The coming political year: What will happen? What should happen?

It looks like 2012 is going to be one heck of a year in North Carolina politics and public policy — maybe one for the ages.

Between Governor Perdue’s decision not to seek a second term, the General Assembly’s “midnight madness” fiasco, a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage, a presidential primary, a court fight over redistricting, a legislative “short session,” chronic economic and fiscal crises,  and the most aggressively reactionary state legislature in decades, it’s hard to imagine how things could be much crazier.

So what does public opinion tells us is going to happen? What ought to happen?

Don’t miss a chance to gather some answers to these questions from two of the state’s leading experts. Join us at noon on Thursday, February 2, for a Crucial Conversation lunch featuring: Tom Jensen and Chris Fitzsimon.

Tom Jensen is the Director of the nationally recognized polling firm, Public Policy Polling and oversees its day to day operations. During his time at PPP he has been a frequent guest for television and radio stations across the region, and has been called on for expert analysis by publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and U.S. News and World Report. He writes PPP’s blog and Twitter account in addition to crafting the content for most of its surveys.

Chris Fitzsimon is the Director of N.C. Policy Watch and North Carolina’s leading progressive media personality. Chris is a veteran journalist and nonprofit leader whose daily commentaries are heard on radio and read online throughout North Carolina.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from these two experts at this critical time.

When: Thursday February 2 – Box lunches will be available at 11:30 a.m. and the program will start at 12:00 noon.

Where: Marbles Kids Museum 210 E. Hargett St. in downtown Raleigh. Click here for directions and information about convenient parking options.

Cost: $10 – includes a box lunch. Space is limited – pre-registration required.

Click here to register for this event

Questions?? Contact Rob Schofield at 919-861-2065 or rob@ncpolicywatch.com.

The Budget and Tax Center has analyzed data from the N.C. Department of Revenue for 2009 to create the maps below demonstrating the wide-ranging and deep benefits of the state Earned Income Tax Credit to the state.

— Alexandra Forter Sirota, Director, NC Budget and Tax Center

The North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, a project of the NC Justice Center, released a new report Wednesday detailing how 10 counties were “persistently poor” in 2000, meaning that they had high poverty rates every year for three decades.

Persistent poverty is defined by both the percentage of people living in poverty and the period of time that the poverty rate has remained high in a geographic region. Between 1970 and 2000, the brief finds, 20 percent or more of 10 North Carolina county populations lived in poverty. Persistent poverty was concentrated in the eastern region of the state, where counties had little diversification of employment, fewer teachers with advanced degrees, and a lack of affordable, adequate housing and health care.

As of 2000, there were 10 counties in North Carolina that could be defined as “persistently poor”:

• Bertie County
• Bladen County
• Columbus County
• Halifax County
• Martin County
• Northampton County
• Pitt County
• Robeson County
• Tyrrell County
• Washington County

“Living in a community of persistent poverty limits the opportunities of residents, and represents a challenge to not only regional economic development but the state’s overall economic growth,” said Alexandra Forter Sirota, director of the NC Budget & Tax Center and author of the report. “The lack of wealth, few employment opportunities and a crumbling opportunity structure in these communities makes it difficult for local governments to overcome the legacy of persistent hardship and provide pathways to mobility.”

You can read the full report at this link.

It looks like 2012 is going to be one heck of a year in North Carolina politics and public policy — maybe one for the ages.

Between the General Assembly’s “midnight madness” fiasco, other special legislative sessions, a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage, a presidential primary, a court fight over redistricting, a legislative “short session,” chronic economic and fiscal crises, a presidential/ gubernatorial/ council of state/ legislative election and the most aggressively reactionary state legislature in decades, it’s hard to imagine how things could be much crazier.

So what does public opinion tells us is going to happen? What ought to happen?

Don’t miss a chance to gather some answers to these questions from two of the state’s leading experts. Join us at noon on Thursday, February 2, for a Crucial Conversation lunch featuring: Tom Jensen and Chris Fitzsimon.

Tom Jensen is the Director of the nationally recognized polling firm, Public Policy Polling and oversees its day to day operations. During his time at PPP he has been a frequent guest for television and radio stations across the region, and has been called on for expert analysis by publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and U.S. News and World Report. He writes PPP’s blog and Twitter account in addition to crafting the content for most of its surveys.

Chris Fitzsimon is the Director of N.C. Policy Watch and North Carolina’s leading progressive media personality. Chris is a veteran journalist and nonprofit leader whose daily commentaries are heard on radio and read online throughout North Carolina.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from these two experts at this critical time.

When: Thursday February 2 – Box lunches will be available at 11:30 a.m. and the program will start at 12:00 noon.

Where: Marbles Kids Museum 210 E. Hargett St. in downtown Raleigh. Click here for directions and information about convenient parking options.

Cost: $10 – includes a box lunch. Space is limited – pre-registration required.

Click here to register for this event

Questions?? Contact Rob Schofield at 919-861-2065 or rob@ncpolicywatch.com.

It looks like 2012 is going to be one heck of a year in North Carolina politics and public policy — maybe one for the ages.

Between the General Assembly’s “midnight madness” fiasco, other special legislative sessions, a statewide vote on a constitutional amendment to restrict marriage, a presidential primary, a court fight over redistricting, a legislative “short session,” chronic economic and fiscal crises, a presidential/ gubernatorial/ council of state/ legislative election and the most aggressively reactionary state legislature in decades, it’s hard to imagine how things could be much crazier.

So what does public opinion tells us is going to happen? What ought to happen?

Don’t miss a chance to gather some answers to these questions from two of the state’s leading experts. Join us at noon on Thursday, February 2, for a Crucial Conversation lunch featuring: Tom Jensen and Chris Fitzsimon.

Tom Jensen is the Director of the nationally recognized polling firm, Public Policy Polling and oversees its day to day operations. During his time at PPP he has been a frequent guest for television and radio stations across the region, and has been called on for expert analysis by publications including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Christian Science Monitor, and U.S. News and World Report. He writes PPP’s blog and Twitter account in addition to crafting the content for most of its surveys.

Chris Fitzsimon is the Director of N.C. Policy Watch and North Carolina’s leading progressive media personality. Chris is a veteran journalist and nonprofit leader whose daily commentaries are heard on radio and read online throughout North Carolina.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from these two experts at this critical time.

When: Thursday February 2 – Box lunches will be available at 11:30 a.m. and the program will start at 12:00 noon.

Where: Marbles Kids Museum 210 E. Hargett St. in downtown Raleigh. Click here for directions and information about convenient parking options.

Cost: $10 – includes a box lunch. Space is limited – pre-registration required.

Click here to register for this event

Questions?? Contact Rob Schofield at 919-861-2065 or rob@ncpolicywatch.com.

Documented wage theft cost North Carolina workers and their communities an estimated $4.7 million in 2011, according to a new report released Monday.

The North Carolina Justice Center report finds that when an employer does not pay a worker for the work she or he has performed, families struggle to make ends meet, and the decline in workers’ spending power means less demand for local businesses’ goods and services. A decline in spending leads to a decline in tax revenue for both state and local governments, which in turn provides fewer available resources to invest in economic recovery.

“Businesses that illegally withhold wages are depriving the state’s public structures of critical tax dollars needed to support a strong economy,” said Sabine Schoenbach, a policy analyst with the NC Justice Center and co-author of the report.

The NC Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Bureau – which administers the North Carolina Wage and Hour Act – received 87,740 calls last year, the report said. This led to the investigation of over 3,000 employers – 1,651 of whom were cited – and the discovery that workers were owed $4.7 million in unpaid wages. Only $1.8 million of that total was collected, the report said, and according to the Bureau, over $1.5 million of the owed wages was uncollectable due to employer bankruptcies. As investigations are based on employee complaints, this data likely underestimates the occurrence of wage theft in North Carolina.

National and state-level data shows that workers in low-wage occupations are more likely to experience wage violations than higher-wage workers or workers in higher-wage industries. The report also finds that industries with the highest incidence of wage theft, such as retail and home health-care services, are also among the industries with the strongest job growth in North Carolina.

“In one of the worst economic downturns in modern times, a significant number of workers across the state are facing the prospect of working without pay,” said Alexandra Forter Sirota, director of the NC Budget & Tax Center, a project of the NC Justice Center, and co-author of the report. “If the state’s recovery is to be sustained, it’s critical that workers have well-paying jobs and are paid for their work.”

To read the full N.C. Justice Center brief, click here.

The North Carolina General Assembly should reform the state’s economic development incentive policies to ensure the creation of stable, quality jobs for the state’s workers, according to a new report released Thursday by the NC Budget & Tax Center. These reforms are especially critical given North Carolina’s high unemployment rate and the high-profile failure to recruit a Continental Tire facility to the state in September.

“Both the persistently high unemployment rate and the Continental Tire deal have created the opportunity for re-thinking the state’s approach to incentives,” said Allan Freyer, Policy Analyst with the N.C. Budget & Tax Center and author of the report. “In making the most of this opportunity, the state should reform its economic development incentives policies and refocus those policies towards creating more and better jobs for the state’s workers.”

The report recommends that lawmakers target taxpayer-funded incentives to recruit new firms and retain existing ones in industries that are stable, growing, and pay a decent wage. In an intensely competitive global economy, the report states, stable and growing businesses provide the best return on investment for incentive dollars. Growing businesses are most likely to increase investment and hire additional workers within the state, while declining industries are more likely to experience plant shutdowns, widespread outsourcing, mass layoffs, and wage cuts as they struggle to keep up with the global economy.

The report highlights the importance of holding incentivized firms accountable for their promises of job creation and investment in exchange for taxpayer subsidies. Under current law, all firms subsidized through the state’s Jobs Development Investment Grant (JDIG) and OneNC programs are required to meet certain job creation criteria or give back the taxpayer dollars they received, as penalties for noncompliance. However, these accountability measures do not apply to most incentive deals signed by local governments or special deals approved by the legislature – such as the proposed Continental Tire project – unless the General Assembly writes such provisions into the legislation authorizing the deal.

“The state needs to promote a more accountable job-creation process in exchange for the taxpayer dollars given to these firms,” said Freyer. “All firms receiving public dollars from the State and local governments should be held accountable for their promises. If any firm that is subsidized by state or local governments fails to live up to its promises, then those public dollars need to be taken back by those government agencies. The legislature should never grant special incentives to firms that have laid off workers in North Carolina since receiving a subsidy.”

Specific policy recommendations in the report include:

• Target incentive programs to attract and retain high-growth industries
• Target incentives toward industries with higher-wage occupations
• Enforce existing performance criteria for incentive deals funded with JDIG and OneNC.
• Extend existing performance criteria to all other incentive deals, including those offered by local communities and those approved by the legislature.
• Improve monitoring and transparency of incentive contracts and firm performance.

To read the full report by Allan Freyer, Policy Analyst with the N.C. Budget & Tax Center, click here.

State investments in core services such as education, health, and public safety are projected to reach a 40-year low over the next two years, a new report finds.

After decades of stability, state funding for core services – as a share of North Carolinians’ incomes – has fallen drastically, according to a report released Thursday by the North Carolina Budget & Tax Center, a project of theNC Justice Center.

“What distinguishedNorth Carolinafrom its southern neighbors over the past half-century has been a robust and consistent commitment to public investments in education, health, and safe communities,” said Edwin McLenaghan, public policy analyst with the BTC and author of the report. “The new state budget represents a major departure from recent historical precedent by pushing state funding to historical lows.”

The reduced commitment to public investments in the recent state budget has already produced troubling results, the report said. There are fewer teachers in the classroom, longer waiting lists for child-care subsidies, and higher tuition and fewer classes for college students. In addition, vital health-care services for elderly, disabled and indigentNorth Caroliniansare at risk of being eliminated.

The report also found that the demand for state-funded services like education, health, and corrections has outpaced the state’s population growth and increased pressure on sustaining these core public investments. Even if per capita state funding had remained constant instead of declining in recent years, funding would still fall short of the level necessary to sustain the quality and availability of key public services.

That pressure will only increase in the coming decade, the report said, asNorth Carolina’s elderly population will grow faster than the state’s under-65 population. At the same time more elderly residents become reliant on state-funded services, an even smaller share of the state’s population will be working and paying income tax.

Even as core services face substantial and growing pressure from an aging population and rising health-care costs, the state cannot afford to abandon pro-growth investments to improve educational attainment and workforce development. State policymakers will need to strengthenNorth Carolina’s commitment to education investments in order to increase the number of residents completing post-secondary degrees or credentials to meet the skill demands of new jobs.

“For the state to thrive economically and meet its commitments to seniors and other vulnerable populations, policymakers will need to reverse course and strengthen the state’s financial commitment to vital public services and investments,” McLenaghan said.

To read the full report, click here.

Today’s workplace policies were created for a labor force that does not exist, a report released today by experts with the North Carolina Justice Center finds, and increasingly, parents and caregivers are some of the state’s most vulnerable workers.

It is essential to the health of the state’s families, workforce, and businesses to explore policy solutions that address the needs of caregivers who no longer can rely on a homemaker to take care of family and care responsibilities while working, the report finds.

“We examined the data about caregivers and working families inNorth Carolina—who they are, who they care for, how they’re faring if they’re working, and what the consequences are for families, public health, and businesses,” said Sabine Schoenbach, the report’s lead author and policy analyst with theNC JusticeCenter. “Our findings are troublesome: there are a vast number ofNorth Caroliniansjuggling work and care responsibilities without any supports in the workplace. They can’t necessarily access paid sick time if their child is sick and they can’t stay home with a newborn child without risking their job.”

Among the findings in the report:

• The majority of the 1.2 million caregivers providing care for an adult family member, partner, or friend suffering from chronic illness are doing so while working at a paying job.
• 900,000 households in the state include one or more persons over the age of 65 – by 2030, this population will have grown by 80 percent. The aging Baby Boomers will increasingly require more care and the number of caregivers will only continue to grow.
• Nearly three-quarters of families in NC with children ages 6-17 have all parents in the work force.
• Nearly half of allNorth Carolinaprivate-sector workers lack a single paid sick day to care for themselves or a sick family member.
• Only 11 percent of private-sector workers in theSouth Atlanticregion have access to paid family and medical leave.
• The recession has increased the need for workplace policies that promote family economic security.
• Work-family policies increase employee productivity and reduce turnover, and thus costs, for businesses.

The report outlines several ways that policymakers could start valuing families through a comprehensive work-family policy agenda, including guaranteeing all North Carolina workers a minimum number of paid sick days, exploring a state-based family leave insurance program to ensure medical leave for families, fostering flexible workplace schedules, and addressing Family Responsibilities Discrimination.

Click here to read the full report online.

On Monday December 12 NC Policy Watch staffers Chris Fitzsimon and Rob Schofield will be in western North Carolina for two special Crucial Conversations — a lunch event in Asheville and an evening event in Boone.

Chris Fitzsimon is the Director of N.C. Policy Watch and North Carolina’s leading progressive media personality. Chris is a veteran journalist and nonprofit leader whose daily commentaries are heard on radio and read online throughout North Carolina. His colleague, Rob Schofield is the Director of Research at N.C. Policy Watch. Rob is a lawyer, lobbyist and writer with more than 25 years experience fighting for progressive policies at the state level.

Don’t miss the opportunity to hear from these two experts at this critical time.

Event #1 -

When: Monday December 12 at 12:00 noon. Lunches will be available at 11:45 and the program will start at noon.

Where: Unitarian Universalist Church of Asheville, One Edwin Place, Asheville, NC 28801 – http://www.uuasheville.org/  -  Click here for a map and directions

Cost: $10  -  Admission includes a box lunch.
Space is limited – pre-registration required.

Click here to register for the Asheville event.

Event #2 -

When: Monday December 12 at 7:00 p.m. Light refreshments will be available.

Where:  Cooperative Extension Agricultural Conference Center, 252 Poplar Grove Rd,, Boone, NC 28607
Click here for directions.

Admission is free, but space is limited – pre-registration is required.

Click here to register for the Boone event.

Questions?? Contact Rob Schofield at 919-861-2065 or rob@ncpolicywatch.com.