VOLUME 7 ISSUE 48 |
WWW.NSJONLINE.COM
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 25, 2023
inside List of all 170 NC state legislators New, old faces atop legislative committees By Matt Mercer North State Journal RALEIGH — When the General Assembly returns Wednesday for the traditional long session, the work of legislative committees will begin in earnest. Committees are where the bulk of the day-to-day work is done. The House and Senate have upwards of a dozen committees both standing, which are permanent, and nonstanding, which are stood up to address certain issues, such as the ongoing work of the hurri-
ate will be Ralph Hise of Mitchell County, Brent Jackson of Sampson County and Michael Lee of New Hanover County. Lee joins Hise and Jackson for the first time as a “big chair” in the budget-writing process. How floor debates are structured, the processes in which both chambers use to debate and which bill are even heard by the full body are decided by the powerful rules committees in each chamber. Both House and Senate Rules
cane recovery subcommittee. The primary responsibility of the legislature each year is to pass a state budget. This is done first through the Appropriations Committee in each chamber. This year, the House will write the first draft of the state’s budget. The senior chairmen of the House Appropriations Committee are the same three as last session: Republican Reps. Dean Arp of Union County, Donny Lambeth of Forsyth County and Jason Saine of Lincoln County. Their counterparts in the Sen-
See COMMITTEES, page A8
GENERAL ASSEMBLY KICKS OFF 2023 LONG SESSION
SENATE
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
Phil Berger
Tim Moore
te
President Pro Tempore
Speaker
Ralph Hise
Paul Newton
John Bell
Sarah Stevens
Majority Leader
Deputy President Pro Tempore
Majority Leader
President Pro Tempore
Jim Perry
Tom McInnis
Brendan Jones
Jon Hardister
Majority Whip
Deputy Majority Leader
Majority Whip
Majority Whip
Treasurer: NC Highway Trust Fund FBI offers $25K reward for information on loan repaid early by NCDOT 2022 arson attempt at Lincolnton crisis pregnancy center
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — As of Dec. 28, 2022, N.C. State Highway Trust Fund loans of over $1 billion were repaid two years early by the N.C. Department of Transportation (NCDOT), according to State Treasurer Dale Folwell. Established by the General Assembly in 1989, the HTF is a revenue source that was to be maintained for highway projects. Folwell praised the repayment as a “turnaround” from the NCDOT’s fiscal mismanagement issues. “The early repayment of the loans to the Highway Trust Fund is a tribute to the leadership of Secretary Boyette and the professionalism of his staff,” Treasurer Folwell said. “The turnaround from the previous administration is quite welcome. They listened and collaborated with the staff here at DST and have made remarkable progress.” Part of the overspending happened between May 2018 and April 2019 when the NCDOT drained $1.1 billion from the HFT in through what was described as “short-term loans” to the Highway Fund. The Department of State Treasurer, the Department of Transportation and the Office of State Budget and Management drafted a Memorandum
By A.P. Dillon North State Journal
PHOTO VIA NCDOT
Workers at a N.C. Department of Transportation building. of Agreement (MOA) in 2020 to address how the NCDOT would repay the HFT loans. The MOA stipulated the loans were to be repaid in four years. When the MOA was signed, the loans were expected to be repaid within four years but the NCDOT made a full repayment on Dec. 28, 2022. Over the past four years, the NCDOT has had a series of money issues including overspending its budget, furloughs, and state audits turning up fiscal mismanagement and improper salary adjustments. An audit conducted on NCDOT during Fiscal Year 2019 re-
vealed the agency had overspent its budget by over $742 million. That year, the NCDOT had a $5 billion budget but was found to have spent $6.8 billion. In July 2020, Folwell took issue with NCDOT’s leadership and called for the replacement of the NCDOT’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) and Chief Operating Officer (COO). At that time, the CFO was Evan Rodewald and COO was Bobby Lewis. The NCDOT also made headlines last fall when the department took a $327,949 loss on nine former circus railcars it had originally purchased for $383,000 in 2017.
RALEIGH — Nine months after an arson attempt at a Lincolnton pregnancy center, the Federal Bureau of Investigation has offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to the identification, arrest and conviction of the suspect. A Molotov cocktail was thrown at the Crisis Pregnancy Center of Lincoln County on June 25, 2022, at around 2:20 a.m. The suspect was captured on surveillance video throwing a lit Molotov cocktail at the center before running toward the nearby intersection of Country Club Road and Hollow Road. The video shows the Molotov hitting the building and fire ensuing. Additionally, a 911 call was received by the Lincolnton Fire Department about a fire in the 100 block of Doctors Park. Video clips of the suspect are available to view under the news release on the Charlotte FBI field office’s website. See ARSON, page A3
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