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SOURCE: The Daily Tar Heel
01.24.07
N.C. General Assembly opens today
By: Brendan Brown, Assistant State & National Editor
Noon today marks the opening of the 2007 N.C. General Assembly, during which legislators will face a budgetary balancing act with the amount of funding for the UNC system uncertain.
Priorities in education could be jostled by proposals for a state takeover of Medicaid funding and spark debate about where authority on university spending lies.
Education is a stated priority for legislative leaders and Gov. Mike Easley, and though lawmakers generally are reluctant to agree to tuition increases, many recognize the rising costs of education and the need for predictable tuition.
"We all know there are going to be increased costs," said Rep. Bill Faison, D-Orange. "Families need to be able to plan what tuition is going to cost them."
Traditionally, tuition increase proposals are approved by the legislature, but the past decade has seen the UNC-system Board of Governors become more active in tuition decisions.
"Each of them has a role to fulfill, but each gets sensitive when they feel the other is impinging on their role," said Ran Coble, executive director of the N.C. Center for Public Policy Research.
One such sensitive step is the four-year 6.5-percent tuition cap proposed by system President Erskine Bowles.
Senate President Pro Tem Marc Basnight said in a press conference Friday that he dislikes the tuition cap and does not think legislators should have to abide by it.
The conflict could signal the beginning of the debate on tuition territory.
"The legislature is going to be reluctant to cede that type of control," said Senate Minority Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham.
However, he said there is an argument for granting the BOG tuition authority given its grasp of system costs.
Bowles has said he believes the tuition policy will force legislators to fund education with state funds instead of tuition increases.
Regardless of who makes the decisions, health care costs might have a greater impact on legislators' decisions, something Bowles said he recognizes.
The ability of the General Assembly to provide funds for the university system could be impaired if legislators make good on promises to take over county responsibilities for Medicaid payments.
Further complicating the budget, which will be generated in the House this year, is a projected revenue shortfall of $500 million to $1 billion for 2007, Coble said.
"Knowing what we know now about the revenue picture, it doesn't look like a year where the state would be able to take the counties' share of Medicaid."
In addition, lawmakers will need to address the rising costs of health care with myriad proposals from capping Medicaid benefits to denying payouts for obesity and smoking-related ailments.
"We've got to find a way to control Medicaid costs," Faison said. "It can't just run amuck."
Tight fiscal conditions have legislative leaders advocating leaner and wiser government spending to make room for expected needs.
Basnight advocated increasing teacher's salaries, a major priority for Bowles at the higher education level, and finding new revenue sources for public schools.
Both the UNC system and the General Assembly are focused on training and retaining teachers in order to stay economically competitive.
"We have to build in our public schools, community colleges and universities a higher respect," Basnight said.
"Through education, North Carolina grows and prospers."
