Counties across the state are adopting Adequate Public Facilities Ordinances (APFOs) that require homebuilders to pay fees of up to $14,953 for each new home built.1 County commissioners favoring these…
Gov. Mike Easley and the General Assembly continue the spend-and-tax cycle, increasing the General Fund $1.8 billion, 9.5 percent, over last year. General Fund spending on operations reaches $20.7 billion…
The legislature passed a law, SB 3, which would require North Carolinians to pay for electricity used by out-of-state residents. SB 3, which is the new, hastily drafted energy bill,…
There is no consistent relationship between in-school instructional time in mathematics and a nation’s average score on an international mathematics test. Researchers from Pennsylvania State University concluded that there was…
North Carolina is headed toward imposing major new regulations and taxes on the consumption and production of energy, all in the name of fighting global warming. But the climate hysteria…
North Carolina’s 2001 mental health reform was ambitious and well intentioned but flawed. Many proven ideas did not make the final version of reform and lawmakers immediately raided the mental…
North Carolina faces estimates of nearly $10 billion in school facilities needs over the next five years. Since 2000, school choice saved taxpayers over $20 million a year in annual…
The Senate has passed a major electricity bill that includes something called a renewable energy and energy efficiency portfolio standard (REPS). The REPS consists of two separate requirements: A renewable…
The Senate fiscal year 2007-08 budget would have spent $1.3 billion (7.1 percent) more on operations than the previous year, plus another $1.2 billion in new debt. The Senate would…
Municipalities legally can acquire unincorporated areas next to their borders without the consent of the residents living in those areas. This process, called forced annexation, was supposed to promote sound…
There are three new proposals that would impose hundreds of millions of dollars in new taxes on North Carolinians in the name of fighting global warming. None of these proposals…
North Carolina is among the 26 states that have a maximum compulsory age of 16. Among the 50 states and D.C., there is no consistent relationship between the maximum compulsory…