June Newsletter from Senator Neal Hunt

8/12/2019 June Newsletter from Senator Neal Hunt

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LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

June 4, 2014

The short session of the General Assembly convened on May 14 th

and the pace around the Legislative Building has been fast and

hectic. Short sessions are supposed to be just that, short, and we

intend to keep it that way.

During the long session in odd-numbered years, legislators pass a

biennial budget to operate our state in two fiscal years. Obviously,

its difficult to plan what the economy and what revenue will look like

a year in advance, so the main purpose of the short session is to

tweak the budget we passed in the previous fiscal year to reflect the

needs of this current fiscal year.

As co-chairman of the Senate Appropriations/Base Budget

Committee, I have spent most of this short session helping to writethe revised state budget. Weve had our challenges this year due

mainly to the rising cost of the runaway federal entitlement program,

Medicaid. However, we released and passed a budget last week

that not only fully funds Medicaid and our states core priorities, but

also provides the largest raises for our public school teachers in

state history!

HISTORIC PAY RAISE FOR NORTH CAROLINAS TEACHERS

Since 2009, the salary step plan, an archaic 37-step system

guaranteeing an increase in pay for each year a teacher serves the

state, has been frozen. This means teachers have not seen an

increase in compensation since 2009, with the exception of a 1.2%

raise Republicans gave teachers in 2012 during our first term in the

majority.

This plan will replace the archaic 37-step system with an entirely

new base pay scale designed to attract and keep the best teachers

in the classroom. More importantly, the $468 million increase will

SENATOR NEAL HUNT

Proudly Representing WakeCounty in the North Carolina

Senate

15thDistrict

LEGISLATIVE OFFICE

300 N. Salisbury Street,

Room 309

Raleigh, NC 27603

(919)733-5850

[email protected]

DISTRICT OFFICE

2600 Fairview Road

Raleigh, NC 27608

(919)781-3464
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


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provide an average 11.2% permanent pay raise. This increase will

boost North Carolinas teacher pay from 47th in the nation to the

middle of current national rankings and from 9th to 3rd in the

Southeast, boosting the state ahead of Virginia, Tennessee, and

South Carolina.

Under this new bipartisan plan, teachers will have a choice: keep

their tenure or pick the new pay plan. It is my hope that this choicewill weed out the least effective teachers by ending tenure for those

choosing the higher pay plan.

In addition, the education budget:

Offers supplemental pay for teachers with Masters degrees;

Keeps the doors open at the NC Center for the Advancement

of Teaching;

Provides $39 million for pay raises for other public school

employees;

Offers a two percent raise to principals and other school

administrators, and

Provides a $500 flat raise to non-instructional public school

employees.

Chairing the Senate Appropriations Committee meeting on May 29thas members debated

SB 744 Appropriations Act of 2014

THE SENATE BUDGET

Let me take this opportunity to highlight some other sections of our

[email protected]

STANDING COMMITTEES

Appropriations, Co-Chair

Commerce

Finance

Health Care

Program Evaluation

Redistricting

Transportation

VOTING RECORD

BILLS INTRODUCED
http://ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2013&BillID=s744&submitButton=Gohttp://ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2013&BillID=s744&submitButton=Gohttp://ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2013&BillID=s744&submitButton=Gomailto:[email protected]:[email protected]://ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/MemberVoteHistory.pl?sSession=2013&nMMUserID=200&sChamber=Shttp://ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/MemberVoteHistory.pl?sSession=2013&nMMUserID=200&sChamber=Shttp://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/reports/introducedBills.pl?nUserID=200&Chamber=Shttp://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/reports/introducedBills.pl?nUserID=200&Chamber=Shttp://www.twitter.com/SenatorNealHunthttp://www.facebook.com/SenatorNealHunthttp://ncleg.net/gascripts/members/reports/introducedBills.pl?nUserID=200&Chamber=Shttp://ncleg.net/gascripts/voteHistory/MemberVoteHistory.pl?sSession=2013&nMMUserID=200&sChamber=Smailto:[email protected]://ncleg.net/gascripts/BillLookUp/BillLookUp.pl?Session=2013&BillID=s744&submitButton=Go


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revised state budget passed last week. This Senate budget not only

raises the pay for public school teachers, but it also:

Fully funds our states core priorities without a tax increase;

Provides a flat $1,000 salary and benefits raise to most state

employees;

Takes the politics out of the State Bureau of Investigation

and the State Crime Lab by moving both to the Departmentof Public Safety;

Provides $200 million in additional tax dollars for Medicaid,

bringing the total to over $2 billion in extra state funding for

this runaway federal entitlement program (see chart below);

Provides a challenge grant to the NC Museum of History to

begin planning a building expansion;

Avoids using one-time funds to pay for recurring expenses

for the first time in recent memory; and,

Continues to add to the states reserves, more than doubling

them since 2011.

The above chart shows that Medicaid spending has indeed increased under

Republican leadership, despite those on the left citing cuts to Medicaid

NORTH CAROLINAS DECLINING UNEMPLOYMENT RATE

In 2010, our states unemployment rate was the fourth highest in the

nation at 11.2%. This embarrassing fact launched a new voter

mindset of changing course, so they elected a new Republican

majority to fix the problems that ailed our state.

Fast forward to today after the implementation of our responsible


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economic policies, our unemployment rate has fallen to 6.2 percent,

the lowest it has been since March 2006. Since Republicans took

the majority in 2011, over 200,000 jobs have been created and our

unemployment rate has dropped 4.2%!

Month, Year Employment Unemployment Rate

April 2014 4,387,118 6.2%

January 2011 4,165,815 10.4%

Total Net Jobs: 221,303 -4.2%

*Source: Bureau of Labor and Statistics

http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LASST370000000000003

Critics on the left will contend that the national unemployment rate

has also dropped. This is true. However, our state unemployment

rate, which used to be well above the national average, now falls

well below the national average. In fact, North Carolina is the

second highest in job creation nationwide.

Our states success certainly cannot be credited to the excellent

work of the federal government (joking). Our states success can

only be attributable to our new lower tax rates, less burdensome

regulations, and an overall improved business climate that the

Republican majority has implemented over the past four years.

During a meeting at the NC Museum of History, the museum staff found one of my old

campaign signs from their archives and asked me to sign it.
http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LASST370000000000003http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LASST370000000000003http://data.bls.gov/timeseries/LASST370000000000003


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CONCLUSION

I look forward to serving the people of the 15thSenate District during

my last short session in office. Thank you for allowing me the

opportunity to serve you in the North Carolina Senate.

As always, please contact my office with any concerns you may

have.Sincerely,

Neal Hunt

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June Newsletter from Senator Neal Hunt