UPDATE: In March 2013, North Carolina enacted legislation declining Medicaid expansion and directing state agencies and institutions not to participate in the implementation of a health benefits exchange in North Carolina. See S.L. 2013-5, summarized here.  Readers of this blog … Read more

In 2011, the legislature substantially revised the annexation laws. Among other changes, the 2011 annexation reform law, summarized here, gave property owners in the annexed area the ability to petition to deny the annexation. These changes applied to annexations in … Read more

UPDATE September 2013:  H 1075 was not enacted but the guardianship provisions discussed above were transferred to S 191, which was enacted as S.L. 2012-151. If a court or jury finds that a person is incapacitated, the Clerk of Superior … Read more

The housing market in some areas of the state may be improving, but a new study by the N.C. Department of Revenue suggests that real estate values remain generally sluggish across the state. The Department of Revenue’s annual sales assessment … Read more

There has been a great deal of activity around local public health agency (LPHA) organization and governance during the 2011-12 legislative session. We at the SOG have blogged about it several times and we are posting regular legislative updates here. … Read more

John Spartan serves as the senior housing code official for the town of San Angeles, NC, where he recently presided over his 100th minimum housing hearing. He has overseen the repair or removal of many unfit homes over the years, … Read more

Local governments across the state are scrambling to finalize and adopt their budgets before July 1. This post provides a brief overview of the applicable procedural requirements and addresses frequently asked questions about the budgeting process.

The county board of commissioners is holding a public hearing on a controversial rezoning. A sizable contingent of neighbors who oppose the project are present. Many have signed up to tell the commissioners just how terrible it would be if … Read more

[Today’s guest blogger is Adam Parker, UNC School of Government summer law clerk.] Let’s begin with an all-too-familiar hypothetical. In 2006, Carl Corporation incorporated a small business, Tar Heel Roofing Inc. Business went well for a few years. But when the … Read more

In two previous blogs (here and here), I discuss a 2012 federal district court ruling (Bateman v. Perdue) on the constitutionality of North Carolina’s emergency weapons restriction statutes and the legislative response to that ruling.  The General Assembly responded to … Read more