On Monday, April 27, the John Locke Foundation hosted a live stream with N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland. Speaker Moore covered the legislative priorities of the N.C. House for the short session, which began Tuesday, April 28. Moore covered plans for education, healthcare, and more.
The live stream reached over 4,000 people on Facebook – one of which was WRAL’s statehouse reporter, Travis Fain. Fain recently wrote a piece for WRAL including much coverage of the live stream. Fain writes:
There’s at least a $300 million difference between the $1.4 billion spending plan Gov. Roy Cooper put forward Friday and what the House has called for, which Speaker of the House Tim Moore said Monday clocks in somewhere between $1.7 billion and $1.9 billion.
The state Senate hadn’t released a plan publicly as of late Monday afternoon, but Cooper said late last week that he believes the Senate’s number is lower than his.
Moore addressed Cooper’s plan to direct federal money into the N.C. Department of Transportation. Fain writes:
Some question remains as to just how that money can be used. Cooper’s proposal would put some $300 million into the N.C. Department of Transportation, which sidelined projects as the gas tax revenues that fund highway construction plummeted.
Moore said Monday the state is still waiting on clarity as to whether federal COVID-19 money can be spent this way.
The Speaker also addressed how the coronavirus outbreak could affect elections. Fain writes:
[T[he State Board of Elections has asked for a number of changes to make elections go smoother in the fall.
Moore, R-Cleveland, said one thing the state won’t do is move to an all-mail election and automatically mail voters absentee ballots.
“This General Assembly will not approve some sort of mass voting by mail or some scheme like that,” Moore said during a Facebook Live event with the John Locke Foundation Monday.
The House will resume Wednesday at 1:00 PM.
Read the full WRAL piece here. Watch the recorded live stream here.
