Becki Gray

The US Department of Justice and the Attorney General of NC filed a lawsuit against North Carolina’s largest hospital conglomerate, Carolinas HealthCare System (CMS) this week. The complaint alleges CMS has used their market power to charge higher prices, control access and reduce competition by “using unlawful…

As you may be aware, both the House and Senate budgets repealed the $500,000 cap on state funding for light rail. For those of us who are not big fans of light rail and believe that taxpayers funding of rail, be it light rail, commuter rail or passenger rail…

A WSJ piece over the weekend looks at what’s killing jobs and stalling the economy. Many of North Carolina’s reforms have led to a more robust recovery here but there’s still much work left to be done. For much of the nation’s history, this process of what…

There’s a lot to like in the Senate budget. I highlighted a few of my favorite things in the House budget two weeks ago. The Senate has put their budget together now, and there are things to like in it as well. Here are a few of my favorites….

A bill moving through the North Carolina General Assembly that aggressively addresses the long standing and now critical problem of failing public schools. House Bill 1080, sponsored by Rep. Rob Bryan, Rep. Cecil Brockman and Rep. John Bradford offers three ways to address the very serious problem and to…

The N.C. House finalized its changes to the 2016-17 budget this morning with a strong bipartisan vote, 103-12, on both second reading and third. Members of both parties cited teacher and state employee raises, as well as plans to increase the zero tax bracket. They  agreed “overall…

There are several tax reforms being considered during the short session.  Whether it’s increasing the standard deduction (aka zero tax bracket), capping the personal income tax rate, moving towards a consumption tax, repealing the capital gains, changing the way expenses are deducted, there are lots…

The question of how to pay for ferries and who pays is a recurring one for the General Assembly, going back at least to 2003.  The ferry toll question has been a hot topic in elections, a dilemma for traffic planners, and a bargaining chip in…