Carolina Journal is taking a brief look at each new member of the General Assembly 10 in the Senate and 11 in the House. We look at where they’ve been, what they’re doing now, and what we might expect them to do as lawmakers.
The 2021-22 session began in late January. Expect COVID-19 and the ongoing fallout from the pandemic to be top priorities for lawmakers, who are crafting a new budget for the biennium. They’ll also draw new legislative and congressional maps for the next decade based on fresh census data. Each legislator, too, has their own priorities.
When the General Assembly reconvenes next week, broadband promises to be a hot topic.
One of lawmakers’ first order of business, according to Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, will be to pass legislation handling money in the rural broadband grant program. In December, legislative leaders and Gov. Roy Cooper agreed to shuffle around $30 million in COVID-19 relief funds that lawmakers earmarked for rural broadband.
Due to questions over whether the federal government required the money to be spent by the close of 2020, Cooper shifted the $30 million to other, more immediately needed expenses that qualified for pandemic relief. When lawmakers return to session, it will be their turn to vote to shift into rural broadband the $30 million the state saved by using the federal relief money.
Watauga in 2020: top headlines of the year wataugademocrat.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from wataugademocrat.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
To embed, copy and paste the code into your website or blog:
North Carolina is just beginning to see the impact the Thanksgiving holiday may have had on the state s coronavirus numbers. In a press conference Tuesday, North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Dr. Mandy Cohen said that she believes the numbers the state has seen thus far are just the beginning. It is likely the increase in COVID-19 cases reported over the last week reflect those that went to Thanksgiving gatherings already sick. Throughout the next week, the state s numbers will start to reflect those that did not know they were sick with the virus until after attending those holiday gatherings. This week, the state continuously set record numbers of coronavirus cases and hospitalizations. The case counts, in addition to a positive test rate of 10.5%, prompted Sec. Cohen to urge North Carolinians to consider canceling any remaining travel plans and to keep any gatherings small and outdoors this