constitution

RALEIGH – North Carolina’s Urban Redevelopment Law is so vague, it allows the state to seize private property with just the thinnest of excuses. That’s according to a Spotlight report…

North Carolina needs a constitutional amendment to protect property rights that will contain very specific language. This approach will ensure that courts are unable to undermine the rights that the amendment is designed to protect. The amendment should define key terms such as “public use” and expressly prohibit all takings for private use, including those for economic development purposes.

RALEIGH – North Carolina lawmakers need to amend the state’s Constitution to give property owners more protection against governments’ use of eminent domain powers. That’s the finding in a new…

The United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Kelo v. City of New London drastically weakened the property rights of all citizens. North Carolinians can protect themselves by amending the state constitution. An amendment is necessary because state legislation does not provide adequate protection of property rights. All fundamental rights, especially property rights, should be protected in the state’s highest law, the state constitution.

State legislators are currently considering proposals to issue hundreds of millions of dollars in additional debt without seeking voter approval. The billions of dollars worth of bonds and other debt already approved since 1996 have more than quadrupled the state’s debt service and represent as much as a third of the fiscal impact of the tax hikes passed by the General Assembly since 2001. It’s no wonder politicians are wary of asking voters for more. But that’s why they should.

RALEIGH — State lawmakers in Raleigh are currently debating bills that would authorize at least $760 million in new state debts — for land acquisition and for proposed University of…

RALEIGH — Gov. Mike Easley’s just-announced state budget plan for the 2003-05 biennium includes an immediate $461 million tax increase and allows spending to grow by nearly 5 percent next…