Legislative and Policy
Highlighting state and national legislative news, focusing on some of the most important policy issues of the day.
The North Carolina General Statutes are often ignored in the discussion of North Carolina greatness, but the statutes showcase hidden symbols that give deeper insight into our state’s history.
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The school-to-prison pipeline is a serious issue in the educational system and American society. Restorative Justice efforts can help phase out the school-to-prison pipeline for many students of color. However, it must be implemented comprehensively across schools for it to be successful, and teachers must be supported throughout the process.
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North Carolina should abandon its adherence to the recognition of alienation of affection as a valid cause of action. It is not only because of its antiquated and frankly sexist origins but also because it likely does not serve to protect marriages adequately.
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While the debate regarding the legalization of marijuana has occupied the forefront of the national stage, an argument to decriminalize another class of prohibited substances has also been building steam: hallucinogens. Currently, hallucinogens like psilocybin, colloquially known as “magic mushrooms,” are classified by the Drug Enforcement Administration as a Schedule I drug, in the same category as heroin, LSD, and ecstasy. Under their current classification, these drugs have no
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The Supreme Court has had another opportunity to address the tension between the religion clauses: the Establishment Clause, which prohibits the government from establishing a religion, and the Free Exercise Clause, which requires the government to accommodate individuals to freely follow their religious beliefs or practices. Recently, the tension has surfaced most often concerning education funding and school choice programs. In January, the United States Supreme Court heard oral arguments
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Amid government efforts to quell correspondence of prisoners, prisoners seek to enforce their fundamental First Amendment free speech rights, compelling federal courts to discharge their duty to protect them and create a clear standard by which the government should be bound in preserving this Constitutional covenant.
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North Carolina’s Medicaid program provides healthcare for 2.2 million low-income seniors, disabled persons, children, and their families. The state Medicaid program costs over $14 billion annually, with the federal government contributing $2 for every $1 paid by the state. Currently, the state Medicaid program operates under a fee-for-service model. For every service that a provider renders to a Medicaid enrollee, the service is billed to the state at a predetermined reimbursement rate.
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One of the most hotly politicized issues in the United States this year is whether the President has the authority to direct the construction of a wall on the southern border between the United States and Mexico. Passionate arguments arose from all sides of the issue, and even made its way through the court system. In 2019, the Supreme Court ruled that the Trump administration has the authority to redirect funds allocated to the military towards construction of a border wall. However,
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With e-cigarette use among youth rising to epidemic levels, Juul and other e-cigarette companies are facing greater scrutiny, more attention from regulatory agencies, and private litigation. On December 20, 2019, President Trump signed into law an amendment to the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, raising the federal minimum age for the sale of tobacco products from 18 to 21 years, effective immediately. The amendment follows a statement by the Trump Administration in September 2019,
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Should employers ask you about your salary history when interviewing you for a job? The growing trend says no, and many argue this question is unnecessary to find the perfect candidates for job openings. City and state governments are contemplating this question in an effort to close the wage gap between male and female employees. Since 2017, there have been seventeen state-wide laws and twenty local ordinances across the country addressing this issue. Some of these prohibitions prevent only
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“This is like the Super Bowl for the Second Amendment right here,” an AR-15 wielding activist told Associated Press reporters right outside the Virginia state Capitol building. This gun-rights activist was just one of the estimated 22,000 protestors in attendance outside the Virginia Capitol this past Martin Luther King Jr. day. Days later, gun-rights activists in Kentucky took it one step further and demonstrated their support for gun-rights by physically wielding firearms inside the
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The United States Supreme Court heard some of the most anticipated legal issues of the October court term. Among these cases, the Court will decide whether Title VII in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (Title VII), one of the fundamental federal employment discrimination statutes, covers sexual orientation discrimination in the workplace. Currently, Title VII explicitly prohibits discrimination in employment based on race, color, religion, sex, and national origin. The statute has never been
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North Carolina is the only state that does not recognize equivalent domestic violence protection for same-sex couples as it does for opposite-sex couples. See Am. Bar Ass’n, Domestic Violence Civil Protection Orders (CPOs), (2014). Chapter 50B domestic violence protection orders are restricted to only opposite-sex dating relationships in North Carolina. N.C. Gen. Stat. § 50B-1(b). The resulting discrimination against the unprotected and vulnerable parties in same-sex dating
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“Go to Jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass go. Do not collect $200.” Jail is one of the most-landed on spaces in a typical game of Monopoly. However, for many Americans, Monopoly jail is the closest they will ever come to being behind bars. The latest Department of Justice statistics available on the jail population in America places the jail incarceration rate as of 2017 at 0.229 percent of the U.S. population (based on the number of confined inmates in local jails per
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“A man in debt is so far a slave.”[1] These are the words Ralph Waldo Emerson uses in his 1860 essay, Wealth, to succinctly lay bare the concept of debt. Though Mr. Emerson likely did not foresee the looming—and now present—crisis of student loan debt in the United States, his words encapsulate the existence of more than 44 million Americans today. These citizens, saddled by student loan debt, are trapped in an indentured state of existence. Consider that figure in this context: it is
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