Top
Stories
Budget
ax may fall on education
The education community was staggered by news that the heads
of the House and Senate appropriations subcommittees on
education had quietly directed the State Board of
Education, the Department of Community Colleges and the UNC
System to identify where a collective $290 million could be cut from their
budgets. Education leaders warn that cutting funding that much
would force 2,500 job cuts and wipe out much of
the progress the state has achieved in school improvements. Story,
chart, letter to lawmakers
 Air
quality legislation slows
to allow more time for review
A
clean air bill that sounds good at face-value could
significantly add to utility bills for North Carolina business
customers without bringing the desired effect, NCCBI Vice
President of Governmental Relations Leslie Bevacqua told the
House Public Utilities Committee on Thursday. While NCCBI does not have a position opposing or supporting
the legislation, which has been introduced in the House and
Senate, Bevacqua stressed that the real impact of the
legislation should be studied before it moves forward. CP&L provided figures showing the impact for an industrial customer with
a monthly electric usage of 5,000 megawatt hours would be a
monthly increase of $15,000. A customer with a monthly
electric usage of 1,000 megawatt hours would experience a
$3,000 increase per month. Read
that story
State
Government News
Secret
Service faults
security at legislature
Security
is lax in and around the Legislative Building, and several
steps should be taken to protect the building and the people
in it from a terrorist attack, according to a report prepared
by the U.S. Secret Service. The
greatest weakness
stems from the structure of the Legislative Building, which
has an underground garage that is easily accessible from the
street. A bomb placed in a car driven into the garage and
detonated could cause the building to collapse, the report
said.
Unemployment
rate creeps up
North
Carolina’s seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate crept up a
tenth of a point in March to 4.5 percent, according to the
ESC. The state jobless rate was 3.4 percent a year ago. The
national rate also rose a tenth of a point in March to 4.3
percent. That story and more
news
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Membership in NCCBI
has about doubled
in the past 10 years.
Thank
you for being
an important part
of that growth, as
shown below:
|
|
Year
|
#
Members
|
|
1989
|
1,122
|
|
1990
|
1,237
|
|
1991
|
1,315
|
|
1992
|
1,420
|
|
1993
|
1,565
|
|
1994
|
1,659
|
|
1995
|
1,725
|
|
1996
|
1,775
|
|
1997
|
1,800
|
|
1998
|
1,845
|
|
1999
|
1,875
|
|
2000
|
1,920
|
|
2001*
|
2,280
|
|
*
as of
March 31
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Legislative
News
Senate
passes two constitutional amendment bills
With
little opposition, the Senate on Wednesday passed and sent to
the House a constitutional amendment bill changing the state
superintendent of public instruction from an elected to an
appointed position. Other important legislative actions this
week:
NCCBI testifies
against mental health parity bill
Moratorium on health
care mandates advances
Senate passes major
rewrite of election laws
House panel rejects
merit selection of appellate judges
That
and more in our roundup of legislative actions.
NCCBI Membership News
Check the NCCBI calendar of
events to see which ones you should attend.
NCCBI offers a seminar to train business people how
to improve your media relations skills, including how to
conduct yourself during a TV interview.
Download your free copy of NCCBI's Guide to the 2001
Legislature.
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