LEGISLATIVE NEWSLETTER

August 15, 2013

LEGISLATURE 309 LEGISLATIVE OFFICE BLDG. 300 N. SALISBURY STREET RALEIGH, NC 27603 (919)733-5850 neal.hunt@ncleg.net 15TH SENATE DISTRICT 2600 FAIRVIEW ROAD RALEIGH, NC 27608 (919)781-3464 info@nealhunt.com

The long session of the General Assembly wrapped up on July 26 th after numerous meetings lasting well into the early morning hours. Before 2010, North Carolina state leaders tried to tax and spend our way to prosperity. The mentality that government could somehow magically solve all of our issues by growing government caused our state to lose jobs, lose businesses, and struggle to compete. We vowed to create a new era of state government that focused on fixing these problems. The voters elected us to move our state off the highway to economic stagnation and instead onto the path to prosperity. Below is a summary of the many accomplishments the Republican majority made during the long session. JOB CREATION North Carolina had an archaic tax code last updated during the Great Depression. According to the Tax Foundation, our states tax climate ranked 44th most competitive in the nation. This abysmal tax climate has caused individuals and businesses to move elsewhere with more competitive tax rates and economies. We realized that enough was enough. In order to bring jobs to the Tar Heel State, we knew we had to make North Carolina more affordable for businesses. Heres a quick look at what our tax reform does: It reduces the state personal income tax rate from the current maximum of 7.75 percent to a flat 5.8 percent in 2014 and 5.75 percent in 2015; It reduces the corporate income tax from 6.9 to 5.0 percent by 2015. If the state meets revenue targets, it will then go down to 4.0 percent in 2016 and 3.0 percent in 2017; It caps the state gas tax at 37.5 cents/gallon; and It eliminates North Carolinas estate tax. With the tax reform in place, the Tax Foundation now ranks our tax climate as 17th in the nation!

In addition, we passed the Regulatory Reform Act of 2013. This legislation will improve North Carolinas regulatory environment and eliminate red tape that inhibits economic growth. The major change is that the over 22,000 state rules and regulations have to be reviewed every ten years and if not deemed beneficial, the rule will sunset. I highly anticipate that our tax reform and regulatory reform efforts will put North Carolina back in the game for job creation and will lower our unemployment rate. FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY North Carolina Legislative Democrats over the years believed in taxing and spending our way to prosperity when they held the legislative majority. Their efforts led us to having to manage a $2.5 billion budget shortfall on top of a nearly bankrupt state health plan, an underfunded retirement system, over $2 billion in debt to the federal government for an overly generous unemployment compensation program, and an array of government projects with large appetites for our tax dollars. To combat our states fiscal illness, we passed and Governor McCrory signed a fiscally responsible budget that invests in North Carolinas core priorities, strengthens public schools, creates a culture of customer service in government, and grows North Carolinas economy. The $20.6 billion budget that we crafted safeguards our states long-term fiscal health by shoring up rainy day funds and savings reserves. It accomplishes this while cutting taxes for all North Carolinians and spending over $1.5 billion in additional state dollars to fund the federally mandated out-of-control Medicaid costs. This budget also spends approximately $7.9 billion on K-12 education. Thats approximately $360 million more than was budgeted last year. Incidentally, the press has really done a poor job in reporting that the Democrats claim that we have cut K-12 education spending is absolutely untrue! QUALITY SCHOOLS Our actions prove that we stand committed in our efforts to improve North Carolinas public schools. Not only did we provide additional money in the budget for public education, we passed the Excellent Public Schools Act, which will increase accountability in the classroom by eliminating our states outdated teacher tenure program. The current tenure program promotes mediocrity and discourages excellence in teaching by granting unlimited job security to anyone who teaches. Our plan replaces teacher contracts that are renewed based on job performance and funds an additional $10 million to pay for these excellent teachers. We can continue to throw money at our public schools with hopes that it will somehow provide results, but until we have school accountability, we will continue to see more and more students fall through the cracks. Thats why we adopted an A-F grading system for every public school in the state that incorporates elements that are important to parents, such as early grade literacy scores, overall students academic gains, career readiness, and college readiness. The new A -F grading system will provide parents with an assessment that is comprehendible and easy to compare across the state. Republicans also took steps to maximize classroom instructional time by reducing unnecessary testing and requiring that End-of-Grade tests be administered during the last two weeks of the school year. In Wake County, the General Assembly passed a bill I sponsored that would allow parents to have two representatives on the Wake County Board of Education. Before this bill became law, I listened as parents from across the county criticized a lack of responsiveness within the school board. In many of these cases, parents live in one school board district, but send their child to a school located in another school board district. In addition, voter turnout in school board elections in odd-numbered years has been abysmal. Starting in 2016, voters will elect two representatives to the school board in the higher voter turnout even-numbered years.

THE GOOD ROADS STATE North Carolina was once known as the good roads state, but any driver can tell you that motto is no longer the case. The General Assembly stepped in and overhauled the North Carolina Highway Trust Fund to match projects with needs. This will significantly improve our roads and interstates by investing in our states critical infrastructure needs and taking the politics out of construction decisions. HEALTH CARE IMPROVEMENTS We asked the executive branch to develop a comprehensive plan for Medicaid reform over the next several months. Although Republicans have reined in most out-of-control state spending, a recent audit of North Carolinas Medicaid program confirmed billions of dollars in cost overruns are diverting funds away from core priorities like education and public safety. In addition, we opted out of participation in the costly provisions of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), including Medicaid expansion and the implementation of a state-based insurance exchange. Many on the left continue to criticize this action, but we realize theres no such thing as a free lunch. The federal government receives its funding from you, the taxpayer, and they continue to demonstrate fiscal mismanagement. Plus we anticipate further shifting costs to the states when the true cost of Obamacare becomes known. Lastly, we passed major health care reform legislation to improve medical billing fairness and transparency, reduce health care costs, and help consumers make better-informed decisions about their treatment. Now you will be able to go to hospitals website s to comparison shop the cost of various procedures. RESTORING INTEGRITY TO OUR ELECTIONS An Elon University poll from earlier this year found that 72 percent of North Carolinians support requiring voters to provide some form of photo identification before casting their ballot. We listened and we acted by passing common-sense legislation that requires voters to show a photo ID to vote. The elections bill we passed guarantees that any North Carolina citizen who wants to vote will have that opportunity. It establishes a list of valid government-issued photo identification voters can present at their polling places (i.e. drivers licenses, non-operator ID cards, tribal and military IDs, passports). In addition, it allows anyone without a photo identification to obtain one at no cost through the Department of Motor Vehicles. The bill also ends same-day voter registration and shortens the early voting period while providing the same number of early voting hours. In my district, there were 57 polling places in the last election and only three early voting sites. Hopefully, the additional voting sites will be more convenient and less time consuming for voters. This measure combats voter fraud. It is reckless to claim this problem doesnt exist when we havent been looking for it. We want to protect the integrity of the voting process, not hinder legitimate voters. In fact, in states that have passed voter ID laws like Georgia, voter participation has actually increased because voters feel that their vote actually counts. I anticipate the same will occur in North Carolina. PROVIDING JUSTICE AND PROTECTION FOR NORTH CAROLINA FAMILIES Earlier in the year, we repealed the Racial Justice Act. Now judges will be able to issue the death penalty to our states worst criminals. North Carolina was the only state to ever have such a law. The poor language of the Racial Justice Act allowed convicted murderers to continue appealing decisions

regardless of race. One example of the failure of the Racial Justice Act occurred in Gaston County. This law allowed three white murderers to accuse the local white district attorney of being a racist. Why? Because the district attorney had only put white people on death row. Under this act, these criminals had an appealable case because the district attorney has sought the death penalty more frequently against persons of one race than persons of another race. What mattered in the Racial Justice Act was not cold hard facts and evidence, but the experience rating of the location of the crime. The repeal of this act will bring justice to victims families and ensure murderers are appropriately punished for their crimes. In addition, we continued our commitment to protecting the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding North Carolinians by removing the prohibition of the number of places that people with a concealed carry permit can carry firearms. This law will enable citizens to protect themselves and their families as well as to strengthen safety measures for the public and penalize criminals who violate our gun laws. We realize that criminals never follow the law. They will continue to carry guns despite the lack of a permit or even a legal gun. Its important that l aw-abiding citizens are able to protect themselves and their families. CONCLUSION North Carolinians elected us to make tough decisions in order to put North Carolina back on the right track. I believe that in the eight months of the long session, we have brought about the actions that you expected from us. You expected us to create a competitive business climate to lower our unemployment rate and to put our citizens back into high-quality jobs; tax reform and regulatory reform will accomplish this. You expected us to be responsible stewards of taxpayer money; the state budget we crafted is efficient, effective, and fully funds our states core priorities. You expected us to reform public education to improve student performance; the Excellent Public Schools Act will help ensure that a quality teacher is in every classroom. You expected us to improve North Carolinas infrastructure; we took the politics out of transportation decision making. You expected us to advance our states healthcare ind ustry; weve asked the executive branch to locate Medicaid savings and bring about medical billing fairness. You expected us to restore integrity to elections; weve passed a voter ID bill that will ensure your vote counts. I think we have accomplished a lot in the short time we have been in the majority. However, there is still much more work to be done. We want to continue improving our state so that we are competitive, efficient, and effective. I firmly believe that North Carolina will be able to serve as a success story for the rest of the nation to admire, as we have already started to see from the Wall Street Journal and Forbes Magazine. Im confident that with your trust, we will continue to bring about the necessary changes that will accomplish our goal of putting North Carolina onto the path to prosperity. Thank you for allowing me to represent you in the North Carolina Senate. As always, if you have any

questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact me. Sincerely,

Neal Hunt Connect with Senator Neal Hunt

For newsletter inquiries, CLICK HERE If for any reason you do not wish to receive future newsletters, CLICK HERE