Boy oh boy

Boy oh boy has this week been an interesting one to say the least. Both of my bosses on the Legislative Team have been on much needed vacations so it has been just me holding down the fort over at the General Assembly. As much as I was out of my comfort zone walking around without my bosses who know, quite literally, everyone, it felt good to walk around the legislature, confidently waving back to the lobbyists, legislative assistants, representatives and senators that have started recognizing me even without my bosses.

The conference report on the budget for the 2019-2021 biennium was released Tuesday afternoon following a press conference led by Senate and House leadership. While many people in both parties are happy with most aspects of the budget, there are some still very upset that the legislature chose not to include Medicaid expansion. Meanwhile, our departments over at DPI were all in looking at the education provisions and the comparison between the budget proposals from the Governor, House, Senate, and Conference Proposed Budgets Comparison (xlsx, 143kb)  which are far too vast to fully discuss here. While there was plenty of debate surrounding the budget, it was still encouraging to see people work together to help each individual county in North Carolina, especially our teachers!

Boy oh boy… Budget Report Press Conference

As noted in my bio and past blogs and as evident through my choice in PWE, I am an avid supporter of all levels of education from early childhood to higher Ed and graduate education. After attending a multitude of house and senate education committees, I was able to attend breakfast with a Senator that serves on the Senate Committee on Education- Higher Ed and K-12. He and I discussed education, immigration, public safety, insurance, motor vehicle laws, and many other policy issues—subsequently relating back how all of these policy issues directly and indirectly impact the children in our schools. Even more interesting (IDK what could be more interesting than education policy), we discussed our varying love for coffee (not Starbucks) and the Senator’s visits to the tobacco and coffee farms in Central and South America. Lastly, the Senator referred to the women in the Senate as “Rock Stars,” as he said we need more people like them (I concur).

Boy oh boy… Checking out the Senator’s newly leased Tesla ~feeling fly~

P.S. If you ever go to Flying Biscuit in the Raleigh area, get their “creamy dreamy grits” 10/10 recommend.

Finally, I had to do miscommunication management on a bill brought up in Senate Education Committee this week. A bill originally about Vacation Rentals was severely altered with a Proposed Committee Substitute to move the School Insurance Fund Section of the Department of Public Instruction that oversees insurance for LEAs (schools) to the Department of Insurance. The issue with the PCS is that DPI had not been aware of any changes being made to their insurance fund for LEAs. DPI representatives addressed the committee, telling them about their confusion with the bill. Consequently, a senator asked the bill sponsor if the Superintendent supported the bill. I am going to positively assume that there was a miscommunication, because the bill sponsor responded that the Superintendent does support the bill. Having my bosses out of town and being “just the intern,” I was stuck speechless. Following multiple calls and informal meetings, the big bosses were able to do some damage control so we shall see where the bill proceeds next…

HB 922 PCS- DPI to DOI

Needless to say, it was a pretty eventful week and boy oh boy am I ready for @Kevin and @Wade to be back from vacation! No one EVER said government was going to be easy and I absolutely love that about it 🙂