NOTE: IIANC is sponsoring four forums held in October on healthcare and health insurance topics. These events are produced by the NC Institute of Public Leadership (IOPL) and Spectrum News – click HERE to view the forum held on October 7th and we will send out links to other forums as they are posted on the Spectrum News website.

This week 

The NC General Assembly came back to town this week, but did not address the issue of the ongoing impasse between the House and Senate over a state budget for the current fiscal year or the funding issue associated with the state’s Medicaid program that’s led the NC Department of Health and Human Services to decrease payment rates for some healthcare providers.

There was some back and forth between the two chambers relative to the state budget and Medicaid funding issues, but what did pass was SB 449 that deals only with some technical issues associated with Helene recovery funding and with Iryna’s Law (passed in September in response to the high-profile murder of a Ukrainian woman on the Charlotte transit system), as well as a few other minor funding matters involving the NC General Assembly Police, State Highway Patrol, SBI, and other state agencies.

Of interest to IIANC members, included in this ‘mini-budget’ bill was a clarification that the effective date is January 1, 2027, for Part VI of HB 737, passed earlier this year, that deals with rebates (SUMMARY).

Despite the budget stalemate, state government does continue to operate based on the previous fiscal year budget, and is not shut down like the federal government is currently.

The other focus of this week’s legislative session was SB 249 that realigns NC Congressional Districts 1 and 3 in the northeastern part of the state. 

GOP legislative leaders last week announced their intention to shift around some of the counties contained in two Congression districts, making US House District 1 (currently held by Democrat Don Davis) slightly more favorable to a Republican candidate, with US House District 3 (which adjoins District 1, and currently held by Republican Greg Murphy) leaning slightly less Republican (the rating of how a district ‘leans’ is based on the historic partisan preferences of voters based on previous election results within the district).

Click HERE to read more about how the General Assembly redistricting legislation changed the partisan ratings of NC’s Congressional districts.

Making this change to improve the chances of NC getting an additional Republican member – of NC’s 14 US House seats, 10 are currently held by Republicans and 4 by Democrats – to the state’s Congressional delegation was a part of a national initiative involving both political parties (Republicans did it first in Texas, followed by Democrats in California) attempting to redraw Congressional district boundaries to influence the partisan balance of power in the US House following the 2026 midterm elections.

The GOP currently holds a slim 6 seat majority in the US House of Representatives, with three seats vacant as of now due to deaths and resignations.

The state redistricting bill passed on a party line vote, 26-20 in the Senate and 66-48 in the House.

The Governor does not have to sign legislation regarding state legislative and Congressional districts for them to become law, but several groups have already announced their intentions to file lawsuits challenging the new maps.

The General Assembly is scheduled to return on November 17, but whether there will be action taken on the budget or other substantive matters is yet to be seen - statements from House and Senate leaders this week were not very optimistic about that.

We’ll send out a Raleigh Report that week if indeed there is any action of interest.

And finally … 

Chief Advocacy Officer Joe Stewart joined some local IIANC members at a campaign event on Thursday evening for NC Senator Kevin Corbin held in Franklin, NC.

When you support our state political action committee, iPAC, it makes possible IIANC’s support for all five IIANC members currently serving in the General Assembly - including Senator Corbin - as well as all state legislative candidates who are aligned with us on key issues important to the independent insurance agency business model.

iPAC is a key way you can support the advocacy IIANC does for North Carolina independent agents - so if you have not yet made your 2025 contribution, please take just a minute now to do so by clicking HERE.

Thank you!