may postpone some state park construction, but otherwise, she expects the agency will be able to maintain current services.
If this sounds like déjà vu, it sort of is. Just last month, Perdue seized $787 million dollars from the state’s rainy day fund. Her spokespeople say both this seizure and the last one are necessary to shore up state bank accounts emptied by a steep drop in tax revenues.
Moped bill idled
The state Senate voted today 27-0 to kill S135, a measure requiring mopeds to carry insurance. Sponsor Tony Rand and supporter Durham Dem Floyd McKissick argued that moped drivers ought to carry liability if they operate their bikes on public roadways. They say most of the folks who drive mopeds have lost their driver’s licenses to DWI convictions, so they’re likely to be unsafe drivers who ought to be held financially responsible for any damage they cause.
But opponents said the bill was riddled with problems. Burke Republican Jim Jacumin told his fellow senators that, according to NCDOT numbers from 2005, less than one tenth of one percent of NC road accidents involved mopeds. Orange Dem Ellie Kinnaird said moped drivers who didn’t have an insured car in the family could end up paying more than $1200 a year for insurance, four times the $300 figure quoted by Rand.
Either way, Buncombe Dem Martin Nesbitt argued, it would still be too steep for the low-income folks it would affect.
Think about that person working for minimum wage – that’s what they’re making, if they can get a job - . and they’re down to where that’s the only way they can get there. And think about having to get on a moped every morning, in the middle of the winter and every other time, to get where you got to go to try to make enough money for your family. …I’m not gonna get biblical with you – I’m not much good at that. But these are the least among us, folks.
You can hear more of Nesbitt's floor speech below.
Listen Now!
After Nesbitt’s speech, the Senate voted 27-20 in favor of Jacumin’s amendment to strip out the insurance requirement. Rand, reading the writing on the wall, pulled what was left of the bill from the calendar.
The law does not impose upon us the obligation to commit a futile act. I move the bill be returned to wherever it came from -- I can’t remember.
That’d be Commerce, Sen. Rand. And if you’re keeping score, that’s two wins this week for Nesbitt.
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