Today, North Carolina Republican Party Chairman Robin Hayes shared his thoughts regarding Beverly Perdue’s budget veto by the North Carolina General Assembly.  He added facts that the liberals have chosen to overlook. When the television commercials are running, don’t forget the bullet points .  The liberals running the television ads certainly have!

Thank you, Chairman Hayes, for reminding us of the truth.  Let’s not forget to thank the “Party of Five” that stood with the Republicans, either.

 

Chairman Hayes’ Remarks:

North Carolina faces high unemployment and historic budget deficits because of decades of out-of-control spending and failed policies from the tax and spend Democrats in Raleigh.  Governor Perdue had a chance to work with Republicans but chose to politicize her veto stamp to protect the status quo and to energize her liberal base for her re-election campaign.

“Fortunately for North Carolinians, the General Assembly reached a bi-partisan agreement to reject Governor Perdue’s $1 billion tax hike and right-size state government to provide a better future for North Carolina’s families, students and job creators.  Our state’s fiscal problems were not caused by Republicans but this budget is a responsible first step by Republicans towards putting our state’s fiscal house in order.”

Budget fulfills promises made during the 2010 campaign:

• Balances the budget, closing a $2.5 billion shortfall
• Allows the temporary sales and income tax increases to expire, putting $1.3 billion back into the hands of North Carolina taxpayers
• Provides tax relief for small businesses allowing them to expand and put people back to work
• Protects education – fully funding all classroom teachers and teacher’s assistants
• Brings state spending in line with revenues and places North Carolina back on the path to fiscal responsibility

 

Right-sizes State Government:

• Cuts state spending by approximately 4%.  Spending has more than doubled in the past 10 years.
• More than doubles the amount of money in the Rainy Day Fund – $185 million
• Allocates $125 million for renovation and repair of university and state buildings
• Fully funds the state’s retirement system

Creates Private Sector Jobs:

• Cuts taxes for EVERY North Carolinian by allowing temporary taxes to expire, reducing the state’s sales tax from 7.75% to 6.75%
• Implements small business tax relief – exempting the first $50,000 of small business income from income tax
• Creates nearly 14,000 private sector jobs in the first year (30,000 over the next two years) by returning nearly $1.5 billion to the hands of taxpayers of North Carolina
• Extends unemployment benefits for 40,000 North Carolinians whose benefits have expired

Protects Students and Teachers:

• Republicans believe that every child should be reading by the time they leave 3rd Grade.  Currently 23% fail to do so, yet only 3% are held back.
• Reduces class sizes in grades 1-3 from 18:1 to 17:1 – adding more than 1,100 additional teachers
• Protects every teacher and teacher assistant position currently employed
• Provides liability insurance for teachers and school employees to help ensure their safety in the classroom
• Does not pass down fiscal responsibility for school buses, tort claims and worker’s compensation claims to the counties like the Governor’s budget proposed – saving counties $75 million
• Allocates $100 million to the Public School Building Capital Fund to assist counties in building, renovating and upgrading schools with new technology.  Governor’s budget proposed only $55 million
• Creates a performance pay model for teachers and state employees to retain and reward our state’s best and brightest employees

Protects Health and Human Services:

• Over half of all the budget reductions in the Department of Health and Human Services have been achieved through savings with no loss of services.  We have also maximized the swapping of federal block grant funds for state funds.
• All DHHS treatment facilities, schools, mental health hospitals and contract beds have been preserved.
• All 23 optional medical services in the Medicaid program have been preserved.
• We have paved the way for major Mental Health Reform in North Carolina.
• We have achieved pharmacy and medication savings through new initiatives to increase utilization of generic drugs.
• We have restored the Governor’s proposed cuts to local health departments and senior services, and taken steps to lessen the financial burden on counties.

 

URL:  www.ncgop.org/VetoOverride

 

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