N.C. Senator Ellie Kinnaird's Newsletter

March 28, 2011 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

Ellie Kinnaird

Greetings from the North Carolina Senate,

Some of you have asked about the schedule of the legislature. We are elected for a two years term that is divided into two sessions. The “long” session starts in the odd numbered year about the last week in January. Because this is supposed to be a “citizen legislature”, the week is structured so that Mondays and Fridays are available for the individual’s work outside the legislature. We meet Monday nights at 7:00 with usually only one or two bills on the calendar (until the last two weeks where it is full and we stay late.) Afterwards a group of us, as most legislators do, go out for supper. This is a chance to get to know each other in a casual setting, although a lot of the conversation centers around the political scene. Tuesday and Wednesdays start at 8:30 for Appropriation committee meetings and sometimes at 8:00 for special caucuses, such as the Agricultural Caucus. (There are lots of Caucuses - Women’s, Democrats, Black, Native American, etc.) We have committee meetings to discuss and vote on bills all day until session starts at 3:00. Sometimes, there are other committee meetings and caucuses followed by receptions put on by every group, association and non-profit in the state to get us their message through hospitality in a more informal setting. There are hundreds of groups that visit the legislature in our offices to get their message to us directly, it is truly the “People’s House.” Thursdays we meet early for committees and then have session at 11:00 so that those who travel far, e.g. Murphy and Manteo, can get home at a reasonable hour.

Our biggest task is the budget that is prepared and passed for the two year biennium. We also introduce and pass other legislation. Bills have deadlines for getting into Bill Drafting, for introduction, for hearing in a committee and over to the over chamber.

The “short” session in the even number years starts in May and is primarily to adjust the budget to the revenue coming in that year. We are not supposed to introduce new bills, but rules are bent all the time. Both sessions end when the budget is finished - once when the Republicans were in charge many years ago, there was a disagreement about welfare reform and we went until almost November. But mostly folks would like to get out around July 1 to August 1. This year, the Republican leadership is aiming for June 1, an all-time record. This will help local governments with their budgets so they know what to count on from the state - or in this case, what not to count on.

When we’re not at the legislature, we are hearing from and helping constituents, attending local meetings and events and answering emails.

Among this week’s bills in the Senate, the right for local counties to levy a transfer tax was repealed. It was given to counties two years ago as an option to relieve the property tax burden. It would have been voted on by referendum of the people in the county. Some years ago, seven coastal communities asked for the transfer tax that would be paid by the buyer at the time of sale of a home, business, shopping center, office building, etc., as a percentage of the selling price. (For instance, the Quintiles building in Durham recently sold for $75.8 million. Think how much would have gone to their schools and how that would keep the property tax lower.) Those counties that adopted the transfer tax now have the lowest property taxes in the state - 28 cents on the $100 valuation for instance. By contrast, Orange County 2009-10 taxes are 85.8 cents. And if you live in Chapel Hill and Carrboro, there is also a school supplement tax. Those six counties that have the transfer tax have excellent schools and have built schools, court houses and other infrastructure with the transfer revenues. But the seventh county that declined to pass the transfer tax have some of the highest taxes in the state and poor schools. But this tax was pushed by the realtor industry that killed it last year on the local level by calling it the “Home Tax” with signs showing cozy homes and neglecting the shopping centers and high-priced office buildings.

The biggest item we tackled this week was the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees. For the first time, teachers and state employees would pay premiums; retirees would pay premiums only if they choose the higher benefit plan, although there is a question if retirees were promised premium-free insurance, this is legal. The deductibles would also go up as would co-pays. Many people think that premiums are inevitable sooner or later as this is happening across the country and private sector employees pay part of their premiums.

A feature of the plan, called Wellness that would require a higher premium if the person smoked or was a certain percentage overweight is dropped. That was unpopular with employees who felt it was intrusive. But on the other hand, it had the potential for saving $43 million. Overall, the changes would shift the contributions paid by the employees to 72% and the state to 28%. Many argued that this is essentially a pay cut for teachers who are already 45th in the country in pay.

A good measure of the bill that I have tried to get changed for several years is the “no-bid” contract with BCBS. All future contracts will be bid on the open market.

However, a bad feature of the bill would take the Plan’s governance from the Legislature, where most everyone agreed it shouldn’t be, to the Treasurer’s office. The flaw in that plan is that the Treasurer can’t dictate how much the state contributes, but only raise premiums for employees and teachers because of the respective duties of each body. The best place for the Plan is the Governor’s office since she writes the budget and works with the legislature on fiscal matters.

A controversial local bill to prohibit the re-classification of a trout stream in the mountains passed. That designation requires 25' buffer around the stream. Certain uses would be retained, but the property owners felt it was too restrictive so they had their local legislators run a bill. The problem is that these are federal requirements that apply to every such stream and the designation cannot stand because it violates a federal requirement. But it passed with only a few dissenting votes.

Finally, we heard a report on incentives. The researchers found they help only a few companies and cost the state lots of money while not always guaranteeing jobs. In fact, in some cases, jobs were lost. The researchers found that a measure that helps all industry, such as cutting corporate income taxes, putting the money into community colleges, our K-12 education system, would do more to help the overall business community and create jobs. The only fund that helped small, less wealthy communities with business recruitment was the One North Carolina fund. That fund has helped Person County retain a long-term company expansion assistance, proving its value to a high unemployment county in my district. I have voted against incentives for years but will support the One NC fund based on the findings.

In the correcting errors department, last week in reporting on the Duke Energy nuclear power fee request, I accidentally referred to CWIP as “Cost While in Progress,” that should have been “Construction Work in Progress.” But since there was no green or red squiggly line under it, it didn’t draw my attention. In the non-legislative arena of thought-sharing, while I was putting books on the lovely book shelf my son built for me, I realized that my granddaughter’s generation will no longer have book shelves - they have it all their books fleetingly on Kindle, Nook or their i-whatever is the latest device will be.

Let’s hope spring returns soon.

Paid for by Ellie Kinnaird for Senate • Campaign Address: PO Box 668, Carrboro, NC 27510 • 919-918-3432
Legislative Office Address: Room 628 LOB, 300 N. Salisbury St., Raleigh, NC 27603 •