We are getting very close to falling off of the "fiscal cliff".  December 31 will be upon us before we can turn around and Congress is doing nothing that we can see.  I'm sure there are behind the scenes discussions going on but it doesn't appear to be anything positive.  Call or e-mail your representative and tell them to put away petty politics and do something positive for the country.  Someone's ox is going to get gored so let's make sure it will put our economy on  a better fiscal foundation.  We don't want to fall off this cliff.

FYI

Here are some early committee chair appointments made by House Speaker Tillis and Senate Pro Tem Berger

HOUSE

Appropriations:

Senior Chair – Rep. Nelson Dollar (Wake)
Chair – Rep. Mitch Gillespie (Burke, McDowell)
Chair – Rep. Linda Johnson (Mecklenburg)
Chair – Rep. Bryan Holloway (Rockingham, Stokes)
Chair – Rep. Justin Burr (Stanly)

Finance:

Senior Chair – Rep. Julia Howard (Davie, Iredell)
Chair – Rep. Mitchell Setzer (Catawba, Iredell)
Chair – Rep. David Lewis (Harnett)
Chair – Rep. Robert Brawley (Mecklenburg)

The House also elected its caucus leadership positions over the weekend:

Speaker Pro-Tem – Rep. Paul Stam (Wake)
Majority Leader – Rep. Edgar Starnes (Caldwell)
Majority Whip – Rep. Mike Hager (Cleveland, Rutherfordton)

A couple of observations on House Appointments:

-With Rep. Justin Burr moving to a full Appropriations Committee Chairmanship  -   vacant chair for the HHS Appropriations Sub-Committee.

SENATE

Appropriations:

Chair – Sen. Neal Hunt (Wake)
Chair – Sen. Pete Brunstetter (Forsyth)
Chair – Sen. Harry Brown (Onslow)

Finance:

Chair – Sen. Bob Rucho (Mecklenburg)
Chair – Sen. Bill Rabon (Brunswick)

Health and HHS Appropriations:

Chair – Sen. Louis Pate (Wayne)
Chair – Sen. Ralph Hise (6 western counties)
*It’s important to note that Sen. Stan Bingham did not retain his chairmanship on the HHS subcommittee.

Education and Appropriations Sub-committee on Education:

Chair – Sen. Jerry Tillman (Randolph)
Chair – Sen. Dan Soucek (Alexander, Ashe, Watauga, Wilkes)
Chair – Sen. Tom Apodaca (Education Committee only)

Rules:

Chair – Sen. Tom Apodaca (Henderson)

Agriculture:

Chair – Sen. Andrew Brock (Davie)
Chair – Sen. Brent Jackson (Duplin, Lenoir, Sampson)

Chairs of the subcommittees of the House Appropriations Committee:

HHS: Rep. Avila (Wake), Rep. Brisson (D-Bladen) and Rep. Hollo (Alexander)
Education: Rep. Blackwell (Burke), Rep. Horn (Union) and Rep. McGrady (Henderson)
General Government: Rep. Cleveland (Onslow) and Rep. Brown (Davidson)
Justice and Public Safety: Rep. Daughtry (Johnston), Rep. Boles (Moore), Rep. Hurley (Randolph) and Rep. Faircloth (Guilford)
Environment and Natural Resources: Rep. West (Cherokee) and Rep. McElraft (Cartaret)
Transportation: Rep. Torbett (Gaston) and Rep. Shepherd (Onslow)
Information Technology: Rep. Saine (Lincoln)

Just because the General Assembly is not in session doesn't mean things are not happening in Raleigh.  The Joint Revenue Laws Study Committee has produced a bill that would address the $2.48 billion debt owned to the Federal Government that the state incurred in making unemployment benefit payments.  Under the proposed legislation, the following would take place:

• reduce the maximum weekly benefits from $506 to $350
• reduce the maximum weeks of benefits from 26 to a sliding scale of between 12 and 20 weeks
• increase state unemployment taxes for some employers and expands the groups of employers required to pay those taxes. The maximum state unemployment tax rate would rise from 5.7 percent to 5.76 percent on employee wages up to $20,900.  In addition, employers who currently are exempt from paying state unemployment taxes because they don’t have a history of layoffs would have to pay a minimum rate of six-hundredths of a percent on wages up to $20,900
• Nonprofits and local governments, which currently don’t pay state unemployment taxes but do have to reimburse the state 100 percent for the benefits received by their laid-off workers, also would have to contribute to the state unemployment trust fund.

 If the measures in the bill are adopted, the committee’s staff estimates the state would accelerate repayment of the debt – erasing it by 2015, instead of in 2018 if the state does nothing. That acceleration would eliminate three years of paying higher FUTA taxes.

There is a lot of opposition to these proposals and things could change dramatically by the time the General Assembly moves into session.  Keep listening and I'll try to keep you abreast of any other proposals that are being floated.

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/05/2526625/bill-calls-for-reduced-benefits.html#emlnl=Politics#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/05/2526625/bill-calls-for-reduced-benefits.html#emlnl=Politics#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/05/2526625/bill-calls-for-reduced-benefits.html#emlnl=Politics#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/05/2526625/bill-calls-for-reduced-benefits.html#emlnl=Politics#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/05/2526625/bill-calls-for-reduced-benefits.html#emlnl=Politics#storylink=cpy

Read more here: http://www.newsobserver.com/2012/12/05/2526625/bill-calls-for-reduced-benefits.html#emlnl=Politics#storylink=cpy