The 151st session of the North Carolina General Assembly reconvened this week in Raleigh and the House of Representatives kicked things off in a big way, moving on two extremely important pieces of legislation.
While the first week was spent taking on unemployment Insurance reform and providing a fix for mental health group home residents in danger of losing their services (more on these issues below), we expect to address a number of important topics over the course of the long session.
We will focus on issues like voter ID, tax reform, regulatory reform, and education reform that focuses on getting more resources to the classroom and, not the bureaucracy.
With a Republican supermajority of 77 in the House (and 33 in the Senate), along with a Republican in the governor’s mansion, we expect to see continued conservative reforms as we move North Carolina onto the path to prosperity and away from the tax-and-spend policies of the past.
I look forward to serving you this session and will continue updating you on the many accomplishments to come.
Unemployment insurance reform: Solving the problem
The first problem that requires addressing by the House is the $2.4 billion debt North Carolina businesses owe to the federal government for unemployment benefits.During strong economic times, previous general assemblies made policy decisions that depleted North Carolina’s unemployment insurance reserve funds. When bad economic times hit, the state had to borrow from the federal government in order to pay for the increase in unemployment claims.
We have already made over $230 million in payments over the last three years towards this debt. That is $230 million that could have gone to education, infrastructure, or any number of important areas. Additionally, as long as this debt exists, Federal Unemployment Taxes (FUTA) will increase on businesses at a rate of $21 per employee per year until all $2.4 billion is paid off.