State Budget Getting Closer

The House passed budget is now in the Senate.  As of today it looks like the Senate version will spend less than the house version and public education will take it on the chin, but the University system will get more.  Doesn't make sense to me.  Most people figure the Senate will vote on their budget in June, then a compromise bill with the House will be arrived at very quickly.  Look for a veto from the governor.  Big questions is whether or not the legislature has enough votes in the House to override a veto.  We'll see.

Both the House Committee on Insurance and the House Committee on Appropriations voted this week to approve H115: North Carolina Health Benefit Exchange required under the federal health care overhaul law.  This bill will create an on-line market for individuals and small businesses to purchase qualified health care plans.  So say the bill give the insurance companies to much control so some changes have been proposed that will take away some of the discretion of the insurance companies.  It will probably be heard by the full House this week.  You might want to check it out.

As you know the Governor veto the bill to extend unemployment insurance to more than 37,000 individuals receiving extended unemployment benefits; individuals that have been unemployed for a shorter amount of time are still receiving payments.  It sounds like there is a stalemate between the Governor and the Legislature regarding this piece of legislation.  Don't know what's going to happen.

Legislators concluded final public hearings regarding the redistricting of boundaries for both congressional and General Assembly seats that will remain for the next ten years.  It is hopeful that the redistricting plans will be ready to present to legislators later this month, and that the final maps can be approved and sent to attorneys at the U.S. Justice Department for approval under civil rights laws by mid-June.

On the Federal level there is some proposed regulation coming out of the Obama administration that will have a very detrimental impact on the housing marketing.  Federal banking regulators last month proposed a 20 percent down payment requirement on QRMs.(Qualified Residential Mortgage)  The 20 percent down payment requirement leaves millions of qualified potential homeowners with two grim alternatives: pay higher rates upfront for a mortgage that falls outside the regulators' proposed QRM standard or delay home ownership for a decade or more to save for an onerous down payment.  This will put homes out of reach for many Americans and further cripple the fragile housing recovery.  Just goes to show you that federal regulators who write the rules associated with legislation can have a significant impact on our lives. It pays to watch what's happening with the regulators as well as the legislators.