Monday Quick Hits: Hot Policy Topics for This Week

North Carolina:

Governor’s Budget:
On Monday, Governor Mike Easley will release the last budget as Governor of the state of North Carolina. From all reports we expect to see an increase in funding for More at Four and education in general. We also expect to see funding increases for mental health services. There will also be increases in teacher and state employee salaries. Once we see the budget we see the budget, we will be posting an update here on the blog.

Monday, May 12, 2008
10 a.m. | The North Carolina Study Commission on Aging meets, 544 LOB.
This is the last meeting of this committee before session begins. They will be finalizing recommendations for the short session.

2 p.m. | The Disaster Preparedness Issues subcommittees for Hurricane Preparedness, Evacuation and Response and Flood and Natural Disaster Preparation and Response meet, 544 LOB.


Tuesday, May 13, 2008
9 a.m.| The 21st Century Transportation Committee meets, 643 LOB.
Rumor has it that there may be at least on bond proposal that will come out of this committee for the short session. The committee will be voting on its final legislative action and we will report it here.


12:00 p.m. The House convenes, House Chamber, Legislative Building.

12:00 p.m. The Senate convenes, Senate Chamber, Legislative Building.

Session break officially ends at noon today. The House and Senate will gavel in and the short session for 2008 will open. The hot topic will be the budget and how to spend a limited amount of money on many important and necessary budget items. Already on the list of must fund are teacher and state employee waivers. The General Assembly will also be looking at how to handle the crisis in Mental Health services. But there is another crisis in health and human services. For persons with developmental disabilities the crisis is real. Without an appropriation by the General Assembly to fund new CAP/MR-DD Waiver slots there will be no growth in this crucial program. This means many will continue to wait years without needed services.

Read Dan Kane's (News and Observer) review of the 2008 legislative budget.

2 p.m. | The Joint Appropriations/Base Budget Committee meets, 643 LOB.
House and Senate will meet to take a first review of the base budget. We will report on this information on Wednesday after we review the details.


Wednesday, May 14, 2008
8:30 a.m. | The Joint Appropriations/Base Budget Committee meets, 643 LOB.
More budget discussions and review.


Thursday, May 15, 2008
12:00 p.m. The Joint Interim Study Committee on Emergency Preparedness and Disaster Management Recovery meets, 544 LOB.