“Now hear this!  A People’s platform opposing HB 786, the RECLAIM NC Act

In the last few weeks, I’ve worked with community leaders and members of our organization, Action NC, and various partner groups around the state, to hold community forums in Spanish about House Bill 786, the “RECLAIM NC” Act, being considered now in the state legislature. In the forums, our organizations and lawyers shared information about exactly what is included in each section of the bill.  But the main goal of the workshops was to hear from immigrant communities directly THEIR thoughts and opinions on the bill. Participants had a variety of ways to express their views about these issues, including group discussion, Q&A and interactive activities like voting on various provisions as harmful or beneficial.

Moral Monday: The Day After

At a time when lawmakers in Washington are debating slashing Medicare funding, a report out this week shows the share of seniors living in poverty in North Carolina is much higher than originally realized. Statewide, more than 15 percent of residents 65 and older live below the poverty line when calculated under the Census Bureau’s supplemental poverty measurement, according to the report by the Kaiser Family Foundation. Previously, senior poverty was thought to be at 10 percent in North Carolina.

Nationwide, the share of seniors living in poverty is higher than the official poverty measure in every state. Under the supplemental poverty measure, which deducts health spending from income, poverty rates could increase if beneficiaries were required to pay higher cost sharing or premiums for Medicare.

As Congress debates various methods to reduce federal spending, it is important to keep in mind that Medicare and Social Security, in their current forms, are two of the most successful anti-poverty programs ever developed in this country. As lawmakers look to alter that model, the outcomes could be disastrous.

Action NC statement on Senate budget proposal:

With drastic cuts to education and health services, coupled with short-sighted environmental and governmental deregulation, it is now clear that the Republican-led Senate is set on following the lead of their colleagues in the House and the Governor’s office in abandoning their collective obligation to do what is best for all the people of North Carolina.

This budget will reduce available revenues by more than $200 million this year alone, expanding to more than $700 million over the two years, all at the expense of low and moderate income North Carolinians for the express benefit of high-income individuals and corporations. These cuts deeply impact our Medicaid system, which will be forced to increase costs to patients, reduce reimbursements to providers, and our public education system, which will decrease our already measly per-pupil spending and force larger class sizes with less classroom resources.

In a time of continued economic hardship for so many in North Carolina, we can ill afford these deep and foolish cuts to our public investments. It is fiscally irresponsible for the Senate to make such a proposal, and we oppose it.

More than 60 percent of North Carolina voters oppose a school voucher plan currently under consideration at the General Assembly. How do we know? We asked you. And you. And you.

Actually, we didn't, but the awesome folks over at Public Policy Polling did. 

You know the background by now: the bill currently under consideration in the North Carolina General Assembly would take $90 million from the public school budget and spend it on a school voucher program. The bill would give some low-income students grants of up to $4,200 to pay for private school tuition, far less than is necessary to actually afford a private school.

But this new poll clearly shows that when lawmakers say that the public is with them on school vouchers, they are just blowing hot air. Nearly two-thirds of North Carolinians have demonstrated their strong opposition to this insidious disinvestment in our public education system, and now the only question is whether or not lawmakers will heed their warning.