VOLUME 5 ISSUE 48
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WWW.NSJONLINE.COM
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WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2021
the Wednesday
NEWS BRIEFING
U.S. House impeachment vote set for Wednesday WASHINGTON, D.C. — Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Democrats are going forward with plans to oust President Donald Trump from office. Trump faces a single charge — “incitement of insurrection” — after the deadly Capitol protest. “President Trump gravely endangered the security of the United States and its institutions of Government,” reads the four-page impeachment bill. “He will remain a threat to national security, democracy, and the Constitution if allowed to remain in office,” it reads. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Study: NC’s publicly owned airports contribute $61 billion to the state’s economy, support 373,000 jobs RALEIGH — A new report from the N.C. Dept. of Transportation says that the state’s publicly owned airports contribute $61 billion to the state’s economy and support 373,000 jobs. Airports and aviation-related jobs also provide $15 billion in personal income and contribute $2.5 billion in state and local tax revenues every year, based on 2019 data. “Despite the challenges of 2020, our network of 72 publicly owned airports, and the aviation and aerospace assets that rely on them, still help move our economy forward by creating jobs, supporting business growth and connecting people and companies to markets around the globe,” said Bobby Walston, director of NCDOT’s Division of Aviation. NSJ STAFF
Trump hits Cuba with new terrorism sanctions in waning days WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Trump administration redesignated Cuba as a “state sponsor of terrorism,” hitting the country with new sanctions that could hamstring Presidentelect Joe Biden’s promise to renew relations with the communist-governed island. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the step, citing in particular Cuba’s continued harboring of U.S. fugitives, its refusal to extradite a coterie of Colombian guerrilla commanders as well as its support for Venezuelan leader Nicolás Maduro. Removing Cuba from the blacklist had been one of former President Barack Obama’s main foreign policy achievements as he sought to normalize relations with the island. In addition to attacking Cuba for its support of Maduro, the administration has also suggested that Cuba may have been behind sonic attacks that left dozens of U.S. diplomats in Havana with brain injuries starting in late 2016. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Ex-Rep. Batch heading to NC Senate; mayor joining House RALEIGH — A recently defeated state legislator and a small-town mayor have been chosen to fill vacancies at the General Assembly just before the new session convenes. Wake County Democratic activists meeting over the weekend picked former Rep. Sydney Batch and Knightdale Mayor James Roberson to fill seat vacancies. Batch will succeed state Sen. Sam Searcy. Searcy resigned last week after announcing the previous week his decision to step down before the twoyear session begins. Batch had served one term in the House before losing her re-election bid in November to Republican Erin Pare. Roberson will fill a House vacancy created when Rep. Darren Jackson was appointed to the N.C. Court of Appeals by Gov. Roy Cooper. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
PHOTO BY KATE MEDLEY
Gov. Roy Cooper sworn in to second term North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper takes the oath of office to be sworn in for his second term on Saturday morning. The ceremony had limited in-person attendance due to COVID-19.
NORTH
STATE
JOURNaL ELEVATE THE CONVERSATION
NC legislature returns with some new faces, other familiar ones Jan. 13 marks beginning of session for both state House and Senate By David Larson North State Journal
ent representing districts across the state. But despite the massive amount of money poured into the General Assembly races, much of it by groups hoping to flip one or both chambers blue, the majority of seats remained in the same party’s hands, if not with the same member. Starting at the top, the leadership of both chambers remains the same, with President Pro Tempore Phil Berger (R-Eden) atop the
Phil Berger has a lot left to accomplish
RALEIGH — North Carolina’s legislature returns Wednesday, Jan. 13 for the first official day of session in the 2020-21 biennium, and, as is the case after any major election year, many new faces are pres-
Senate leader discusses session priorities with NSJ
Recent ruling bolsters NC State Treasurer’s Clear Pricing Project
November sounded alarms over funding, ultimately driving Gov. Roy Cooper and the General Assembly to make a deal for those grants to be funded to continBy Matt Mercer ue to build out the state’s broadNorth State Journal band capacity. The state budget process beRALEIGH — The second floor of the Legislative Build- gins on the Senate side this year, ing in Raleigh is one of the most something Berger indicated powerful places in the state the chamber is already talking of North Carolina. It is where about. Berger said Sens. Bent House and Senate leaders work Jackson, Kathy Harrington and and where legislative priorities Ralph Hise, the three incoming co-chairs of the Senate are determined. At the Appropriations Comcorner of the building mittee, are already in is where much of that the process of working power is concentrat“If you’re on budget items. ed. Legislators, lobbyA topic Berger imists and anyone else at a point mediately addressed who wants to get somewhere was a recent infrastructhing done in North ture report from the Carolina must go to you look Transportation Overthis corner office and around and sight Committee. He see Senate Leader Phil said they would look at Berger. The same can don’t see the recommendations, be said for his House problems agreeing that there is a counterpart, Speaker that need funding shortfall relatTim Moore (R-Kings ed to transportation. Mountain). to be “I suspect there Berger, a lawyer addressed, will continue to be from Eden, is entersome discussion about ing his 12th term in the then I whether a bond is chamber and will start question something which will his 10th year as presineed to be taken care dent pro tempore when whether of,” Berger said. he is formally elected to you’re The report Berglead the Senate again looking very er references was auon Wednesday. He is thored by the N.C. entering the 2021 long seriously.” FIRST Commission, session with the chalwhich was established lenges of COVID-19, a Senate Leader in March of 2019 to adgovernor he is often at vise the state’s Transodds with, and probPhil Berger portation secretary on lems he wants to help a strategy for sustainsolve. able long-range transOne of the first orders of business will be to deter- portation investment. The state’s fiscal standing is mine what to do with the allocation of money included in the one of the main reasons Bergfederal COVID omnibus pack- er and Republicans took over age. Berger said legislative lead- the chamber in 2011. In that ers had begun conversations year, the state faced a $2.6 bilwith the executive branch to get lion budget gap. Since that time, recommendations. He said the the state turned a shortfall into goal would be to have the federal a surplus of billions — putting portion done some time in Feb- over $1 billion into the state’s Savings Reserve Fund in addiruary. Legislators also struck an tion to other savings. Yet the coronavirus pandemic agreement on rural broadband funding, with the General As- has Berger and other state leadsembly set to allocate $30 mil- ers cautious in this year’s seslion to the GREAT Grant program. Service providers in See BERGER, page A2
American Hospital Association and NC Hospitals Association both say transparent pricing won’t help consumers By A.P. Dillon North State Journal RALEIGH — A court ruling upholding a Trump administration executive order for increased transparency in healthcare pricing may further bolster State Treasurer Dale Folwell’s pricing transparency program, known as the Clear Pricing Project. The court ruling upheld a Trump administration’s executive order requiring hospitals treating Medicare patients to disclose the rates for services negotiated between the hospital and the insurance companies. The goal of the order is to make health care costs transparent, which in turn is expected to lower costs through increased competition. “This court decision gives us a real path forward to getting rid of secret contracts and pushing the power down to the consumer to make informed decisions when purchasing health care,” Folwell said in a statement. “Health care is the only thing in your life that you purchase that you really don’t know its cost or value. Having clear pricing will go a long way toward decreasing the cost of medical services in this country.” Announced in 2018, the Clear Pricing Project’s (CPP) transparency is like that sought by the Trump order. Folwell’s release says the CPP was created to shift away from a commercial-based payment model to a reference-based, transparent pricing model tied to Medicare rates. “We’re still getting boycotted by the healthcare cartel,” Folwell told North State Journal, referring to the North Carolina Hospitals Association (NCHA). The NCHA pushed back on the CPP and were behind a graffiti cam-
See NCGA, page A2
paign on sidewalks outside the N.C. General Assembly in July of 2019. The graffiti messages were chalk stencils that read, “720,000 voters want you to protect their healthcare. PassHB184.com.” The website address redirected to the NCHA, which claimed responsibility for the messages. The bill mentioned, H.B. 184, sought to stop the CPP but died in the Rules and Operations Committee of the Senate. State Health Plan (SHP) memSee PRICING, page A2