Posted on 04/14/2011 10:17:12 AM PDT by Libloather
NC governor vetoes health plan, student loan bills
By Emery P. Dalesio
Associated Press / April 14, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C.—Gov. Beverly Perdue on Wednesday vetoed Republican-backed legislation that for the first time would have required monthly health insurance premiums for all active North Carolina state workers and teachers for health insurance.
Perdue also vetoed a measure that allowed community college campuses to opt out of participating in a federal student loan program, her fourth veto of 2011 and the most in a year by a North Carolina governor.
**SNIP**
Perdue vetoed a proposal to close a $515 million shortfall through mid-2013 in the State Health Plan, which pays health care costs for 663,000 state employees, teachers, retirees and their dependents. A similar health plan bailout cost about $670 million two years ago and resulted in nearly 9 percent annual increases for dependent care premiums.
The current package included higher co-pays, deductibles and mandated monthly premiums for all active North Carolina state workers and teachers. The biggest change would have required premiums generally between $11 and $22 per month for more than 322,000 active workers, reaching $23 in July 2012. Retirees who keep the more generous of two insurance offerings also would have to pay premiums.
"This bill is in effect a tax on teachers, who have not received a pay raise - and have effectively seen their pay drop - for the past three years," Perdue said in her veto message.
(Excerpt) Read more at boston.com ...
What did you expect. She’s toast..no matter what she does..so best to go down with the ship..also, with the Dem convention in NC..she’s not gonna p**s off the base..
I’ve got Perdue as a Governor and Price as a Representative.
Excuse me while I go get another beer.
What she and her fellow Democrats have done for years (going back to Jim Hunt, the term of Bob Etheridge as Superintendent of Public Instruction, whose "task force" for improving education simply resulted in a bigger bureaucracy, and other Democratic legislatures) is dance to the tune of the union preservation of tenure, which preserves the jobs of poor teachers and fails to reward the excellent ones.
This move should anger every parent whose wages are being taxed or whose job has gone away while poor teachers are guaranteed large pensions and benefits at their expense.
what is the creep going to do?....just let the state go bankrupt?......
What is her currently popularity in NC? I always thought it was a fairly conservative state.
Then irony is that neither Democrats nor Republicans go after high benefits for school managers. Secretaries in central office keep their jobs even as teachers lose theirs. What is startling when one gets down to the nitty gritty is how much federal and state money is consumed just in paper work.
Depending on the poll Perdue is down 10% to 14% to Pat McCrory. Also depending on the poll her approval rating is 32% to 40%. The bad part for her - and the good part for NC - is she drops in polling every month. Frankly, she couldn’t manage a lemonade stand.
I voted for Pat McCrory the last time, and frankly, I don’t want to have to do it again.
Well - it’s either Pat or vote for Bev.
The new dem party ‘right’
“This bill is in effect a tax on teachers, who have not received a pay raise - and have effectively seen their pay drop - for the past three years,” Perdue said in her veto message.
Raises.
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