BY REP. TODD CARVER

I have not provided an update in a couple of weeks because the N.C. General Assembly is currently not in session. We met last week and took care of a couple pieces of legislation, which I feel could use some additional information and context to help them make sense. It is also important to provide information about the budget and Medicaid debates and where we stand on those important issues.

Let’s start with the budget update. The stalemate continues between the Senate and the House. The disagreement is over the adjustments to tax triggers which are set to lower the personal income tax rates over the next couple of years. The tax triggers are tied to the revenue rates, which do not include any allowance for inflation. If we don’t get the tax triggers issue settled, there will be an approximately $3 billion budget shortfall to deal with in the next year.

Speaker of the House Destin Hall has said if you don’t get the revenue side of the budget figured out, you don’t know how much money you will have to spend. This logic makes sense to me as much as I hate not having a budget; we must get this figured out to move forward.

The Medicaid funding issue, which has caused a great deal of stress across the state, is a crisis of opportunity. The House approved additional money to fully fund Medicaid through April, according to the Department of Health and Human Services. We also authorized the DHHS to utilize some reserve Medicaid funding available within the budget. The House passed a “clean” Medicaid funding bill, meaning it contains no other project spending. The ball is in the Senate’s court at this point to stop any Medicaid reimbursement cuts.

The House also passed a bill authorizing raises for teachers/state employees, law enforcement officers and state retirees. The problem with this bill is twofold. The bill was rejected by the Senate for not complying with our adjournment resolution, which means the bill isn’t going to move forward. The legislation was also contingent on the N.C. General Assembly passing a budget. The pay raises in this week’s bill were set at the same rate as those included in the House budget. The intent was to inform casual observers of the House’s position on raises for teachers/state employees, law enforcement and state retirees.

The final matter of legislation involved the redistricting of the 1st and 3rd U.S. House Districts. The Constitution allows the legislature to redraw the districts at times other than the census. This decision caused the most activity for my legislative inbox. I voted to approve the changes to the redrawn maps for several reasons. The new maps will essentially make the 1st District more Republican by taking those people out of the 3rd District. The 3rd District was previously so red that the Democrats didn’t even field a candidate in the last election. The expected impact of the change is both districts will likely turn be Republican districts in the next election. Most of the people in my inbox were complaining about “gerrymandering” the two districts. My reply has been simple: The best predictor of the future is the past. For anyone who looks at the Congressional districts map from 1995-1998, it is disingenuous to think it would have been done any differently if the Democrats were in charge.

Keeping the folks back home informed of what we are doing when the legislature is in session is one of my main responsibilities. I will continue to provide updates as more information becomes available during our break, but not on a weekly basis.

Please do not hesitate to reach out if I can help provide clarification or information.

Rep. Todd Carver represents the 95th District in the N.C. House. Email him at todd.carver@ncleg.gov.