Friends and Neighbors,

I hope this email finds you well.  It has been too long since I've sent an email update.  Our work in Raleigh has been at the fastest pace anyone can remember.  We are spending long hours in committee meetings, in session, and back in our districts.  The House and Senate members are working hard to keep our promises and we are making great progress.  The following is an update on our progress with our 100-day agenda--promises to YOU in the 2010 Election.

Promise #1 (Living within our means)

We must reduce the size of North Carolina’s state government and we must make tough choices.

Our goal is to approve a budget far sooner than the General Assembly has in decades.  We must do this so that Counties, Towns, and School Systems will have certainty as to what they can expect from the State in terms of funding.  We will not coast through the summer.  We intend to pass the budget as early as May.

I have directed the leader of our Appropriations (Budget) Committee to reduce spending and to reduce the scope of government.  We must cut nearly $3.7 billion dollars to balance our budget and we will NOT do so on the backs of working families and small businesses.  Along the way, we will make funding in the classroom a priority.

Although the Governor proposed a budget with $2.2 billion in cuts, she went back on her promise to end the "temporary" taxes and she "shifted" hundreds of millions of dollars down to the Counties, which almost certainly would cause your property taxes to be increased.  Our budget writers will not play this game.  We will cut unnecessary programs, we will tighten our belts, and we will balance our budget without a tax increase.  In fact, we will DECREASE taxes by living up to the promise to allow the temporary taxes to "sunset" at the end of June which will release hundreds of millions of dollars back into the private sector.

Promise #2 (Legislative Agenda) 

Advance a common sense agenda -- Within the first 100 days we will:

1)  Pass The Healthcare Freedom Protection Act, exempting North Carolinians from the job-killing, liberty-restricting mandates of the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (Obama Care).

UPDATE:  House Bill 2 (Protect Health Care Freedom Act) passed the House and Senate and has been sent to the Governor.

2) Reduce the regulatory burden on small business.

UPDATE:  The House and Senate have introduced a bill that will limit the financial burden of regulations on businesses (Senate Bill 22), which we expect to pass over the next week, but that is only the beginning.  We have established a Joint House and Senate Select Committee on Regulatory Reform, which we have tasked with completing a comprehensive review of all rules and regulations with the goal of eliminating out-dated and unfair regulations.  We expect this committee to eliminate as many as 100 boards and commissions and hundreds of burdensome and/or unnecessary regulations.

3) Eliminate the cap on Charter Schools

UPDATE:  The House and Senate have introduced a bill (Senate Bill 8) which will eliminate the cap on Charter Schools.  The bill passed the Senate and will begin to move through the House this week.  We are working with stakeholders to broaden the base of support but make no mistake about it--we have the votes in the House and the cap on Charter Schools will be eliminated in this session.

4. Pass the Honest Election Act, requiring a valid photo ID to vote.

UPDATE:  The House will introduce a bill this week, which will require valid photo identification in order to vote.  We will have public hearings and we will do our best to gain a broad base of support for this measure.  We anticipate strong bipartisan support for this bill and you can look forward to more honest elections in 2012.

5. Pass the Eminent Domain constitutional amendment to protect private property rights.

UPDATE:  The House and Senate have introduced bills calling for a referendum in 2012 to support a Constitutional Amendment that will protect private property rights.  We have not moved the bills yet, mainly because there is no rush since the goal is to put the vote on the ballot in the 2012 election.  They say nothing is certain in politics but I am certain these bills will pass the House and Senate over the next few weeks.

I hope you are pleased with our progress.  You can expect much more in the coming weeks both in terms of progress but also in terms of "calls to action."  In the meantime, please remain engaged and never hesitate to give me a call to provide suggestions and feedback.

Warm Regards,  Thom T.

North Carolina House of Representatives

Speaker Thom Tillis

PO Box 488

Cornelius, NC  28031

Tel: (704) 248-2980