RALEIGH – Civitas Institute President Col Francis X. De Luca USMCR (Ret) has joined 140 other conservative leaders who have signed a pledge to oppose any bill that grants taxpayer funds to Planned Parenthood, the nation’s largest abortion provider.

The pledge, released this week, states, “Planned Parenthood’s most recent financial report shows that $528.4 million of its revenue in 2014 came from federal, state and local governments. Funding Planned Parenthood is a conscience violation for every taxpayer.”

De Luca had strong words for Republicans who fail to oppose the abortion provider.

“As a private corporation, Planned Parenthood has no right to any taxpayer funding whatsoever,” De Luca said. “Profiting from the sale of the organs of babies is a felony, and they must be held accountable for their inhumane treatment of human remains. If Republicans won’t take this action, they should stop calling themselves conservatives.”

Other signatories include Michael Needham, CEO of Heritage Action; Lila Rose, founder of Live Action; and Dr. Alveda King, director of African-American Outreach at Priests for Life.

The pledge can be read in its entirety here.

Francis De Luca is available for interviews. To arrange one, contact Demi Dowdy at 919-834-2099 or demi.dowdy@nccivitas.org.

Founded in 2005, the Civitas Institute is a Raleigh, NC-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit policy organization committed to creating a North Carolina whose citizens enjoy liberty and prosperity derived from limited government, personal responsibility and civic engagement. To that end, Civitas develops and advocates for conservative policy solutions to improve the lives of all North Carolinians. Civitas provides research, information and training to:

• empower citizens to become better civic leaders and more informed voters;
• educate emerging public leaders, enabling them to be more effective in the democratic process; and
• inform elected officials about citizen-based, free-market solutions to problems facing North Carolinians.

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• Governmental Accountability in North Carolina: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: North Carolinians regularly get stonewalled by their state and local governments while seeking access to public records. Learn about how to tailor your public records request to gain access as quickly as possible while avoiding costly fees.

• Wind Energy in North Carolina: The legal issues raised by wind energy’s presence in North Carolina are both complex and numerous. Learn about how wind energy is affecting local and state governments, as well as how the industry is impacting property and other legal rights.

• The Conservative Legal Movement: The conservative legal movement is on the upswing. Learn about its roots and where it is heading, from The Slaughterhouse Cases to economic liberties.

• The Legality of Occupational Licensure: Why does it take ten times as long to become a barber as it does to become an EMT in North Carolina? Learn about what licensing law is, and how it has spun out of control.

Engstrom, a Mecklenburg County native, holds a B.A. from Wake Forest University and a J.D. from the University of Georgia. While in law school he was President of the Georgia Society for International and Comparative Law and Secretary of the Federalist Society. Prior to joining the Civitas Institute, he worked as a litigation clerk at the Goldwater Institute and as Director of Communications for Young Americans for Liberty. He is a member in good standing of the North Carolina State Bar, the North Carolina Bar Association, and the Wake County Bar Association.

At CLF, Engstrom actively litigates cases in state and administrative courts across North Carolina. Cases range from public records lawsuits to administrative agency actions to constitutional litigation. He is available to speak free of charge as part of CLF’s mission to advance the message of limited, constitutional government.

Please direct inquiries to CLF@nccivitas.org.

The Civitas Institute is a North Carolina-based nonprofit corporation organized for the purpose of conducting research, sponsoring education activities, and upholding the constitutional and legal rights of North Carolinians. In 2015, Civitas founded the Center for Law and Freedom, a public interest law firm that represents North Carolinians in administrative agency actions, constitutional litigation, and transparency lawsuits. Learn more at http://www.nccivitas.org.

Some additional background via the Statesville News & Record

Health care company Vidant Health took over the Pungo Hospital in 2011 but closed it on July 1, 2014 in part due to operating losses and the hospital's aging building.

Vidant is now building an around-the-clock health facility, but it's not considered a hospital, which Belhaven Mayor Adam O'Neal and others say is needed for critical, emergency care now lacking between Beaufort County and the Outer Banks.

A nonprofit formed to reopen the hospital has been approved for a $6 million federal rural development loan provided in part there is a certificate of need — a state document affirming the hospital's necessity. The document wouldn't be necessary for an "existing hospital."

The certificate of need "is holding us up and stopping us from saving lives," O'Neal told the committee, adding "the bureaucrats in Raleigh are stopping us from opening our hospital up and it's wrong and we need some help."

O'Neal said in an interview hospital supporters believe they don't need a new certificate of need because the hospital had previously been open for more than 60 years. The process also would take a year and cost $500,000, and likely would be opposed by Vidant, the mayor said.

All this begs the question: why is all this necessary? Why does North Carolina continue to have restrictive, anti-competitive, bureaucratic CON laws on its books?

Its time to repeal these CON laws, which serve to drive up health care costs, bog down medical facilities in red tape, and restrict access to medical care.

This week, Dr. Ben Carson, currently in second place according to a just-released NBC/ WSJ poll, will be visiting Randleman and Winston-Salem to meet and greet North Carolinians. Donald Trump, still at the number one spot according to the same poll, also visited North Carolina to fund raise just last month. Jeb Bush was in Greensboro just three weeks ago. And Marco Rubio, who just shot up to third place in the NBC/WSJ poll, gave his stump speech to over a hundred people packed into a restaurant in a town outside of Charlotte last week. (Read NC Capitol Connection's full account of the Rubio event here.)

So why are the top candidates so focused on North Carolina? Well, it might have something to do with the fact that according to a new bill on the governor's desk for signature, NC has 72 delegates to offer. In order to win the GOP nomination and stand victorious at the convention next July, a candidate will need 1,235 delegates, making our 72 quite a chunk out of what they need to procure. In fact, this is a larger number than many other states with larger populations have to offer, making North Carolina a strategic state for the GOP primary.

But an interesting aspect of these tax reforms, however, has not been discussed. Included at the end of the tax change section in the budget bill is the following qualifier:

ENACTMENT CONTINGENCIES SECTION 32.21A. Unless both House Bill 117 and House Bill 943 of the 2015 Regular Session of the General Assembly are ratified prior to January 1, 2016, all sections of this Part are repealed, except for Section 32.18, Section 32.19, and this section.

House Bill 117 and HB 943, respectively, refer to the "NC Competes Act" (an expansion of corporate welfare programs) and the $2 billion bond referendum proposal. These measures were approved last week.

Sections 32.18 and 32.19 of the budget bill being referenced are the sales tax expansion and the distribution formula for that new sales tax revenue.

In short, the budget bill clearly states that if the corporate welfare bill and bond referendum were not approved, then the major tax cut portions of the budget bill would not be enacted. However, the sales tax base expansion would be implemented regardless.

Is this evidence of some deal-making between the House and Senate? In other words, if appears that one side was demanding that the bond bill and corporate welfare bill be approved if the other side wants the major income tax cuts to go into effect.

The education budget has been increasing. First, contrary to the claims of many educators and the media, the education budget is not declining. General state appropriations for public education (i.e. K-12 education, community colleges and UNC System) have actually increased five years in a row. …..

Few NC Lottery dollars finding way to classroom. While the Lottery money has certainly helped the state to cover bills, fund programs and expansions, it’s obvious the money is not getting into the classroom. Those hopes seem all but forgotten. …..

Teacher Retirement and Benefit Costs Increasing.  Thirdly and lastly, if we establish that K-12 education funding has increased every year for each of the last five years, and grown $1.5 billion over that time period, where has all the money gone? The short answer to that question is to salaries and retirement. Since 2010, $1.1 billion of the funding increases have been spent on employee salaries and benefits.

Read the whole article here.

The education budget has been increasing. First, contrary to the claims of many educators and the media, the education budget is not declining. General state appropriations for public education (i.e. K-12 education, community colleges and UNC System) have actually increased five years in a row.  In fact, over the past five years, state appropriations for all public education have actually increased 14.1 percent, growing from $10.8 billion (current dollars) in 2010-11 to $12.3 billion in 2015-16. This past year, the total budget for public education went up $530 million; including an additional $410 million for K-12 public schools, $99 million more for the UNC System and an additional $20 million for community colleges.

Source: Fiscal Research Division, NC General Assembly

If we focus on the K-12 budget, we see over the past five years the K-12 public school budget has actually increased by 20 percent; rising from $7.085 billion in 2010-11 to $8.516 billion in 2015-16. Of course North Carolina also added almost 45,000 students to K-12 schools as well. Still, the increase in state appropriations is not something that is being reported by many.

Progressives and other education activists make constant reference to millions in budget cuts for public education.  How is that possible?  It’s important to note those claims are based on a budget system which made the continuation of existing services the baseline for future budget decisions.  When Republicans gained majorities they switched to a different budget system, one that requires agencies to justify all expenditures; much the opposite of the continuation budget. Suffice it to say, the change has produced a difference of opinion over what constitutes a budget reduction.  Most people can readily see, however, if appropriations for a state agency are higher than the previous year, it constitutes a budget increase.

Few NC Lottery dollars finding way to classroom. Second, what is going on with the NC Education Lottery?  This year the public schools are expected to receive about $530 million from the NC Education Lottery. While that’s a lot of money, what’s more important is how the money is being spent.  When the lottery was passed in 2006 the plan was to provide additional money in the classroom. And generally, that’s how things were divided. In 2010-11, the NC Education Lottery generated about $419 million in revenue for North Carolina public schools.  The money was divided as follows: 52% for teacher salaries; 24% school construction; 15% More at Four, 7% College Scholarships; 2% Financial Aid.

This year North Carolina will spend $529 million in lottery revenue divided as follows: non-instructional support personnel 58.5%; pre-kindergarten 14.7%;  public school capital fund 18.8%; scholarships 5.7% and UNC Financial Aid 2% (because of rounding numbers may not equal 100 percent).

While the Lottery money has certainly helped the state to cover bills, fund programs and expansions, it’s obvious the money is not getting into the classroom. Those hopes seem all but forgotten.

Teacher Retirement and Benefit Costs Increasing.  Thirdly and lastly, if we establish that K-12 education funding has increased every year for each of the last five years, and grown $1.5 billion over that time period, where has all the money gone? The short answer to that question is to salaries and retirement. Since 2010, $1.1 billion of the funding increases have been spent on employee salaries and benefits.  What has gotten lost in this discussion is the steady rise in retirement benefits and the cost of medical/hospitalization benefits and how those factors are pushing up costs.

Source: NC Department of Public Instruction

The increases are real. In 2008-09, North Carolina state government was paying workers a matching retirement benefit equal to 8.14 percent of salary.  In 2015-16 that benefit had increased to 15.32 percent of salary.

The increases have also impacted health care benefits. In 2008-09 North Carolina was paying $4,157 for hospitalization benefits per insured member. In 2015-16 that figure had grown to $5,471, an increase of about 32 percent.

Combined with matching social security benefits (7.65 percent), North Carolina is providing teachers with a benefits package (i.e. social security, retirement and hospitalization) worth over $15,100.

In recent years North Carolina has been putting significant resources into public education, an increase of $1.5 billion in the last five years.  Much of the money is being spent on salary increases and the rising costs of retirement benefits. Moreover, revenue we thought would be getting into the classroom – such as revenue from the NC Education Lottery – is not.

Public discussion about the state education budget is healthy.  If they include the points raised here, we’ll go a long way toward spending our public education dollars wisely, where they can do the most good.  The task can’t begin too soon.

Impending audit will determine whether teachers union continues receiving state benefits

RALEIGH—On Friday, September 18, the Civitas Institute sent letters to the North Carolina State Auditor, the North Carolina Association of Educators (NCAE), and the superintendent of the Wake County Public School System (WCPSS) inquiring as to whether the NCAE legally qualifies to continue receiving its state-administered “dues checkoff” benefit.

Under North Carolina law, the NCAE must maintain a membership level of at least 40,000 in order to qualify for the dues checkoff benefit. The value of the checkoff is shown by the way the NCAE has fought in court for this benefit in recent years.

The State Auditor is required to publish an annual audit of these numbers but has yet to do so this year. Officials with the auditor’s office have told Civitas the results will likely be published in the coming weeks.

“The Civitas Institute exists to hold government actors accountable, whether through investigation, policy analysis, or legal action,” Civitas President Francis De Luca said. “We are closely monitoring the situation – from the impending audit to the responses of school systems withholding NCAE dues – to ensure that all state actors comply with their statutory duties.”

2015 is the first year when the NCAE’s membership level will undergo a state audit. However, the exact nature of this audit and its effect are still somewhat unclear.

“It seems that the audit language was added to the statute in 2014 to give teeth to the 40,000-member requirement,” Civitas Institute Center for Law and Freedom (CLF) Staff Attorney Elliot Engstrom said. “However, as this is the first year since the audit requirement was enacted, it’s unclear exactly how the audit is being performed. Therefore, we’re very interested to see the audit results and methodology.”

The audit comes on the heels of some experts questioning whether the NCAE’s membership numbers are still above the threshold.

“In recent years, we’ve seen a downward trend in teachers union membership both nationally and at the state level,” Civitas Institute Senior Policy Analyst Bob Luebke said. “It is well within the realm of possibility that the NCAE is now below 40,000 members.”

Currently, the dues checkoff benefit is only provided to two state organizations – the NCAE and the State Employees Association of North Carolina (SEANC).

The Civitas Institute is a North Carolina-based nonprofit corporation organized for the purpose of conducting research, sponsoring education activities, and upholding the constitutional and legal rights of North Carolinians. In 2015, Civitas founded the Center for Law and Freedom, a public interest law firm that represents North Carolinians in administrative agency actions, constitutional litigation, and transparency lawsuits. Learn more at http://www.nccivitas.org.

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Matt Caulder reports that language in the bill seems to give the General Assembly control over how the money is spent after the bond is approved. The funds apparently can be reallocated to other areas without requiring another vote.

This $2 billion bond has been dubbed a "slush fund" by Carolina Plotthound, where Caulder's article is currently the top story.

And they have good reason to be worried about it. KEA is a prototypical Big Government program that gathers personal data about students from the time they’re little children until adulthood, with insufficient safeguards to ensure the information is kept safe and used fairly.

What is KEA? KEA is the beginning part of an assessment tool called the NC K-3 Formative Assessment that compiles student data from the time a child enters kindergarten until five years after the student enters the workforce – from early childhood to adulthood. KEAs for 120,000 kindergarten students will begin this fall. (Find out more about K-3 Assessment process here).

Also, K-3 is not the standard paper and pencil assessment. According to the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), “The KEA provides a snapshot of a child’s development and is used to assess the five essential domains of school readiness: language and literacy development, cognition and general knowledge, approaches toward learning, physical well-being and motor development, and social and emotional knowledge.” The goal of KEA is to provide teachers a better understanding of each child’s progress toward meeting the standards and using the information gathered to bolster a child’s success.

Teachers collect data via their own written observations or via audio and video recordings. A new app allows teachers to capture the “evidence” and to store it on an electronic platform. The data will help teachers determine a “child profile” that will follow the child and help teachers determine a learning status or rating in each particular area.

This fall, teachers will collect data in only two areas: objective counting, and book orientation and print awareness. However, beginning next year more data will be collected for other learning areas and in other grades. In fact, there is an expectation that data collection will increase significantly in the years ahead.

There are many reasons why a growing number of parents and teachers find the KEA and the accompanying data collection efforts unsettling.

Before we delve into specifics, let’s look at the big picture. KEA is part of a data collection scheme that tracks students for 20 years. The whole system is based on the assumption that the best way to grow the economy is through a massive data collection system that allows policymakers to analyze and manage the workforce. It‘s premised on an assumption many of us would consider flawed: control of education is necessary to control the economy. To do that, education bureaucrats are creating a large student data collection system called P20W – P meaning preschool and 20W meaning four years into the workforce. It’s a progressive’s dream: a massive data collection system to track and assess children all in the name of improving our economy. What could possibly go wrong?

Well, a lot.

First, parents and teachers are not prepared for it. If you mention KEA to teachers or parents, you’re likely to get blank stares. Few teachers or administrators have ever heard anything about KEA. When they find out about it, parents frequently ask if they can choose not to participate. The Department of Public Instruction says all students must participate and have a child profile created. Of course, you have to wonder why teachers and parents knew so little about KEA and the data collection efforts – until it was time to participate and all the decisions were already made.

Second, parents have legitimate concerns about having their child appear in videos or photographs. The Department of Public Instruction (DPI) does acknowledge that’s a real concern,  so it provides parental opt-out for such cases.

While the opt-out is good news, the situation is still troubling. Parents already have the ability to say they don’t wish to have their child’s picture used in media. However, it appears schools and DPI are doing little to publicize the opt-out provision. Few parents and teachers even know about it. Second, the current opt-out form fails to make a distinction between photos or videos made for public or personal use (i.e. a child development profile). Since many parents wouldn’t have problems with posting photos of their child in a classroom and not a public place, it might be helpful to create another form to address these concerns. Yet is that enough?

KEA has lots of unanswered questions. For example: Exactly what data does KEA collect for the schools? Where will the data be stored? Who has access to the data?  What safeguards are in place in the event of a data breach? What questions will the data help people to answer?  Do parents have the right to opt out their child from KEA data collection efforts and the creation of a child profile?

Parents have legitimate concerns and questions that should be answered. Why does the government need this information about my child? What safeguards exist to ensure the data won’t be breached or stolen?

Education administrators and policy advocates tell us not to worry. Unique identifiers will protect each child’s identity, they say. Moreover, policies are already in place at DPI to ensure data is not misused. Or so they say.

But try telling that to employees at Sony, Target, and the Office of Personnel Management. In today’s world, we know better. Online data is always at risk.

The data collection raises other questions. Gathering data on preschoolers that will follow them until they are four or five years into the workforce is an idea that is likely to raise the eyebrows of most people. It’s a highly questionable process. Teachers must evaluate profile data on each 5-year-old entering the system. The profile includes clinical areas such as emotional and social development and non-clinical, more subjective areas. How do we know that students will be fairly evaluated?  How do we know teachers have enough time to perform adequate evaluations?

Another problem with KEA is the construct areas (student skills and abilities). As mentioned above, this fall teachers will be evaluating kindergarten students in two construct areas: objective counting is the first and book orientation and print awareness the second. In the coming months, DPI will add additional constructs and new requirements for data in different construct areas. To some, that might seem pretty straightforward, especially if we’re dealing with objective aspects of cognitive development.

However, subjectivity gets thrust into the equation pretty quickly. Teachers will be required to collect additional “evidence” in areas such as emotional and social development, emotional literacy, and emotional regulation. These criteria are by definition more subjective and require far more interpretation by teachers. How will parents know that student data will be accurately recorded and that scores aren’t merely a function as to whether or not a teacher likes a particular student?

If you think all this sounds a bit Orwellian, you’re not alone. A recent Civitas poll found 69 percent of parents support allowing a provision for parents to opt out of the data collection system and the creation of a child profile.

Despite public opposition, KEA moves forward. Interestingly, the federal Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) was intended to protect the rights of parents and students against such abuses. While the gathering of large amounts of student data may have some beneficial effects, it has resulted in a severe decline in student and parental protections over data and those who control it.

What’s most alarming is that most parents don’t know this data is being collected. I believe most who advocated for collection of such information want it that way. They know most parents would object if they knew what was being gathered.

KEA thrusts children and parents into a brave new world of electronic data collection of personal information and big government databases. As mentioned above, if you ask your child’s teacher about your child’s profile or about your ability to opt-out your child from visual and audio assessment, and you’re likely to get a blank stare. This isn’t good.

Parents are the ultimate protectors of their children. And their rights need to be strengthened, not weakened. DPI’s KEA assessment and data collection efforts weaken those rights and need to be changed.

Sadly no one at DPI seems to be listening. Let’s hope the General Assembly is.

For additional reading see:

New Assessments for Kindergarteners—Bigger Concern is Data Collection

North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development

North Carolina Construct Progressions and Situations

Now that the budget has passed, legislators still have a bit of unfinished business before returning home. Finalizing Medicaid reform, an economic incentive package and detail of a $2 billion bond are foremost among them.

But one other issue that should be addressed is North Carolina’s harmful Certificate of Need (CON) law. CON laws essentially force medical providers to ask permission from a state board of bureaucrats before expanding an existing facility, opening a new facility or adding certain types of equipment.

The Civitas Institute has previously published a five-part series examining the shortcomings of CON laws, including how they drive up healthcare costs, restrict competition and deprive North Carolinians of additional medical care services.

We had also featured this video interview with Dr. William Padgett of Beaufort County, in which he describes how CON laws are the main obstacle preventing a much-needed assisted living facility from opening up in his area.

Some other items legislators should keep in mind when considering the repeal of CON laws:

• Last week, a small town mayor walked 128 miles to Raleigh to remind the legislature that CON laws were preventing the re-opening of his rural hospital
• North Carolinians access to important medical services is more restricted than national averages
• Eliminating CON laws would make medical care less expensive, with savings up to 40% for many surgical procedures
• Restrictive CON laws put patients at a higher risk of infections
• The cumbersome paperwork required of the CON program places an undue burden on medical facilities. It services to enrich the lawyers required to navigate the laws, diverting scarce resources that could be better used caring for patients. For example, a CON application can measure more than four inches thick.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Francis De Luca (919) 834-2099
Francis.DeLuca@NCCivitas.org

RALEIGH – The Civitas Institute is hailing key victories in the final budget signed today by Governor McCrory.

“Four crucial sections in the budget were real wins for conservative ideas, and we are glad to have helped make those wins possible,” Civitas President Francis De Luca said. Civitas has addressed all four issues repeatedly over the years, right up the final days of the session when its “Cut This, Go Home” series pointed out to legislators easy ways to cut spending and end the budget impasse.

Renewable Energy Tax Credits Ride into the Sunset

More than $200 million in special tax breaks that favored one industry at the expense of NC taxpayers and power customers will expire on Dec. 31. In addition to recent articles and opeds, this year Civitas exposed the links between “Big Solar” and liberal funders and lobbyists in a three part series.

Income Taxes Keep Going Down

In 2012, Civitas led the fight alongside key legislators to reform North Carolina’s tax code by making it fairer and less of a burden on taxpayers and the economy. That process will continue in the 2016-2017 budget: State income taxes are scheduled to drop from 5.75 percent to 5.499 percent in 2017. And the corporate tax rate will be guaranteed to drop to 4 percent next year and 3 percent the following year, regardless of revenue thresholds.

Parents and Students Will Get More Choice in Education

Since 2005, Civitas has fought to expand school choice. In the new budget, funding for Opportunity Scholarships will be increased by 129 percent in just two years, rising from $11 million to $25 million.

Jim Hunt Institute Will No Longer Get Taxpayer Money

A long-standing “Civitas Waste of the Week,” the Jim Hunt Institute used taxpayer money to promote liberal causes such as Common Core and to host radical leftists such as Noam Chomsky and Angela Davis. The 2016-2017 state budget eliminates $730,230 per year in state funding to the Hunt Institute.

“While we didn’t get everything we wanted out of this year’s budget negotiations, these victories signal that we conservatives made our voices heard,” De Luca added. “That’s encouraging news as we look ahead to the next legislative session.”

Francis De Luca is available for interviews. To arrange one, contact Demi Dowdy at 919-834-2099 or demi.dowdy@nccivitas.org.

Founded in 2005, the Civitas Institute is a Raleigh, NC-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit policy organization committed to creating a North Carolina whose citizens enjoy liberty and prosperity derived from limited government, personal responsibility and civic engagement. To that end, Civitas develops and advocates for conservative policy solutions to improve the lives of all North Carolinians. Civitas provides research, information and training to:

• empower citizens to become better civic leaders and more informed voters;
• educate emerging public leaders, enabling them to be more effective in the democratic process; and
• inform elected officials about citizen-based, free-market solutions to problems facing North Carolinians.

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There still remains, however, much work to be done. The budget includes far too many items that Civitas has highlighted as wasteful and outside the scope of core government services. And some are just blatant examples of legislators bringing home “the bacon” to their home districts – using state tax dollars. Civitas strongly recommends that legislators introducing line items to the budget that fund specific projects attach their name to the proposal in the name of transparency.

Taxpayers should be aware of this list of objectionable items that were included in the final budget deal:

• $200K for a youth baseball tournament.
• $50K for a museum dedicated to the history of the town of Stanley.
• $30 million per year for film production taxpayer handouts to major Hollywood film studios.
• $2.5 million in funds for The Support Center (formerly The Minority Support Center, a previous partner in Moral Monday protests).
• Creation of a new historic preservation tax credit program valued at $8 million per year, after an earlier version of the credit had expired. There is another $190K per year allocated for salaries to administer this program.
• Continued funding for UNC-TV (state public television) to the tune of $9.1 million per year.
• $100K increase in funding for the Tryon Palace, a former Waste of the Week feature.
• $5 million expansion in funds for the NC Biotech Center, yet another former Civitas Waste of the Week, bringing annual funding up to $13.6 million per year.
• The Queen Anne’s Revenge archaeological project receives $1.5 million over two years.
• $25K for the Rankin museum of American Heritage in Ellerbe.
• Increase of $500K per year, up to $1.2 million annually, for the furniture convention in High Point. This event also receives $1.2 million per year from the transportation budget.
• An increase of $1 million for the statewide local library grant program. Funding for local libraries should be provided at the local level.
• Increase of $150K for the grassroots arts grants program, bringing total funding to nearly $2.5 million per year.
• An expansion of $15K in the funding for the Roanoke Island Festival, bringing annual taxpayer support over $500K per year.
• An $800K grant each year to the discredited nonprofit group Research Triangle International. The group has been the subject of scathing international audits accusing it of a “litany of waste” of taxpayer funds.
• General state taxpayer support for the grassroots science museums was not reduced, though it will be transferred to the Museum of Natural Sciences for it to dispense via a grant program.
• $1 million (with an increase to $2 million in the second year) for “tourism advertising” earmarked for the new Economic Development Partnership organization – a taxpayer subsidy for the tourism industry.
• A $2.25 million increase in funding for the rural economic development grant program, bringing total funding over $15.5 million per year. This program has funding goals similar to the old Rural Center.
• $2.25 million increase in the One Small Business Fund – a taxpayer handout to favored startup companies.
• A $25K increase in funding for the Commerce Secretary’s “business recruitment activities.”
• $2 million to the Main Street Solutions fund, which provides grants to “revitalize” small downtown areas.
• More than $11.5 million in local earmarks that all fall in key budget negotiator Sen. Harry Brown’s district:
  • $100K for Brock’s Mill House and Pond in Trenton.
  • $500K for the Museum of the Marine in Jacksonville.
  • $11 million for Jones County to build a “collocated middle and high school”. Construction funding for schools is traditionally a local matter, according state General Statutes: “It is the policy of the State of North Carolina that the facilities requirements for a public education system will be met by county governments.” (G.S. 115C-408(b)). This line item is highly unusual.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Francis De Luca (919) 834-2099          Francis.DeLuca@NCCivitas.org

RALEIGH –The Civitas Institute has released verbatim responses from North Carolina unaffiliated voters explaining why they decided not to accept any party’s label.

“Aside from the numbers, our polls provide other insights into what North Carolinians are thinking,” said Civitas President Francis X. De Luca. “The mindset of unaffiliated voters is often misunderstood. Looking at these verbatim responses reveals this voting bloc’s views are more complex than many observers realize.”

The poll surveyed 400 registered unaffiliated North Carolina voters, 30 percent of whom were reached on cell phones. The survey was taken August 10-12 and had a margin of error of plus/minus 4.9 percent.

Here is a sample of their responses to a key question:

In your own words can you please tell me why you are registered as an Independent or Unaffiliated?

Because I do not approve of some of the ways social issues are handled by Republicans, nor do I approve of the way fiscal issues are being handled by Democrats.

I usually don’t just vote specifically for one party. I vote for the person I feel will do a better job bettering the state, but both sides lately have done nothing to better things, they just tell lies to get in office.

I do not like politicians, and do not trust any political parties.

Haven’t had much faith in either party. Like to look at the whole system and decide. It’s very important to vote. No confidence with what’s going on. Very frustrated and saddened with the political system now.

 Because I believe the two parties are wrecking the country and causing everything, including social issues and illegal immigration, to be way out of hand as well.

To read all the verbatim responses, click here.

Francis De Luca is available for interviews. To arrange one, contact Demi Dowdy at 919.834.2099 or demi.dowdy@nccivitas.org.

Founded in 2005, the Civitas Institute is a Raleigh, NC-based, 501(c)(3) nonprofit policy organization committed to creating a North Carolina whose citizens enjoy liberty and prosperity derived from limited government, personal responsibility and civic engagement. To that end, Civitas develops and advocates for conservative policy solutions to improve the lives of all North Carolinians. Towards that end, Civitas provides research, information and training to:

• empower citizens to become better civic leaders and more informed voters;
• educate emerging public leaders, enabling them to be more effective in the democratic process; and
• inform elected officials about citizen-based, free-market solutions to problems facing North Carolinians.

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On Friday, September 11, the Civitas Institute Center for Law and Freedom joined several other state-based legal and policy organizations in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to uphold the freedom of employees to choose what political causes they support. In a joint amicus brief in the case of Friedrichs v. California Teachers Association, the coalition asks the Court to reach the common-sense conclusion that employees cannot be forced to support a labor union with which they disagree politically or in other ways.

“Our argument basically goes that compelling a person to support a labor union is, for purposes of the First Amendment, no different than compelling that person to support a church, political party, or other private group which whom they disagree,” CLF Staff Attorney Elliot Engstrom said. “If the activities of unions were truly beneficial to all of their members, then there would be no need to compel people to support them.”

Friedrichs is a California case out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. Unlike North Carolina, California does not have state right-to-work laws that protect employee freedom.

“We thought it was important to have organizations from right-to-work states on this brief, especially considering that a significant portion of the brief is dedicated to policy arguments about the benefits of such laws,” Engstrom said.

The brief was principally drafted by Jeffery Harris of Washington, D.C.-based Bancroft PLLC. He is a former law clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts. Joining CLF on the brief are organizations such as the Beacon Center of Tennessee, the John Locke Foundation, and the Washington Policy Center, among others.

Briefs for the respondents are due near the end of October, and the court will likely hear oral argument in December 2015 or January 2016.

The Center for Law and Freedom, a nonprofit public interest law firm housed within the Civitas Institute, provides free legal representation to North Carolinians facing difficult legal and policy challenges. The Center is one part of the Civitas Institute’s overall mission to implement conservative policy solutions for the benefit of all North Carolinians. This article may be reprinted if reprinted in its entirety and if credit is given to Civitas.