Introducing ‘Insider Digest,’ a snack-sized serving of our comprehensive politics coverage
Do you enjoy the nuance and minutiae of state government? Do you fancy learning the finer details of legislative goings-on that inform complex and well-rounded political perspectives?
If so, you should be reading NC Insider, The News & Observer’s state government news service. But this new, weekly roundup should sate some curiosity.
Welcome to the Insider Digest, a once-a-week highlight reel of the North Carolina legislature’s latest activity. At the start of each week, we’ll share a smattering of Insider’s subscriber-only items from the week before. For politics buffs, it will give a glimpse into what our Insider readers get every day as new developments arise.
If you like what you see, consider subscribing to NC Insider for dozens of similar items each week. Email Matthew Betts, our customer service manager, at mbetts@ncinsider.com for more details. Or, fill out the form at bit.ly/InsiderTrial to see if you qualify for a free, weeklong trial subscription.
This week, medical marijuana is the biggest legislation likely to reach a vote in the North Carolina Senate. Its main sponsor, Southport’s Bill Rabon, is a veteran senator and chair of the powerful Senate Rules Committee.
The North Carolina House might vote by Wednesday on a bill requiring sheriffs to alert U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, commonly called ICE, if they charge someone with certain high-level offenses and can’t determine their legal status.
Here are some of last week’s highlights:
Could utility prices increase soon?
By Adam Wagner, 2/22/23
Shannon Becker, president of Aqua North Carolina, told legislators Tuesday that federal limits on forever chemicals that are expected to be released March 3 could have a significant impact across the state.
Aqua has 1,500 wells, Becker said. If the Environmental Protection Agency’s maximum contaminant levels for PFOA and PFOS say that any detection of the chemicals is too much, Aqua could need to filter as many as 300 of those sites.
“Where EPA comes in with that level is going to have a significant cost impact,” Becker said.
Becker was one of several speakers at a meeting Tuesday of the House Energy and Public Utilities Committee. Members heard presentations from several utilities across the state, including the N.C. Electric Cooperatives, ElectriCities, Carolina Water Service and Aqua.
The meeting was the second in a series of introductory efforts by the committee, following presentations last week from Duke Energy and Dominion Energy.
Besides the prospect of new filtration requirements, aging infrastructure could also increase operational costs for some utilities. Aqua and Carolina Water Service draw their water from wells rather than surface water. The average age of the water utilities’ infrastructure is 38 years, Don Denton, the president of Carolina Water Service, told lawmakers.
“We’re end of life for a lot of these assets,” Denton said. “Investment is required.”
Those investments will likely cause customers’ rates to increase, he added, but any increases would be approved by the N.C. Utilities Commission.
Aetna clarifies its plans
By Dan Kane, 2/23/23
Aetna’s top North Carolina representative pledged to bring more transparency, higher quality, higher access and lower costs to the State Health Plan at its board meeting Wednesday.
“I want to make it clear that our goal primarily is to deliver on our promise to delight your members with better service, better cost control and a better overall experience,” said Jim Bostian, Aetna’s North Carolina market president.
Aetna won the bid to take over administering the plan, which serves 740,000 teachers, state employees and retirees, at the beginning of 2025, after it had been handled for more than 40 years by Blue Cross NC. The plan’s board of trustees awarded the $17.5 billion, five-year contract to Aetna in December.
Blue Cross NC has filed suit in state Superior Court and state administrative court to try to win back the contract.
Bostian gave a roughly 15-minute presentation that emphasized his North Carolina roots (he grew up in Salisbury, graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill and has spent more than 35 years working in health care in the state), Aetna’s footprint in the state (serving more than 800,000 members) and the company’s provider network (which nearly overlapped Blue Cross NC’s coverage based on claims handled in 2021).
Bostian said Aetna will have 600 employees dedicated to serving the plan, with most of them in North Carolina.
Board members only had one question for Bostian. It had to do with provider access for members who get care in neighboring states.
Bostian said he has responsibility for Aetna’s business in those states as well and will make sure health plan members have provider access.
“Our network team will be ready, willing and able to add any provider in any of those border areas that wants to serve our members,” he said. “A lot of them are already in our network but if they are not we’ll get to work bringing them in.”
Chambers disagree on school calendars
By Dawn Vaughan, 2/23/23
The House will keep moving bills that give school districts calendar flexibility to start the school year earlier in August, even though the Senate will likely kill every bill.
Several House bills that moved through committees last week would let schools start sooner than late August, which would also allow final exams to happen before winter break. House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, wants to let school districts decide their own calendars.
“At the end of the day, it seems to me, (it’s) to give the local communities that flexibility for what works best for them,” Moore said. “So the communities at the beach, where maybe it doesn’t work for them, fine. Let them start (in late August) and give them the flexibility they want. But for those of us in other parts of state where we see a need, let the folks start (earlier).”
Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, told reporters Tuesday that he doesn’t “see where there’s a need to change the calendar law, except maybe to beef up the enforcement mechanisms for local systems that ignore the law.”
The tourism industry and some parents don’t want to change the calendar law, either. Berger said the only change needed would be enforcement of the current law.
Moore, however, said he doesn’t want to punish school districts.
“We pass the bill to give the schools the flexibility, and it goes to the Senate,” he told reporters after the Wednesday House session. “It’s the same story every year, and it doesn’t pass in the Senate.”
Moore add that school schedules should also align with community colleges.
“To me, it makes sense to let the schools have flexibility, and maybe even move the date out,” he said.
State sponsored grape juice
By T. Keung Hui, 2/23/23
Members of the North Carolina House Agriculture Committee backed a bill Wednesday requiring K-12 public schools and community colleges to serve muscadine grape juice — while bottles of the drink sat on their desks.
The “Encourage Healthy NC Food in Schools Act” would require public schools and community colleges to make 100% muscadine grape juice available in their vending machines. It would also require all “Got To Be NC” fruit and fruit products participants be included in the Farm To School program, which purchases items for school nutrition programs.
“It’s good for the schools and for the kids,” said Rep. Julia Howard, R-Davie, the bill’s primary sponsor. “It’s also good for your growers to promote agriculture all across the state.”
Howard brought bottles of muscadine grape juice to give to committee members. She promoted it as being a healthy drink because it has no sugar added.
“If you’re waffling, I suggest you try it,” said Rep. Jeffrey McNeely, R-Iredell. “It’s pretty tasty.”
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The House passed a similar bill in 2021 by a 91-22 vote before it died in the Senate. But the new version has wording saying that sellers will buy back unopened and expired products returned by schools in the Farm To School program.
House Bill 67 will now go to the House K-12 Education Committee.
Expanding a law enforcement training commission
By Kyle Ingram, 2/24/23
A bipartisan group of legislators announced a bill Thursday that would reserve spots for rank-and-file law enforcement on an oversight and training commission, a move the bill’s sponsors say would bring the board much-needed perspective.
The bill, SB 161, would establish permanent seats on The Criminal Justice Education and Training Standards Commission for the North Carolina Police Benevolent Association and the North Carolina Fraternal Order of Police.
The commission sets mandatory training requirements for law enforcement officers and has the authority to revoke officers’ certifications. It is currently composed of 35 members representing various law enforcement associations, but the PBA and the FOP, which jointly represent about 22,500 law enforcement officers, are not part of the commission.
“Leaving the PBA and FOP out of the commission’s work is a slap in the face to the men and women who put on their badge and wear it with honor and integrity everyday,” Rep. Dennis Riddell, who plans to sponsor a corresponding bill in the House, said at a press conference Thursday. “They deserve seats at the table.”
So far, the bill has only been filed in the Senate, but a House version is expected.
This story was originally published February 28, 2023 at 5:30 AM with the headline "Introducing ‘Insider Digest,’ a snack-sized serving of our comprehensive politics coverage."
