General Assembly


Rural Western North Carolina. 
Photo Credit: Dylan Rhoney
How North Carolina’s Budget Impacts Rural Communities

For rural NC, the budget has a boost in Medicaid expansion, and another round of pain for public education. 

The North Carolina General Assembly
State Workers Get Small Raises in New Budget, but It Doesn’t Solve the Hiring Crisis

North Carolina state employees received a 4% pay increase this year and will get a 3% pay increase in 2024, under the new state budget passed last week. But the increase does not keep up with the cost of inflation and the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC) had sought higher pay increases. As...

A midnight session of the General Assembly, where the House passed the budget 32 hours after it was made public.
Medicaid Expansion Becomes Reality After Months of Delays

A half-million North Carolinians waited more than a decade for Republicans to stop their blockade of federal aid for more affordable healthcare. 

There are no votes in the North Carolina legislature this week because many Republican lawmakers are attending the conservative American Legislative Exchange Council in Florida. Above, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker speaks at the meeting in 2015. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
600,000 Await Healthcare as NC Republicans Attend Florida Conference

Without a budget, teachers are waiting on much needed raises and 600,000 low-income North Carolinians are still waiting on Medicaid expansion.

Rep. Jeffrey McNeely asked Rep. Abe Jones—who graduated near the top of his class at Harvard Law School and served nearly 20 years as an N.C. Superior Court judge 
—if he got into Harvard because he was Black.
Two NC Republicans Lose Leadership Posts Over Racist Comments

Reps. Keith Kidwell and Jeffrey McNeely disparaged Black colleagues on the House floor, with Kidwell joking that one belonged to the “church of Satan,” and McNeely suggesting another didn’t deserve to get into Harvard.

Participants attend a Moral Monday rally near the North Carolina Legislature in Raleigh, N.C., in 2016. (AP Photo/Gerry Broome)
NC Legislature Could See Major Votes This Week on Abortion, Guns and Schools 

A procedural deadline on Thursday means North Carolina is set for a flurry of last-minute votes on contentious issues with far-reaching consequences. 

North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham announces she is switching affiliation to the Republican Party at a news conference Wednesday, April 5, 2023, at the North Carolina Republican Party headquarters in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Hannah Schoenbaum)
The Cotham Effect: Today in the North Carolina General Assembly

The GOP’s new super-majority in the state House has emboldened Republicans to run gleefully toward some of the most contentious policies passed in other conservative states.