The 2010 legislative session has come to an end and I wanted to give you an update on the progress we made in four crucial areas. As we rebuild from the effects of the global financial crisis we know that supporting our state’s small businesses and getting our people back work are the keys to a swift, full and lasting recovery. From the first day of session investing in jobs and small business has been our top priority.

We also know that our state’s economy can only grow if we invest in the education of every student and build a strong workforce ready for the jobs and industries of the 21st Century. We passed a budget that saved 1,600 teacher’s jobs and fully funded enrollment growth at our state’s Universities and Community Colleges.

To make these investments in a time of declining state revenue, we also set about reducing our state spending, cutting waste and abuse at every level and streamlining government wherever possible. In the end we were able to build on last year’s record $2.2 billion spending cut by reducing spending by an additional $700 million, without increasing taxes.

Finally, we know that a government can only work for its people if it has their participation, trust and consent. Making state government more responsive, open and transparent was one of our highest priorities this session, and we succeeded in passing landmark reforms that will help ensure everyone who holds public office is accountable only to the people they serve.

Jobs: Getting North Carolinians and Small Businesses Back to Work
Our number one priority this session was to get North Carolinians back to work and support our small businesses, which is crucial to our economic recovery. We agreed on the need to: recruit jobs into the state and protect the ones we have; build a workforce to fit the needs of the 21st Century; invest in existing job development funds for new and expanding businesses and assist small businesses in creating jobs.

Our work has been rewarded with some of the best business ranking in the country. North Carolina was ranked as having the best business climate in the nation for the eighth time in nine years by Site Selection Magazine, we are one of only seven states to retain the market’s top AAA bond rating, and CNBC has declared our state “most improved” of the top five in its annual survey, “America’s Top States for Business”, elevating the state from 9th to 4th.

This year’s budget continues to build on our economic recovery and growth. Some of the investments we’ve made are below, a more extensive list can be found at my website by clicking here. You can also find the entire budget here.

• $34 million – Small Business Tax Relief. The budget provides tax relief for 125,000 small businesses, most of which have fewer than 10 employees that employ 500,000 people in our state by lowering the cost of maintaining and adding jobs in North Carolina. The provision allows a refundable income tax credit to a small business equal to 25% of the amount it paid in unemployment insurance tax on wages paid to employees.
• $12.5 million – Provides additional funding for the One NC Fund to enhance the competitive position of North Carolina when recruiting national and international business and industry projects. Three percent of these funds shall be used for small business expansion.
• $6 million – Job Maintenance and Capital Development Fund, which includes $3 million for the Goodyear plant in Fayetteville. The Fund requires Goodyear to invest at least $200 million in capital upgrades to their facilities, maintain a work force of at least 2000 full–time employees and provide them with quality health care benefits, while abiding by stringent environmental standards. Since the Fund was first established in 2007 Goodyear has paid over $5.6 million in county taxes alone.
• $5.75 million – Small Business Center Funding, including funds for FTCC’s Center.
• $5 million – Provides funding to support the seven Regional Economic Development Commissions, including the Southeastern Commission for our area.
• $5 million – Provides additional funding for the Biotechnology Center.
• $4.6 million – Industrial Development Fund. 6 grants were awarded by the IDF in 2009, leveraging $733 million in private capital investment and will result in the creation of 1,000 jobs.
• $3.13 million – Provides additional funding for the Rural Center’s Building Reuse and Restoration Program to strengthen the capacity of rural communities to compete for and attract new and expanding businesses. Funding for small-scale regional community development projects is also included.
• $1.5 million – One NC Small Business Fund program, which provides matching grants to businesses that qualify for federal incentives funds.
• $1.5 million – Provides funding for the Main Street Solutions Program. This program provides grants to active Main Street Communities and designated micropolitans with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 people. Grants are to be used to support downtown economic development, historic preservation initiatives, and other public and private improvement projects that will support small businesses and job creation.
• $1.25 million to the North Carolina Military Business Center in Fayetteville and $950,000 to the Defense Security Technology Accelerator in Fayetteville. These centers are helping to create and expand our area’s rapidly growing Defense Technology business sector, bringing 21st Century industries and high-paying jobs to our area.
• $1 million – Provides funding to the Rural Center to continue the Small Business Assistance Fund, via grants up to $20,000 in three areas: 1. Improving energy efficiency on the farm, developing new markets and developing new products.
• $1 million – Appropriates money for matching funds for US Department of Energy grants to support energy research and green jobs.
• $750,000 – Provides funds for small business loans for those who have limited access to credit.

Ensuring our Children receive a Quality Education
This economic downturn won’t last, and we are preparing now for a strong recovery by continuing to invest in our education system. This past session, we made protecting our teachers a top priority and continued to protect class size. We also focused on keeping our students on track to graduate and supporting our community colleges and university system.

We used additional Education Lottery receipts to save the jobs of an estimated 1,600 classroom teachers. We made certain no classroom positions were cut this year in the state budget. Also there were no cuts to academically gifted funds, exceptional children’s funds, disadvantaged student funds, low wealth funds and at-risk monies in the public school system.

Community Colleges: We appropriated $155 million to fully fund community college system enrollment growth and allow a much needed upgrade to their critical equipment. We have seen an unprecedented number of people going to our community colleges to learn new skills and retrain for new jobs. Enrollment continues to soar, with 30,000 new students added this year alone. Protecting the ability of these institutions to help retrain our workforce is a key investment in our economic recovery.

University System: Enrollment growth was fully funded for the UNC system as well, without imposing any enrollment cap. The budget also appropriated $34 million for need-based financial aid and $24 million for 55 new or renovated UNC System buildings. The University system is an extraordinary economic engine in this state, accumulating over $1 billion in outside research grants and contracts last year.

There was also significant legislation passed to reform low-performing schools (SB 704); improve graduation rates (SB 1246) and to identify and assist at-risk students earlier (SB 1248).  I was also proud to introduce legislation that banned the use of corporal punishment on disabled children (HB 1682).

Making Sure State government Lives Within its Means
This year, we eliminated $700 million in spending from our budget without raising taxes. We made the largest cuts in the State’s history in 2009 and like most families in North Carolina, it was necessary that we continued cutting back this year. We streamlined, economized and prioritized government spending and continued to find ways to make government more efficient, while also funding essential services for our state’s most vulnerable people. We also vastly improved our tax and debt collection process.

Some of our savings include reducing the size and responsibilities of the state’s air fleet, finding efficiencies in drug programs and cutting the legislature’s own operating budget by more than $2 million.

This year’s budget represents the lowest level of state spending per capita in 14 years, and the 2009-2010 budgets represent the largest reduction of state government in North Carolina’s history. While cuts to wasteful or ineffective programs and increased efficiencies are rightly celebrated, the economic crisis has required some painful cuts to worthwhile programs and services as well, but we simply cannot spend money we do not have.

Here’s how the $18.9 billion dollar state budget breaks down:

57.01%    Education
20.83%    Health and Human Services
11.16%    Justice and Public Safety
06.16%    Reserves and Debt
02.47%    Natural and Economic Resources
02.31%    General Government
00.06%    Capital Investments

Demanding a Responsible Government
I was proud to introduce the Government Ethics and Campaign Reform Act of 2010 (HB 961), which creates stronger standards for elected officials and government workers. Among other things, the act:

•    Increases the penalty for illegal campaign donations

•    Improves the state’s campaign finance database by making it easier to search

•    Makes complete salary histories of government workers and disciplinary records of terminated employees public

•    Requires the government to pay plaintiffs’ legal fees in cases where they are found to have violated open records laws without a written basis

•    Increases economic disclosure requirements for judicial officers, legislators, and public servants mandates far more disclosure of contributions made by appointees to their appointing officials

Other legislation (SB 1213) increases the authority of the Secretary of Administration to provide oversight of the review and award of contracts and enhances the efficiency and effectiveness of the contracts process by requiring more state agencies and institutions to comply with certain requirements regarding review and award of contracts. The legislation also requires the Attorney General to review certain contracts and prohibits the use of cost plus percentage of cost contracts.

In response to a federal ruling that now allows corporations to spend money on political races, we added new disclosure rules (HB 748)  to assure that the companies report how much money they are spending on political activity and how it is being used. Other new laws modernized the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control system to make sure it meets increased standards of ethics (HB 1717) and transparency and created a new unit to crack down on fraud and kickbacks in the Medicaid system (SB 675).

Additional Legislation

Legislation I sponsored or worked to pass this year helps to prevent foreclosures (SB 1015) and protect working families from scams (SB 1216); prepares our state for any effects of the Gulf oil spill and eliminates the liability cap on companies that cause another spill that affects our coast (SB 836); helps law enforcement prosecute violent offenders and protect the innocent from wrongful imprisonment (HB 1403); prevent those who have abused or neglected children from working in our daycare and childcare facilities (SB 567); protects military service members from losing their homes while they are overseas defending our country (SB 1400); requires that the last wishes of military members who are killed in the line are respected (HB 76).

For a longer list of the bills I’ve sponsored and passed in my four terms as your representative please visit my Issues page by clicking here.

Investing in Our Economy

Our number one priority this session was to get North Carolinians back to work and support our small businesses, which is crucial to our economic recovery. We agreed on the need to: recruit jobs into the state and protect the ones we have; build a workforce to fit the needs of the 21st Century; invest in existing job development funds for new and expanding businesses and assist small businesses in creating jobs.

Our work has been rewarded with some of the best business ranking in the country. North Carolina was ranked as having the best business climate in the nation for the eighth time in nine years by Site Selection Magazine, we are one of only seven states to retain the market’s top AAA bond rating, and CNBC has declared our state “most improved” of the top five in its annual survey, “America’s Top States for Business”, elevating the state from 9th to 4th.

This year’s budget continues to build on our economic recovery and growth. Some of the investments we’ve made are below, a more extensive list can be found at my website by clicking here. You can also find the entire budget here.

$34 million – Small Business Tax Relief. The budget provides tax relief for 125,000 small businesses, most of which have fewer than 10 employees that employ 500,000 people in our state by lowering the cost of maintaining and adding jobs in North Carolina. The provision allows a refundable income tax credit to a small business equal to 25% of the amount it paid in unemployment insurance tax on wages paid to employees.

$12.5 million – Provides additional funding for the One NC Fund to enhance the competitive position of North Carolina when recruiting national and international business and industry projects. Three percent of these funds shall be used for small business expansion.

$6 million – Job Maintenance and Capital Development Fund, which includes $3 million for the Goodyear plant in Fayetteville. The Fund requires Goodyear to invest at least $200 million in capital upgrades to their facilities, maintain a work force of at least 2000 full–time employees and provide them with quality health care benefits, while abiding by stringent environmental standards. Since the Fund was first established in 2007 Goodyear has paid over $5.6 million in county taxes alone.

$5.75 million – Small Business Center Funding, including funds for FTCC’s Center.

$5 million – Provides funding to support the seven Regional Economic Development Commissions, including the Southeastern Commission for our area.

$5 million – Provides additional funding for the Biotechnology Center.

$4.6 million – Industrial Development Fund. 6 grants were awarded by the IDF in 2009, leveraging $733 million in private capital investment and will result in the creation of 1,000 jobs.

$3.13 million – Provides additional funding for the Rural Center’s Building Reuse and Restoration Program to strengthen the capacity of rural communities to compete for and attract new and expanding businesses. Funding for small-scale regional community development projects is also included.

$1.5 million – One NC Small Business Fund program, which provides matching grants to businesses that qualify for federal incentives funds.

$1.5 million – Provides funding for the Main Street Solutions Program. This program provides grants to active Main Street Communities and designated micropolitans with populations between 10,000 and 50,000 people. Grants are to be used to support downtown economic development, historic preservation initiatives, and other public and private improvement projects that will support small businesses and job creation.

$1.25 million to the North Carolina Military Business Center in Fayetteville and $950,000 to the Defense Security Technology Accelerator in Fayetteville. These centers are helping to create and expand our area’s rapidly growing Defense Technology business sector, bringing 21st Century industries and high-paying jobs to our area.

$1 million – Provides funding to the Rural Center to continue the Small Business Assistance Fund, via grants up to $20,000 in three areas: 1. Improving energy efficiency on the farm, developing new markets and developing new products.

$1 million – Appropriates money for matching funds for US Department of Energy grants to support energy research and green jobs.

$750,000 – Provides funds for small business loans for those who have limited access to credit.

$875,000 – Provides funding to attract businesses to locate operations in North Carolina and to increase the sale of North Carolina exports, including agricultural commodities.

$100,000 – Provides nonrecurring funding for the Indian Economic Development Initiative.

Economic Incentives

House Bill 1973 – Various Economic Incentives

• Enhances the film production tax credits by increasing the per production cap from $7.5 million to $20 million, by increasing the credit amount from 15 percent to 25 percent of a company’s qualifying expenses, and by clarifying that qualifying expenses are subject to audit by the Secretary.
• Creates a new tax credit for interactive digital media. Under the new credit, a taxpayer that develops IDM in this state is allowed a credit equal to a certain percentage of allowable expenses over $50,000. The percentage is 20 percent expenses paid to a participating community college or research university for services performed in this state and 15 percent for all other allowable expenses.
• Extends the sunset for the credit for recycling oyster shells from January 2011 to January 2013.
• Creates economic development incentives and favorable tax treatment for Eco-Industrial Parks located in counties that are not required to perform motor vehicle emission inspections.

This year’s budget (S897) Extends the sunset on the following expiring tax credits and refunds: (Section 31.5)

• The tax credit for mill rehabilitation.
• The tax credit for qualified business investments.
• The sales tax refund for air passenger carriers.
• The sales tax refund for motorsports aviation fuel.

HB 1829 – Renewable Energy Incentives

• Extends credits for constructing renewable fuel facilities and biodiesel producers
• Reinstates and expands the credit for a renewable energy property facility
• Clarifies that real property donated for conservation purposes can only be used for those purposes

HB 1249 – Homebuilder Property Tax Deferral Changes – Modifies the homebuilders’ inventory property tax deferral program by allowing residences constructed by a builder and owned by either the builder or a business entity of which the builder is a member to qualify for the deferral.

Community Colleges

In recent years, North Carolina communities have experienced tremendous job loss, particularly in the manufacturing industry. This has resulted in an unprecedented number of people going to our community colleges to learn new skills and retrain for new jobs. Enrollment continues to soar at these institutions. In this year’s budget, we fully funded enrollment growth in community colleges to ensure that students are not denied services because of enrollment growth ($122 million for fiscal year 2010-11).  A well-educated and well-trained workforce benefits all businesses in this state, whether they are large or small.

The Small Business Center Network housed within North Carolina community colleges also plays an important role in assisting small businesses throughout the state. We allocated $5.75 million to the program this year so that it can help North Carolinians start and grow their own small businesses. Each community college in the state is home to a small business center, meaning that such a center is located within a 30-minute drive of almost all North Carolinians. Many of the services offered are free of charge.

The North Carolina Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning, or NC REAL, is a non-profit organization within the community colleges that helps encourage entrepreneurship and small business creation. NC REAL’s training programs and curriculum have helped thousands of people create jobs throughout our state. This year, we appropriated $263,300 for the 2009-10 fiscal year and the 2010-11 fiscal year.

We also continued to appropriate funds to the community colleges for the NC Military Business Center centered in Fayetteville so that it can continue with its critical work. The primary purpose of the center is to help small- and medium-sized businesses throughout the state that are seeking federal contracts, with a focus on military-related contracts. The center also helps highly-trained military personnel transition to civilian employment and recruits new defense-related businesses to the state. We appropriated $1.25 million in recurring funds for the center.

University System

The University of North Carolina is home to the Small Business and Technology Development Center. The center provides business consulting services and management education to growing small businesses. Although the main office is located in Raleigh, the center operates 10 regional service centers in 17 offices throughout the state.

The University system was likewise funded for full enrollment growth at $59 million dollars additional over last year and full financial aid as well.  The University system is an extraordinary economic engine in this state, accumulating over $1 billion in outside research grants and contracts last year.

Department of Commerce

The One North Carolina Small Business Fund within the Department of Commerce received $1.5 million this year. The program provides matching funds for businesses trying to obtain federal research grants under the Small Business Administration. Since 2003, through the One NC Fund the State has made 304 awards, totaling $71 million for the creation of 40,000 jobs and capital investment of $6.9 billion. In 2009, $8.5 million was committed to 40 grantees for job creation and retention of over 14,000 jobs and $550 million in capital investment.

In 2007, the General Assembly created the NC Green Business Fund. This fund was established to provide grants or loans to small businesses involved in a variety of “green” industries, such as renewable fuels or energy-efficient building technologies. Last year, we allocated $5 million of federal stimulus money to support this program.

The Business ServiCenter within the Department of Commerce provides information about state and local programs and resources to help growing small businesses. The center provides one-on-one consultation over the phone or in person about issues such as identification of business resources and licensing requirements and can also supply referrals to other state, federal, and local agencies. Much of this general information is also available online at Business Link North Carolina, www.blnc.org. The department also has a small business ombudsman, who assists in resolving issues with state agencies.

In these difficult economic times, my colleagues and I thought it prudent to authorize the Department of Commerce to administer the Small Business Jobs Preservation and Emergency Assistance Fund in the amount of $1 million (S.L. 2009-451, Sec. 14.3  - SB 202, Sec. 14.3). Money from the fund may be used for: (1) emergency bridge loans where clear ability to repay has been established but credit remains unavailable and (2) other purposes related to small business job preservation as approved by the department. The amount of a loan made to a small business is limited to an aggregate total of no more than $35,000. The small business is required to report on the costs of the project for which the loan is made to the department, and is subject to inspections.

Since its beginning in 2003, the Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) has committed $750 million in grants to 100 grantees, resulting in commitments of over $7 billion in investment and over 30,000 new jobs. In 2009 alone, JDIG entered into 16 grant agreements, which will result in the creation of over 5,000 new jobs and the retention of 6,000 existing jobs.

Industrial Development Fund – 6 grants were awarded in 2009, totaling $4.6 million. These grants leveraged $733 million in private capital investment and will result in the creation of 1,000 jobs.

Site Infrastructure Development – This program was designed in 2003 to attract large scale industrial projects. In 2009, Merck received $24 million under the fund for the construction of a facility in Durham that will manufacture flu vaccine. The grant agreement set performance targets of 200 jobs at average wage of $57,000 and investment of $166 million in construction and $90 million in machinery and equipment.  Merck has far surpassed all of those requirements.

Job Maintenance and Capital Development Fund – This program was created in 2007 to help retain jobs with existing manufacturers who were making substantial capital investments. Two grants have been awarded under this program – Goodyear in Fayetteville and Bridgestone in Wilson. In each case, the company has made an additional investment of at least $200 million and has agreed to retain at least 1,800 existing jobs at salaries at least 40% above the county average.  Appropriation here was $6 million this year.

Aid to Non-profits

The General Assembly provides funding to a variety of non-profits that help foster the growth of small businesses. These agencies include the Rural Center, the Golden LEAF, the North Carolina Biotechnology Center, the Community Development Initiative, the Institute of Minority Economic Development, and others. In addition to ongoing efforts that help small business gain access to capital, this year we appropriated $1 million to the Rural Center to assist existing small businesses. The Rural Center combined this money with funds from the Golden LEAF to develop an initiative in conjunction with the Self-Help credit union that will allow Self-Help to make loans in the amount of $27.5 million to small businesses.

Golden LEAF

In 1999, the North Carolina legislature created Golden LEAF to administer one-half of North Carolina’s share of the Master Settlement Agreement with cigarette manufacturers in accordance with the court consent decree between North Carolina and the manufacturers. Golden LEAF is a nonprofit organization devoted to the economic well-being of North Carolinians. The foundation makes grants throughout the state intended to help improve the state’s economy, particularly in communities that relied heavily on the tobacco economy.

The president of Golden LEAF, updated subcommittee members on the recent work of the foundation.  A total of 111 grants were awarded in 2009 totally $35 million.  Major initiatives of the Foundation include:

Community Assistance Initiative – the Community Assistance Initiative is a grant program that targets communities of need and provides direct support for projects that significantly enhance the quality of life for citizens within those communities by stimulating economic activity or providing assistance in overcoming barriers to economic transition or community progress.  The Initiative reserves $2 million for efforts in each county and works closely with community leaders in developing programs appropriate for the individual community.

Economic catalyst grants – economic catalyst grants assist eligible state, regional and local economic development groups with grants that lead to job creation in tobacco-dependent or economically distressed areas. Golden Leaf works closely with the NC Department of Commerce and other economic developers in awarding these grants. 4,300 jobs were created or retained in the 2009 calendar year with these grants.

Recent examples of this program include:

• Domtar – The foundation worked with various economic development groups to retain the Domtar facility (paper manufacturing) in Martin County.  The facility is an important local economic engine and accounts for 20% of the tax base in Martin County.
• Townsends – The foundation worked to retain a chicken processing plant in the state.  The efforts will ensure the retention of jobs not only at this particular plant, but also at other facilities and for poultry farmers throughout the State.

The Golden LEAF Opportunities for Work (GLOW) program was created to address some of the urgent job training needs North Carolina faces during the current economic downturn. GLOW was a short-term, non-degree workforce development grant initiative that supported vocational and/or technical training programs targeting identified employment opportunities in tobacco-dependent, economically distressed and/or rural communities. The expected outcome of projects awarded under this initiative is the eligibility of trainees for placement in permanent, full-time jobs requiring their new skills.

A recent example of success is in the aerospace manufacturing industry.  The Golden LEAF has played a pivotal role in the recruitment of Spirit Aerosystems to Kinston.  This facility is expected to begin operation in mid-2010 and will bring 700 jobs to this area.

In the foreseeable future, Golden LEAF will be involved in initiatives to:

• Invest in broadband infrastructure with a major emphasis in Cumberland County
• Green economy and health care
• Increase accountability and transparency
• Strengthen commitment to Community Assistance Initiative
• Build STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) education opportunities, again with a large presence in our county.

The North Carolina legislature recently completed work on the state’s budget, a process that parallels in many ways one that families across our community engage in every year. Around kitchen tables piled with bills and calculators, we balance our needs and our wants with our incomes and savings. We take into account our expected earnings, our foreseeable expenses and try to put a little away for all the things we can’t anticipate.

Over the last two years, as the effects of a global financial crisis have reverberated from Wall Street to the streets of our cities and towns, this process has been become far more difficult for many of us.  Too many of our neighbors have lost jobs and the benefits that came with them. Some of those lucky enough to have found work have had to accept lower pay and fewer hours.

The process has been incredibly challenging for state governments across the nation as well. As unemployment grew so did the demand for state services. In North Carolina, we engaged this year in an exhaustive effort to eliminate unnecessary spending, preserve essential services and make smart investments so all our neighbors can share in a full and lasting recovery as quickly as possible. Programs that have helped thousands of our citizens find work, avoid foreclosure, or keep their health coverage were retained or expanded, but the most important investments we made were in the most effective engines of recovery: education, economic development and assistance to small business.

Our task was made easier by careful planning and responsible budgeting over the years immediately leading up to the crash of 2008.  While no one could have anticipated the magnitude of the economic disaster, we do not have to look far to see what might have been required without this foresight. Other states have been forced to make devastating cuts to even the most essential programs, compromising the quality of their future workforce and delaying or denying the dreams of many of their citizens.

I am proud of the fact that, even while facing nearly a billion dollar deficit following last year’s four billion dollar loss in state revenue, this year’s budget contained no additional cuts to K-12 public education positions¹, allowing our teachers to focus on their core mission of providing a sound, globally competitive education to every child. By comparison, Mississippi cut their investment in K-12 education by nearly 10% and California was forced to lay off 27,000 teachers, 15% of their force. Louisiana lawmakers are considering a four day school week for all students, while Arizona cut state funding for full-day kindergarten by half and eliminated preschool for 4,328 children².

The contrasts are even clearer in the region’s funding of their state Universities. The cut to the UNC system in this year’s budget represents a reduction of exactly .03%, while robust enrollment growth and student financial aid was fully funded¹. By comparison, South Carolina cut state funding to their colleges and universities by 24%, Virginia cut theirs by 15% and Louisiana by 20%. Georgia will lay off 1,418 state college and university employees and impose six furlough days on those who remain².

Expanding access to our state’s community college system has allowed a record number of our citizens to take advantage of worker retraining programs, helping those who lost jobs in this recession get off unemployment and back into full time positions. In this year’s budget, Community and Technical Colleges saw a budget increase of 3.5% and full funding of over 15% enrollment growth¹, while maintaining the second lowest tuition rate in the country³. At the same time, Georgia cut their technical college budget by 6%² while charging nearly twice our state’s tuition³.

While an educated workforce has been the driving force behind our state’s progress for a century, we can only expect to retain our best and brightest if our businesses survive and prosper.  We continued balanced economic development policies that include investment in our state’s businesses with an aggressive mix of targeted incentives, tax credits to encourage research and development, the creation of venture capital and an emphasis on renewable energy and regional job growth sectors. We made investments in small business incubators, expanded loans and provided $34 million in tax relief to small businesses, and made crucial energy and technology infrastructure improvements as well¹.

Unlike many other states, we were able to make these investments, reduce spending to the lowest level in 14 years⁴ and balance our budget without raising taxes on our citizens and businesses. In fact, North Carolina was once again tied for the lowest total effective business tax rate in the U.S⁵. The national business rankings reflect the success of these investments and policies, with North Carolina ranked as having the best business climate in the nation for the eighth time in nine years by Site Selection Magazine⁶. We are one of only seven states to retain the market’s top AAA bond rating⁷ and are ranked fourth in CNBC’s list of the “Top States for Business”⁸.

Finally, this year’s  budget also protects the state’s most vulnerable citizens with sustained basic health and human services¹,  initiates a major Medicaid fraud investigation and prosecution unit, and increases vital juvenile and adult justice and public safety resources¹, particularly through the collection of DNA from suspects on arrest for major crimes⁹ and critically needed inter-agency technology improvements.

We are facing tremendously challenging times as a state and a community, and yet I remain hopeful that our best days are ahead of us. As the national recovery begins there are some would have us believe North Carolina is falling behind, but as John Adams once said facts are stubborn things, and we must only look around our region and the country we can see the depth of crisis we have managed to avoid. Having weathered the recession far better than many of our neighboring states through responsible governance and careful planning, we are well positioned to move North Carolina and Cumberland County into a brighter, more prosperous and more secure future for all our citizens.

1. Session Law 2010-31/Senate Bill 897, Current Operations and Capital Improvements Appropriations Act of 2010 (North Carolina State Budget)
2. National Conference of State Legislators – State Measures to Balance FY 2011 Budgets
3. CollegeBoard Trends in College Pricing –Tuition and Fees by State, 2009-2010
4. NC Budget and Tax Center – FY 2010-11 State Budget Sets Spending at Its Lowest Level in 14 Years
5. The Council on State Taxation: Total state and local business taxes State-by-state estimates for fiscal year 2009 – March 2010
6. Site Selection Magazine’s Annual Business Climate Ranking 2009
7. North Carolina Department of State Treasurer – Annual Report (p. 13)
8. CNBC Special Report – America’s Top States for Business 2010
9. Session Law 2010-94/House Bill 1403 – The DNA Database Act of 2010

The State Library of North Carolina, a Division of the Department of Cultural Resources has announced the Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) grant awards for 2010-2011.

198 applications were considered in ten categories and requests for funds totaled $5,484,10, with 162 projects approved for funding totaling $4,923,671.

These awards are made possible by LSTA grant funding from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal grant making agency.

Cumberland County LSTA Grant Recipients:

Cumberland County Public Library & Information Center
$98,370 Technology Grant
$25,000 Special Project Grant – Foreign Language Collection Services
$20,000 Strengthening Public and Academic Library Collections Grant

John Griffin Middle School – $10,000 School Library Collection Development Grant

Methodist University - $21,740 Basic Equipment Grant for Davis Memorial Library

The full LSTA Awards list for 2010-2011 is available by clicking  here.

Last week the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Education passed its budget recommendation for FY 2010-2011. Given the projected state deficit of more than 800 million dollars, budget writers sought to protect public education from additional cuts wherever possible. Committee Co-chairman Rep. Rick Glazier said during negotiations “We’re trying to use innovative and extraordinary measures to protect the classroom.”

In the end, committee members passed a budget that eliminated all additional cuts to personnel (including teachers, support staff and Assistant Principals) proposed in the Senate and Governor’s budgets. House Appropriations committee Chairman Mickey Michaux declared the budget would spare every teacher position from cuts – “It allows all classroom teachers to keep their jobs.

Education leaders immediately applauded the committee’s budget:

“We appreciate the House’s determined focus to protect K-12 public schools to the extent possible, and we are grateful that many of the previously problematic cuts have been reduced or eliminated.”

- Bill McNeal, executive director of the North Carolina Association of School Administrators (NCASA)

“We applaud the House for making K-12 public education a funding priority in these difficult economic times. This budget says loud and clear that it will not be balanced on the backs of our school children and their teachers. This is a good day for North Carolina’s public schools.”

- Sheri Strickland, President of the North Carolina Association of Educators

“As local boards of education across the state are struggling to provide high quality education in a difficult economic climate, the House version of the budget will assist them in giving the children of this state the necessary tools to compete in the 21st century global economy.”

- Leanne Winner, director of governmental relations for the North Carolina School Boards Association (NCSBA)

Even more important than the approval of state education leaders was the outpouring of gratitude from teachers, principals and parents across the state. Rep. Glazier received thousands of emails like these thanking him for his leadership:

“As a mother of two school aged children I cannot thank you enough for finding the means to save teaching positions. This is an action that not only saves jobs . . . it saves our students!”

“Words can’t really express my gratitude in your hard work on the House budget proposal, I personally commend you as a 6th year Kindergarten teacher. Thank you for standing up for my children and funding them first.”

The budget would save over 1,600 classroom jobs statewide, jobs that would otherwise have been lost. Budget writers accomplished this by appropriating $90 million from the Education Lottery fund, $73 million of which comes from an unexpected increase in revenue from ticket sales. The additional $17 million comes from a one-time transfer from the school construction fund, which would be left at over $130 million.

Rep. Glazier spoke to the use of construction money to save classroom jobs: “In this critical budget year, as we continue to recover from the global economic crisis, we have prioritized people over buildings. We must do everything possible to ensure that as new schools are constructed, our teachers, support personnel and administrators will still be employed and available to staff them.”

Once the full House budget is passed, negotiators from both chambers will begin the work of combining the House and Senate’s proposals. If you’d like to share your thoughts on the budget or any other issue of concern you can email Rep. Glazier directly by clicking here.

You can read the House’s proposed Education budget by clicking here.