VOLUME 7 ISSUE 46 |
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 11, 2023
Classified documents appear to be found at Biden office Washington, D.C. The Justice Department is reviewing a batch of potentially classified documents found in the Washington office space of President Joe Biden’s former institute, the White House said Monday. Special counsel to the president Richard Sauber said “documents with classified markings” were discovered as Biden’s personal attorneys were clearing out the offices of the Penn Biden Center, where the president kept an office after he left the vice presidency in 2017 until shortly before he launched his 2020 presidential campaign in 2019. The documents were found on Nov. 2, 2022. A person who is familiar with the matter said Attorney General Merrick Garland asked U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois John Lausch to review the matter after the Archives referred the issue to the department. Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, chair of the powerful House Judiciary Committee, said the American public deserved to know earlier about the revelation of classified documents. “They knew about this a week before the election, maybe the American people should have known that,” Jordan told reporters. “They certainly knew about the raid on Mar-a-Lago 91 days before this election, but nice if on Nov. 2, the country would have known that there were classified documents at the Biden Center.” The revelation comes as Republicans are promising to launch investigations of Biden’s administration. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
NC Senate completes committee assignments Raleigh Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Eden) announced on Tuesday his intended committee appointments for the 2023-24 legislative biennium as the General Assembly returns on Wednesday. “Committees are an integral part of what the legislature does. The committee meetings allow for debate, compromise, and public input, to produce legislation that becomes law,” Berger said. The powerful Senate Appropriations/Base Budget Committee has a trio of chairs: Sens. Brent Jackson (R-Sampson), Ralph Hise (R-Mitchell) and Michael Lee (R-New Hanover). Sen. Bill Rabon (R-Brunswick) continues to serve as the Senate Rules Committee chair, and Sens. Lee and Amy Galey (R-Alamance) will chair the Senate’s Education/Higher Education Committee. NSJ STAFF
Personal income tax inches down again Raleigh Several new laws and certain changes to taxation took effect beginning Jan. 1. The state’s individual income tax rate currently set at 4.99% dropped to 4.75% as of Jan. 1. That rate will drop again in 2027 to 3.99%. The individual tax rate reduction was included in the 2021 Appropriations Act passed by the General Assembly in November 2021. A new law taking effect this year reduces late penalties on tax payments for those who have filed extensions. House Bill 83 contains various clarifications to various tax laws in the state that includes taking the failure to pay penalty rate from 10% to 5%. That late payment penalty rate will drop again in 2024 to 2% each month or “fraction thereof” that the payment is overdue. A.P. DILLON
AP PHOTO
Vice President Kamala Harris participates in a ceremonial swearing-in of Sen. Ted Budd, R-N.C., with his wife, Amy Kate Budd, in the Old Senate Chamber on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., Tuesday, Jan. 3, 2023.
Ted Budd begins US Senate term and Budd brought several of his former team over to the Senate. The team will have a few weeks WASHINGTON, D.C. — before floor work begins. FollowAmidst the focus on the multiple ing Tuesday’s swearing in ceremorounds of votes for speaker of the nies, the chamber adjourned for House of Representatives, North three weeks. That gives Budd and his team a Carolina’s new U.S. senator, Ted Budd, took his oath of office just chance to work on potential legisafter noon on Tuesday, Jan. 3. He lation and scout locations for new was sworn in by Vice President offices across North Carolina. There are requirements for those Kamala Harris. Budd, who served three terms offices: they must be in federal in the House, was joined by fam- buildings for security purposes. ily and many supporters from the The hope, according to Budd’s staff, is to have those state during the week. offices operational Beginning with a rewithin the first few ception Monday night months of his term. where he was joined Some of that reby many of the state’s “That’s sponsibility will fall Republican members certainly a to Mark Johnson, of Congress, the focus who served one term turned to the responsi- request I have as state superintenbility of building out his out there.” dent and was apoffice infrastructure. pointed Budd’s state That begins in the director. Budd will basement of the Russell Sen. Ted Budd have an office in RaSenate Office build- on his desire leigh and is expected ing, where new sena- to serve on the to keep an office close tors are stationed for to his home in Davie the first couple months Senate Banking County. of their six-year term. Committee Budd will also wait One Budd staff member to receive his commitjoked that since it’s a six-year term, the Senate’s admin- tee assignments in the Senate. In the House, he served on the istration thinks they can wait a few months to move into the more Financial Services Committee and indicated to Senate leaders in cavernous Senate offices. Yet despite the temporary loca- December he wanted to join the Senate’s Banking Committee. tion, the office is functioning. In an interview with Politico, Phones work and cubicles dot a long hall in the office. Budd’s se- he acknowledged the interest. “That’s certainly a request I nior leadership team is busy with meetings. Last month, Tucker Knott was appointed chief of staff See BUDD, page A2 By Matt Mercer North State Journal
Leandro case reassigned again; funding transfer total updated to $677.8M State Board of Education approves resolution to “support full implementation” of funding order By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — In the final days of 2022, the decades-old Leandro education case was reassigned again. On Dec. 29, Chief Justice Paul Newby issued an order reassigning the case to the “Honorable James F. Ammons, Jr., one of the Senior Resident judges of the Superior Court of North Carolina.” Ammons currently serves in District 12C of the 3rd Superior
Court Division. He was elected to that role in 2018 as an independent and his current term will end on Dec. 31, 2026. Newby’s reassignment order honors a Nov. 30, 2022, reassignment request made by Business Court Judge Michael Robinson. Newby had appointed Robinson to oversee the case in March 2021. In his letter, Robinson revisited the more recent events in the case and noted the likely event of continued oversight. “Given the procedural history of this litigation, now in its 27th year, it is likely that the continuing oversight by the assigned Superior Court Judge will require extensive periodic hearings for See LEANDRO, page A2
NC’s State Employees Health Plan moving to Aetna in 2025 By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — North Carolina State Treasurer Dale Folwell has announced that the State Health Plan will be moving from Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina to Aetna starting in 2025. The State Health Plan is a division of the Department of State Treasurer and covers around 740,000 current and former state employees such as teachers, retirees, lawmakers, state university and community college personnel, as well as their dependents. The three-year initial service period for the Third-Party Administrative (TPA) Services Contract to Aetna will start Jan. 1, 2025, and run through Dec. 31, 2027. There is also an option to renew for two oneyear terms. “We appreciate the years of service that Blue Cross NC has given our members. I’ve spoken with Blue
Cross President and CEO Tunde Sotunde, M.D., and Board Chair Ned Curran, and they assure me that they will finish strong for the next two years,” Folwell said in a press release. Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina had held the TPA contract for more than 40 years per the treasurer’s press release. Folwell’s office estimates $140 million in administrative savings with the move, citing a partnership with Aetna that includes lower costs and better transparency. “Partnering with Aetna, which already employs over 10,000 people in North Carolina, will create a lot of new opportunities for the Plan and the members we serve,” Folwell said. “A change of this magnitude is a great opportunity for a fresh perspective, and we look forward to working closely with Aetna to create new ways to provide price transparency, increase access and quality while lowering the cost of health
care for those who teach, protect and serve, and taxpayers like them.” According to Folwell’s release, nearly 600 Aetna employees have been assigned to work on this transition with State Health Plan Director Sam Watts for the next two years. Information on the switch will be sent to State Health Plan members in 2024 prior to open enrollment for the 2025 benefit year. “We will provide access to quality, affordable and convenient health care for our hard-working North Carolina teachers, state employees and their dependents. With nearly 170 years of expertise and experience, we are ready to serve these members through our comprehensive, local network of primary care physicians, mental health providers, specialists and hospitals that State of North Carolina employees know and trust,” said Jim Bostian, See AETNA, page A2
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