In February, a three-judge panel of the North Carolina Court of Appeals ruled that state regulators erred in approving a Duke Energy fuel rate adjustment. But with the passage of Senate Bill 266, over the Governor’s veto, the utility did not have to repay consumers. Lawmakers changed the law while the court handled the appeal, meaning that consumers were unable to access millions of dollars in potential refunds. 

The House Oversight Committee has once again convened in Raleigh to address what the Majority finds to be the most pressing issue facing our state. Not the absence of a budget. Not low teacher pay, public education funding, or any kind of meaningful policy. What urgent priority do they schedule for the very first week of session? A hearing on library books.

“As election workers across the state continue their work ensuring that voters have their ballots accurately counted, North Carolinians need to be able to trust the process is unfolding without any partisan interference.

Tonight, North Carolinians in communities across the state made their voices heard at the ballot box. This midterm election in November has profound implications for the direction of North Carolina and our country.

The House Oversight Committee engaged in cynical partisan theatre to paint Charlotte in a negative light despite the fact that Charlotte is safer per capita than many areas in the state, more economically successful, and effectively subsidizes the rest of the state through its contributions to state tax revenue. Charlotte is a symbol of the importance of our cities, and the legislature wishes to make an example of it to cow other cities into servile submission.

In a presentation from the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center, Executive Director Alexandra Forter Sirota shared how North Carolina’s income and corporate tax policies are stacked in favor of the wealthiest while leaving the rest of the state on the hook. 

State Auditor Dave Boliek’s Republican-led State Board of Elections decided yesterday to disregard state law and override a bipartisan decision made by Wilson County’s Board of Elections.

I am thankful to the Democrats in every corner of North Carolina who have stepped up to run for office next year. These are our most consequential legislative races in a long time. I look forward to House Democrats competing hard to earn the trust of voters in communities all over our state. Recent elections in neighboring states and a strong 2025 for municipal races across North Carolina show that we have the potential to put seats in play that have previously felt out of reach.

“With Governor Jim Hunt’s passing, we have lost one of our most profound and transformational leaders. He touched the lives of millions and his legacy lives on through the service of his family and the Hunt Institute. North Carolina would not be the state it is today without the visionary leadership of Governor Hunt -- he is irreplaceable. I am praying for his wife and their family as they navigate this difficult period.”

Today the House Oversight Committee is returning to Raleigh in an environment where the Majority has returned no budget, despite their constitutional duty to do so, and has repudiated the Governor’s constitutional authority to convene a special session, which he did in the hopes the General Assembly could fully fund Medicaid.

The conservative John Locke Foundation’s Joseph Harris published a piece this morning outlining how the ongoing budget impasse is hurting North Carolinians, and how the Republican-led General Assembly bears all the blame. The JLF has published multiple pieces highlighting the dysfunction of North Carolina’s Republican majorities and their failure to pass a comprehensive budget despite majorities in both chambers.

After wasting hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars to rig congressional maps, the House passed a few bills that were dead on arrival in the Senate. But Senate leadership took the extraordinary step of outright refusing to accept the bills from the House because they were so outside the bounds of regular order.