September 4, 2025 • 34 mins
New student testing data in North Carolina shows improvement but still falls short of pre-COVID levels. The U.S. Justice Department and the NC State Board of Elections have jointly filed a motion to end a lawsuit over incomplete voter registrations. Meanwhile, North Carolina has dropped in the rankings of states with the highest gas taxes. Congressman Brad Knott highlighted President Trump’s push to tackle crime in Washington, D.C. during recent remarks.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:08):
It's five oh five and welcome into a Thursday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Our News Stock eleven ten
nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
This week put the state of North Carolina. The specifically
the Department of Public Instruction or DPI, released data showing
trends in school testing and proficiency across North Carolina. And
while there is some positives and negatives in the report,
public school students increase proficiency scores and reading in math
(00:42):
compared to recent years. However, these results still lag behind
some of the high watermarks earned prior to the COVID
nineteen pandemic. This is according to that data from DPI.
The data presented to the State Board of Education this
week indicates prove performance in twelve out of fifteen math
(01:03):
and reading assessments statewide, with third grade Reading English two
and North Carolina Math IE the only exceptions not seeing
those improved performance numbers. As for standardized test results, the
average composite score for eleventh graders taking the ACT increased
(01:23):
to eighteen point two in the twenty four to twenty
five school year, after slightly dipping to eighteen point one
the previous year. Additionally, the four year cohort graduation rate
climbed to eighty seven point seven percent, which is i'll note,
the highest in a decade, up from eighty seven point
zero percent in the previous year. The Superintendent of Public
(01:48):
Instruction Moe Green said in a statement, quote, I am
proud of our students and educators who have worked hard
to improve these metrics, even as we acknowledge that our
students are more more than test scores. While the progress
and growth shown in these reports deserve praise, we must
continue our work to promote excellence for all students. Our
(02:11):
plan is to achieve academic excellence for every child in
North Carolina, and we have the best public schools in
the nation. I am eager to see this data continue
to improve as we work to implement our strategic plan.
English language learners have also shown significant progress as well,
(02:31):
with thirty five percent of students meeting progress targets or
exit or exiting English learning status in twenty four to
twenty five, up twenty seven percent from where that number
was last year. School performance ratings also improved as well,
with increases in schools earning an AB or C as
(02:53):
an overall grade and a decrease in those earning a
D or an F. Approximately seventy one one percent of
schools met or exceeded growth expectations in the twenty four
to twenty five school year, resulting in nearly fifty fewer
schools labeled as low performing and sixty few are continually
(03:13):
low performing compared to last year. Doctor Bob Lubke, the
director for the Center for Effective and Education at the
John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal quote, even if
we're talking about incremental improvements, the result is less than
half of our eighth graders demonstrate preparedness to be successful
(03:36):
at the next grade level in math, and only thirty
percent are on track to be prepared for college. Neither
has there been substantial progress in closing the performance gap
for minority students. Reading and mass scores for black and
Hispanic students are still not where we want them to be.
(03:56):
While the number of the number, the numbers offer a
few reasons to celebrate, the overall trajectory of test scores
over the last few years has been very concerning. Ending
the quote there from doctor Bob LUPKEI at the John
Locke Foundation, in commenting on the new test results, of
Mo Green, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, pointed to a
(04:19):
new five year strategic plan that we talked about a
couple of weeks ago, noting quote, the goal of the
strategic plan is that North Carolina's public schools will be
the best in the nation by twenty thirty. The measures
and actions in our joint strategic plan with the State
Board of Education provides us with the roadmap to build
(04:40):
on the incredible hard work and diligence of students and
educators across the state of North Carolina. The new numbers
build on progress from last year when DPI released the
numbers in September. Looking at the previous which would have
been the twenty three to twenty four school year. We
have some additional detail and we'll have a story up
(05:01):
just a couple hours over on our website, Carolina Journal
dot com. The headline story over there, student testing data
improves but still lags behind pre COVID highs. In some
other statewide news this morning, the United States Department of
dut Justice that's the DOJ, as well as the North
Carolina State Board of Elections file joint motions on Wednesday
(05:25):
seeking a court order to end federal litigation over incomplete
voter registrations across North Carolina. This case, if you'll remember
back earlier this year. The DOJ brought this case in May,
alleging that the State of North Carolina and more particularly,
the State Board of Elections, failed to comply with Section
(05:47):
three h three A of the Help America Vote Act,
also known as HAVA, that requires voter registration records to
include either a full driver's license number or the last
four digits of a Social Security number, or some sort
of other state issued unique identifier, which in that case
would be a state issued driver's license. If approved by
(06:10):
US Chief District Judge Richard Myers, that order would remain
in effect for a couple of years and would really
show that the State of North Carolina and the State
Board is doing everything that they can to get those
voter registrations cleaned up. At the start of the litigation
back in May, about one hundred thousand registrants across North
Carolina lacked some of that required federal have A data.
(06:35):
As of September the second, just a couple of days ago,
the number had dropped to eighty one thousand, eight hundred
and ten and is continuing to decline, so the state
Board has gotten already almost twenty thousand or so individuals
to get those records cleaned up. This case overlaps with
Republican litigation from twenty twenty four, when both the National
(06:57):
RNC Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party
challenged some two hundred and twenty five thousand registrations linked
to some of those disputed forms, seeking to remove affected
voters or restrict them to provisional ballots. Courts at the
time declined that request due to how close it was
(07:18):
to the twenty twenty four presidential and general election, but
I will note that same issue reappeared in the twenty
twenty four State Supreme Court race, where Republican candidate Jefferson
Griffin contested ballots ultimately and then ultimately conceded after the
court ruled votes would account. That, of course, was a
(07:39):
major political topic here in North Carolina for quite some time,
and as we watched that Griffin lawsuit unfold, we continued
to hear some of the commentary from Jefferson Griffin and
folks on that side of the political island fighting for
Griffin about these have in numbers, about these voter registration
(07:59):
data missteps and miscues with not having this data correctly
imported or required over the last decade or so, as
folks were in fact registering to vote in North Carolina. Again,
this was brought by the Department of Justice and in May,
and reading directly from the lawsuit, it reads quote, State
(08:21):
Board defendants are subject to the requirements of Section three
to zero three A of have A, which requires, among
other things, that voter registration applications for federal office may
not be accepted or processed by a state if an
applicant has not been issued a current valid driver's license
or social Security number, the state must assign a special
(08:44):
identifying number for voter registration. This is definitely an interesting
legal challenge to follow. We've got some additional details and
coverage this morning over on our website Carolina Journal dot com.
That story's headline. Justice Department North Carolina Election Board files
joint motion to end voter registration suit. Again. You can
(09:06):
read those details over at Carolina Journal dot com. It's
five twenty Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour,
Newstock eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT. Some good
news for those that drive across the state of North Carolina.
(09:27):
The state now ranks eleventh in the nation for the
highest gas tax. According to a new report out from
the Tax Foundation. This is a slight improvement from last year,
dropping two places from ninth, and in this case, when
you're looking at the highest rate, dropping and ranking from
ninth to eleventh is good news. The average gas price
in North Carolina four the added gas tax is forty
(09:51):
point five to five cents per gallon, down from last
year sixty eight point ten cents per gallon. That's a
price drop of more than fifteen cents as Alaska remains
the state with the lowest gas tax, holding steady from
last year at just eight point nine to five cents
per gallon, with California having the highest in the nation
(10:11):
at a whopping seventy point nine to two cents, followed
by Illinois at sixty six point four cents. According to
the Tax Foundation, California, Oregon, and Washington all have environmental programs,
making those state gas prices outliers. The gas tax operates
as a user fee at most states across the country,
(10:33):
requiring drivers to pay for the construction and upkeep of
roads that they travel on. User fees ensure that government
services are required by those who directly benefit from them,
rather than taxpayers who might not use those services. This structure,
the Tax Foundation says, is especially well suited to transportation,
(10:55):
where the link between usage and benefit is direct and measurable.
In North Carolina, the tax revenue goes to the Highway
and Highway Trust Funds under the North Carolina Department of Transportation,
where they use that money for road maintenance and construction.
Joseph Harris, the fiscal policy analyst over at the John
(11:16):
Locke Foundation, told The Carolina Journal North Carolina has the
eleventh highest gasoline tax in the nation. However, the funding
model is outdated, with Harris noting that motor fuel tax
is no longer a reliable way to fund our roads
as vehicles become more fuel efficient and electric cars grow
(11:37):
in numbers. Noting that even after fee increases, ev drivers
pay less yearly than most gasoline power drivers contribute through
the gasoline tax, leaving a growing hole in road funding.
Harris said that lawmakers should replace this outdated system with
a vehicle mild travel tax that ensures every driver pays
(12:00):
their share and provides a stable, long term solution for
maintaining our highways, ending the quote there from Joseph Harris.
The emergence of electric vehicles allows many to sidestep this
so called user fee and not pay for their share
of wear and tear on the roads. To close this loophole,
many states have considered implementing that vehicle mile travel tax
(12:24):
or a VMT or a mileaged based user fee also
known as an MBUF. The gas tax downturn would continue
to accelerate if former Governor Roy Cooper's goal of increasing
electric vehicles to one point two five million by twenty
thirty is met. It is noted that if that goal
(12:45):
is met, evs would account for fourteen percent of North
Carolina's vehicular fleet by twenty thirty, according to a John
Locke Foundation report called Lighting the Path. Also the report
reads quote such an out is unlikely, however, even before
considering costs, It would require the number of a number
(13:06):
of new evs to double every two years. But zero
emission vehicle registrations have been recently slowing, not increasing. The
annual registration fee for an electric vehicle at North Carolina
is two hundred and fourteen dollars and fifty cents, and
that overall, generates about fifty dollars less revenue for the
(13:27):
state than a typical driver of a gasoline powered vehicle
that is paying at the pump every time they are
filling up, and paying that gas tax per gallon every
time they are a filling up their vehicle. This report
is available over on our website this morning Carolina Journal
dot com the headline story report North Carolina drops in
rankings of highest gas tax in the state. That again,
(13:52):
that article available over at Carolina Journal dot com. Turning
our attention up to Washington, DC this morning, I risk
mean Brad Nott, who represents North Carolina's thirteenth Congressional district,
joined members of the Republican Study Committee in Washington earlier
this week to spotlight President Donald Trump's push to crack
(14:14):
down on crime in the nation's capital. This is what
Not had to say earlier in the week.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
My name is Brad Not I'm from North Carolina, and
before my time in Congress, It's a short while ago.
I was a federal prosecutor. I investigated violent criminals, I
investigated cartels, I investigated human traffickers wherever they were all
over this country. And it became very clear to me
when I was working with law enforcement that if you
(14:39):
don't fight crime, if you don't attack it, if you
don't work hard for long sentences, crime will flourish. And
that's exactly what we've seen here in Washington, d C.
For the last couple of years. And from my time
as a federal prosecutor. I know some of the federal
agents who have been called to serve in Washington as
part of the President's initiative, and since their arrival, I
(15:02):
have been astounded, as I have stayed in touch with them,
at the amount of contraband, the number of dangerous people,
whether it's drugs, whether it's gangs, whether it's illegal firearms,
whether it's human trafficking, whether it's South American cartels, you
name it, it is right here in Washington, d C.
The soft on crime policies of the Democrats has unfortunately
(15:27):
allowed crime to spiral out of control, whether in d
C or elsewhere around the country. Unfortunately, we are seeing
the Democratic Party and the far left portions of this
country protect the criminals rather than backing law enforcement. We've
seen city after city spiral out of control in decay
(15:50):
right in front of our eyes, including Washington d C.
I applaud the President for saying the simple truth. It
does not have to be this way. It does not
have to be this way. And regardless of who you are,
when you come to Washington, it's a safe city now.
Businesses are thankful, families are thankful, citizens, tourists, we are
(16:15):
all thankful. It's time to stop turning a blind eye
for crime wherever it is. Wherever it is, we must investigate,
we must prosecute, and we must protect the law abiding
citizens of this country.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
As you heard there from BRADNT, not everybody agreeing with
the presidents of policies to clean up crime into Washington, DC,
as protesters decided to yell and scream during the press
conference talking about the fact that there has not been
a murder in the District of Columbia since the President did,
in fact deploy federal agents to that and take over
(16:50):
the Metropolitan Police Department. More than eight hundred National Guard
troops were deployed to tackle crime. They have been doing
so since early in August. Fox News recently reported that
since the President's declaration of DC, authorities have made more
than one thousand, six sixty nine arrests, including sixteen gang
(17:11):
members tied to MS thirteen and Trende Aragua. Recent Carolina
Journal polling shows crime is a top concern for voters
here across North Carolina, with more than sixty three percent
saying it is somewhat or very concerned concerning issue in
their communities. When voters were also asked, which of the
following issues related to public safety do you consider the
(17:34):
most pressing in your area? Drug related issues at forty
three point four percent, property crime at thirty six thirty
six point one percent, and violent crime at twenty five
point eight percent. Crime continues to be a major national
topic and discussion. Obviously a lot of the emphasis are
revolving around DC the District of Columbia right now, but
(17:58):
it is an issue in every state across North Carolina.
You can read some additional comments there from a Congressman
Brad Not, including some of the details in our most
recent Carolina Journal poll over at our website this morning,
Carolina Journal dot com. That story's headline, nc's Bradnot highlights
Trump's efforts to tackle DC crime. It's five thirty six,
(18:24):
so welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Over. Good
Thursday morning to you News Talk eleven ten ninety nine
to three WBT tracking some news across North Carolina. This morning,
public school students increased proficiency scores in reading and math
compared to recent years. However, the results are still lagging
behind those some of those marks in those proficiency ratings
(18:47):
prior to the COVID nineteen pandemic, when so many students
were ripped out of the classroom, sent home, and learned
on Zoom and other sorts of virtual learning for multiple years.
This is all according to new data released by the
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The data presented to
the State Board of Education yesterday on September third, indicates
(19:08):
improved performance in twelve out of fifteen math and reading
assessments that are used for this report statewide. The only
exceptions third grade Reading English two and North Carolina Math one.
The only exceptions where improvements did not take place out
of the fifteen assessments as for standardized tests across the state.
(19:30):
In those results, the average composite score for eleventh graders
taking the ACT increased to eighteen point two in twenty
four to twenty five school year, after a slight dip
to just eighteen point one the previous year. Additionally, the
four year graduation rate climbed to eighty seven point seven percent.
(19:51):
That's great news. It's the highest number in a decade,
up from eighty seven point zero percent in the previous year.
Moe Green, who is a the Superintendent of Public Instructions,
set in a press or release quote, I'm proud of
our students and educators who have worked hard to improve
these metrics, even as we acknowledge that our students are
(20:12):
more than test scores. While the progress and growth shown
in these reports deserve praise, we must continue our work
to promote excellence for all of our students, noting that
he is eager to see this data continue to improve
as the State Board of Education and DPI works to
implement a strategic plan to continue to provide academic excellence
(20:36):
across North Carolina. School performance ratings also improved in this study,
with increases in schools earning an AB or C grade
and decreasing those earning a D or F. Approximately seventy
one percent of schools met or exceeded growth expectations in
the twenty four to twenty five school year, resulting in
(20:58):
nearly fifty few schools labeled as low performing and sixty
few are continually low performing compared to last year. However,
doctor Bob Luke, the director for the Center for Effective
Education at the John Locke Foundation, says there's a lot
more work to be done. He told The Carolina Journal,
even if we're talking about incremental improvements, the result is
(21:22):
less than half of our eighth grader's demonstrate preparedness to
be successful at the next grade level in math, and
only thirty percent are on track to be prepared for college.
Lupke also pointed out that there's also been not been
substantial progress in closing the gap for minority students, noting
that reading and math scores for black and Hispanic students
(21:45):
are still not where they need to be across the state.
While the numbers offered a few reasons to celebrate, Lupke says,
the overall trajectory of test scores over the last few
years has been very concerning the state of North Carolina,
and more predominantly, DPI has rolled out a five year
strategic plan to make North Carolina's public schools the best
(22:07):
in the nation. You can read some additional details on
that five year planned by twenty thirty from DPI and
this new report. It's available. It'll be available over on
our website, Carolina Journal dot com. The headline story there,
student testing data improves but still lags behind pre COVID highs.
It's now five point forty. You're listening to the Carolina
(22:29):
Journal News Hour. Earlier this year, the United States Department
of Justice sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections
over concerns that they were not maintaining voter records properly.
This goes back to a federal act passed in the
early two thousands known as have a Getting some additional
details this week, it looks like both parties, the State
Board of Elections and the United States Department of Justice
(22:51):
are looking to end that legal battle to get us
up to date. This morning, Mitch Goki the John Locke
Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch,
this is a pretty significant legal case here in the
state of North Carolina, concerns about voter registration records and
dating back more than a decade or so. What's the
latest out of the courts.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Well, the latest is there appears to be a deal
in the offing between the Justice Department and the State
Board of Elections. And that should not be terribly surprising
for people who have followed this case. This lawsuit was
filed in May, and that was around the same time
that the State Board of Elections changed substantially. It changed
from a three to two Democratic majority to a three
(23:33):
to two Republican majority thanks to some new appointments from
the State Auditor, Dave Bolock, who took over control over
the State Board of Elections, and that new board fired
the old state Elections Director and hired a new one,
Sam Hayes. And so around the time that this lawsuit
was filed, you had this new election infrastructure that was
(23:53):
already concerned about this issue. And the issue, as you mentioned,
deals with the Help America Vote Act or JAVA, and
its requirement that voter registration lists include either the last
four digits of a person's Social Security number or a
driver's license number. And there was concern that tens of thousands,
(24:14):
or more than one hundred thousand, or back some time
ago there was a claim of maybe more than two
hundred thousand voters on North Carolina's roles did not have
that information. It was the source of a lawsuit that
the national and state Republican parties filed in summer of
twenty twenty four. And then it was the big piece
of the case that Jefferson Griffin filed when he was
(24:37):
challenging the twenty twenty four State Supreme Court election, which
he ended up losing, but the issue didn't go away
of these incomplete voter registrations. And so just at about
the same time the new state Board of Elections was
coming into power, the US Justice Department filed this suit
right after that happened. Sam Hayes, the new elections director, said,
this is an issue we know about. It's something we
(24:59):
want to We saw that the state Board of Elections
came up with this plan to repair the registrations. It
was called the Registration Repair Project. You've talked about it
on your program with Terreso Opeka. And so this is
something that has been moving forward. And now the US
Justice Department, its Civil Rights Division, and the North Carolina
(25:22):
Justice Department lawyers who represent the state Board of Elections
have come to an agreement about ending this lawsuit. And
basically what they are saying is they are asking US
Chief District Judge Richard Myers to sign off on this deal,
and if he does, that would end the suit. There
is another wrinkle in here because it's not just these
two parties, the Justice Department and the State Board of
(25:44):
Elections who are trying to take part in this case.
Some outside groups the Democratic Party, NAACP, Legal Women Voters
of North Carolina, and a group called the North Carolina
Alliance for Retired Americans Retired Workers, which is a group
that's working with the Democratic operative Mark Elias's law firm.
(26:05):
They all want to be involved in this case as
defendants because they are not quite sure about this North
Carolina Repair registration repair project and how it's going to operate,
so they want to be involved in the case. This
latest court filing says to Judge Myers, don't allow these
folks in as parties in the case. If you want
(26:27):
to hear from them, have them file an amicus or
friend of the Court brief and give them a couple
of weeks to do so you can get their input
and then you can decide whether this is an order
that you can accept or not. But they're basically hoping
to get this thing resolved relatively quickly so that the
lawsuit would end and this registration repair project can move
(26:47):
forward as it is already playing out.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Well, let me ask you about that. You know that
we're talking of this morning about both parties saying okay,
we're ready to kind of put this thing to close. Mitch,
there's still tens of thousands of voters throughout the state
of North Carolina that the State Board is still trying
to collect either the last four of their social Security
number or full driver's license number. Is this case being
ended because the state Board has put an action plan
(27:12):
in place to work on correcting some of these registrations.
Is that why we're seeing both parties say Okay, we've
satisfied some of the issues here, we can move forward.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yes. I think from the Justice Department's perspective, they only
wanted to ensure that the state was doing something about
this when this lawsuit was filed. I think there was
some interest within the Board of Elections and its new
staff to do something about this, but there was not
a planning place at the time the Justice Department filed suit.
After the Justice Department filed suit, the State Board of
(27:43):
Elections came up with this plan and started acting on
this plan. We know that when it started there were
more than one hundred thousand of these incomplete voter registrations.
As of the filing of this latest court document, that
number was down just a little bit over eighty one thousand,
and there are plans in place to do some mailings
to try to get some of this additional information. One
(28:03):
of the other things that's spelled out in the deal
is that if anyone who was targeted for one of
these mailings goes and fills out the information, goes to
vote in an upcoming election, and the information is complete,
they will vote a regular ballot. If they do not
provide the information, they would have to vote a provisional
ballot and then provide the information for their ballot account.
(28:27):
One thing that's also spelled out in here is that
nothing as part of this deal or as part of
this project will remove someone from the voter rolls. Which
is one of the complaints that was raised by the
Democratic and Democratic Line groups so is that they were
worried that what would happen is that this project would
be used to remove people from the voter roles. The
(28:50):
agreement that's put forward before Judge Myers makes clear that
nothing would remove someone from the roles. All it would
do if you don't have the complete information is it's
you to vote a provisional ballot until your information could
be checked out and it's clear that you are eligible
to vote.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
There's a lot of information over on our website, Carolina
Journal dot com and on the State Board of Election
website where you can check if your name if you're
one of those voters that has potentially an incomplete registration,
all of the different ways that you can correct it,
whether that be through the MYDMV portal, showing up to
your local state, your local county Board of Election office,
all of those different ways are spelled out in the
(29:31):
state Board has done a really good job at providing
that information. We appreciate the legal update. This morning, Mitchkochi
from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina
Journal News Hour. Coming up in just a couple of hours,
it's time for the sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive.
(29:53):
This this Thursday, Today, September the fourth WBT and the
One Blood, Big Red Bus will be at the Dog
in Uptown Charlotte from ten am until three pm, and
we're encouraging you to make a life saving blood donation.
It's the sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive today
ten am to three pm at the Doghouse in Uptown Charlotte.
(30:14):
Visit WBT dot com for location details and register your appointment.
This morning. It's now five point fifty four. Welcome back
to the Carolina Journal, News Hour, News Talk eleven ten
ninety nine to three WBT. Some relief for drivers across
the state of North Carolina, as the state now ranks
eleventh in the nation for the highest gas tax according
(30:36):
to a new report out from the Tax Foundation, and
this is an improvement from last year, where the state
had the ninth most expensive gas tax anywhere in the nation.
The gas tax in North Carolina average is forty point
five to five cents per gallon, down from last year
sixty eight point one zero cents per gallon. That's a
(30:56):
price drop of more than fifteen cents. Tasca remains the
state with the lowest gas tax at eight point nine
to five cents per gallon, and California remains at the
highest with seventy point nine two cents. According to the report,
the gas tax operates as a user fee, requiring drivers
to pay for construction and upkeep of roads that they travel.
(31:19):
User fees ensure that government services like a road repair
and maintenance are the responsibility of those who directly benefit
from them, rather than taxpayers who might not use those services. However,
as that unfolds, there are concerns over electric vehicles and
other sorts of cars on the road that are not
paying into the gas tax, or at least not as much.
(31:42):
Here in North Carolina, the tax revenue goes to the
Highway and Highway Trust Funds under the North Carolina Department
of Transportation. That money is used for road maintenance and construction.
Joseph Harris, a fiscal policy analyst over at the John
Locke found A, told The Carolina Journal quote North Carolina
(32:03):
has the eleventh highest gasoline tax in the nation. However,
that funding model is outdated. The motor fuel tax is
no longer a reliable way to fund our roads as
vehicles become more fuel efficient and electric cars grow in numbers.
Even after fee increases, ev drivers pay less yearly than
(32:24):
most gasoline power drivers contribute through the gas tax, leaving
a growing hole in road funding. Lawmakers should replace this
outdated system with a vehicle mile travel tax that ensures
every driver pays their share and provides a stable, long
term solution for maintaining our highways end quote there from
(32:45):
Joseph Harris. The emergence of electric vehicles allow many to
sidestep that user fee and not pay for their share
of wear and tear on the roadways. To close this loophole,
many states have considered implementing that vehicle mile travel tax
or a mileage based user fee across the country. With this,
(33:06):
the annual vehicle registration for an EV is two hundred
and fourteen dollars and fifty cents across the state, which
generates about fifty dollars less in revenue for North Carolina
and Dot than the typical driver of a gasoline powered vehicle,
who of course is paying that fee, paying that tax
every time they head on over to the pump and
(33:27):
fill up. We've got some additional details on this report
and some of the concerns about evs and more fuel
efficient vehicles over on our website This Morning Carolina Journal
dot com. Well that's going to do it for a
Thursday edition to WBT News is next, followed by Good
morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning five to
six right here on Newstock eleven ten and ninety nine
(33:49):
to three WBT
It's five oh five and welcome into a Thursday edition
of The Carolina Journal News Our News Stock eleven ten
nine three WBT. I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
Well.
Speaker 1 (00:19):
This week put the state of North Carolina. The specifically
the Department of Public Instruction or DPI, released data showing
trends in school testing and proficiency across North Carolina. And
while there is some positives and negatives in the report,
public school students increase proficiency scores and reading in math
(00:42):
compared to recent years. However, these results still lag behind
some of the high watermarks earned prior to the COVID
nineteen pandemic. This is according to that data from DPI.
The data presented to the State Board of Education this
week indicates prove performance in twelve out of fifteen math
(01:03):
and reading assessments statewide, with third grade Reading English two
and North Carolina Math IE the only exceptions not seeing
those improved performance numbers. As for standardized test results, the
average composite score for eleventh graders taking the ACT increased
(01:23):
to eighteen point two in the twenty four to twenty
five school year, after slightly dipping to eighteen point one
the previous year. Additionally, the four year cohort graduation rate
climbed to eighty seven point seven percent, which is i'll note,
the highest in a decade, up from eighty seven point
zero percent in the previous year. The Superintendent of Public
(01:48):
Instruction Moe Green said in a statement, quote, I am
proud of our students and educators who have worked hard
to improve these metrics, even as we acknowledge that our
students are more more than test scores. While the progress
and growth shown in these reports deserve praise, we must
continue our work to promote excellence for all students. Our
(02:11):
plan is to achieve academic excellence for every child in
North Carolina, and we have the best public schools in
the nation. I am eager to see this data continue
to improve as we work to implement our strategic plan.
English language learners have also shown significant progress as well,
(02:31):
with thirty five percent of students meeting progress targets or
exit or exiting English learning status in twenty four to
twenty five, up twenty seven percent from where that number
was last year. School performance ratings also improved as well,
with increases in schools earning an AB or C as
(02:53):
an overall grade and a decrease in those earning a
D or an F. Approximately seventy one one percent of
schools met or exceeded growth expectations in the twenty four
to twenty five school year, resulting in nearly fifty fewer
schools labeled as low performing and sixty few are continually
(03:13):
low performing compared to last year. Doctor Bob Lubke, the
director for the Center for Effective and Education at the
John Locke Foundation, told the Carolina Journal quote, even if
we're talking about incremental improvements, the result is less than
half of our eighth graders demonstrate preparedness to be successful
(03:36):
at the next grade level in math, and only thirty
percent are on track to be prepared for college. Neither
has there been substantial progress in closing the performance gap
for minority students. Reading and mass scores for black and
Hispanic students are still not where we want them to be.
(03:56):
While the number of the number, the numbers offer a
few reasons to celebrate, the overall trajectory of test scores
over the last few years has been very concerning. Ending
the quote there from doctor Bob LUPKEI at the John
Locke Foundation, in commenting on the new test results, of
Mo Green, the Superintendent of Public Instruction, pointed to a
(04:19):
new five year strategic plan that we talked about a
couple of weeks ago, noting quote, the goal of the
strategic plan is that North Carolina's public schools will be
the best in the nation by twenty thirty. The measures
and actions in our joint strategic plan with the State
Board of Education provides us with the roadmap to build
(04:40):
on the incredible hard work and diligence of students and
educators across the state of North Carolina. The new numbers
build on progress from last year when DPI released the
numbers in September. Looking at the previous which would have
been the twenty three to twenty four school year. We
have some additional detail and we'll have a story up
(05:01):
just a couple hours over on our website, Carolina Journal
dot com. The headline story over there, student testing data
improves but still lags behind pre COVID highs. In some
other statewide news this morning, the United States Department of
dut Justice that's the DOJ, as well as the North
Carolina State Board of Elections file joint motions on Wednesday
(05:25):
seeking a court order to end federal litigation over incomplete
voter registrations across North Carolina. This case, if you'll remember
back earlier this year. The DOJ brought this case in May,
alleging that the State of North Carolina and more particularly,
the State Board of Elections, failed to comply with Section
(05:47):
three h three A of the Help America Vote Act,
also known as HAVA, that requires voter registration records to
include either a full driver's license number or the last
four digits of a Social Security number, or some sort
of other state issued unique identifier, which in that case
would be a state issued driver's license. If approved by
(06:10):
US Chief District Judge Richard Myers, that order would remain
in effect for a couple of years and would really
show that the State of North Carolina and the State
Board is doing everything that they can to get those
voter registrations cleaned up. At the start of the litigation
back in May, about one hundred thousand registrants across North
Carolina lacked some of that required federal have A data.
(06:35):
As of September the second, just a couple of days ago,
the number had dropped to eighty one thousand, eight hundred
and ten and is continuing to decline, so the state
Board has gotten already almost twenty thousand or so individuals
to get those records cleaned up. This case overlaps with
Republican litigation from twenty twenty four, when both the National
(06:57):
RNC Republican National Committee and the North Carolina Republican Party
challenged some two hundred and twenty five thousand registrations linked
to some of those disputed forms, seeking to remove affected
voters or restrict them to provisional ballots. Courts at the
time declined that request due to how close it was
(07:18):
to the twenty twenty four presidential and general election, but
I will note that same issue reappeared in the twenty
twenty four State Supreme Court race, where Republican candidate Jefferson
Griffin contested ballots ultimately and then ultimately conceded after the
court ruled votes would account. That, of course, was a
(07:39):
major political topic here in North Carolina for quite some time,
and as we watched that Griffin lawsuit unfold, we continued
to hear some of the commentary from Jefferson Griffin and
folks on that side of the political island fighting for
Griffin about these have in numbers, about these voter registration
(07:59):
data missteps and miscues with not having this data correctly
imported or required over the last decade or so, as
folks were in fact registering to vote in North Carolina. Again,
this was brought by the Department of Justice and in May,
and reading directly from the lawsuit, it reads quote, State
(08:21):
Board defendants are subject to the requirements of Section three
to zero three A of have A, which requires, among
other things, that voter registration applications for federal office may
not be accepted or processed by a state if an
applicant has not been issued a current valid driver's license
or social Security number, the state must assign a special
(08:44):
identifying number for voter registration. This is definitely an interesting
legal challenge to follow. We've got some additional details and
coverage this morning over on our website Carolina Journal dot com.
That story's headline. Justice Department North Carolina Election Board files
joint motion to end voter registration suit. Again. You can
(09:06):
read those details over at Carolina Journal dot com. It's
five twenty Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour,
Newstock eleven ten ninety nine to three WBT. Some good
news for those that drive across the state of North Carolina.
(09:27):
The state now ranks eleventh in the nation for the
highest gas tax. According to a new report out from
the Tax Foundation. This is a slight improvement from last year,
dropping two places from ninth, and in this case, when
you're looking at the highest rate, dropping and ranking from
ninth to eleventh is good news. The average gas price
in North Carolina four the added gas tax is forty
(09:51):
point five to five cents per gallon, down from last
year sixty eight point ten cents per gallon. That's a
price drop of more than fifteen cents as Alaska remains
the state with the lowest gas tax, holding steady from
last year at just eight point nine to five cents
per gallon, with California having the highest in the nation
(10:11):
at a whopping seventy point nine to two cents, followed
by Illinois at sixty six point four cents. According to
the Tax Foundation, California, Oregon, and Washington all have environmental programs,
making those state gas prices outliers. The gas tax operates
as a user fee at most states across the country,
(10:33):
requiring drivers to pay for the construction and upkeep of
roads that they travel on. User fees ensure that government
services are required by those who directly benefit from them,
rather than taxpayers who might not use those services. This structure,
the Tax Foundation says, is especially well suited to transportation,
(10:55):
where the link between usage and benefit is direct and measurable.
In North Carolina, the tax revenue goes to the Highway
and Highway Trust Funds under the North Carolina Department of Transportation,
where they use that money for road maintenance and construction.
Joseph Harris, the fiscal policy analyst over at the John
(11:16):
Locke Foundation, told The Carolina Journal North Carolina has the
eleventh highest gasoline tax in the nation. However, the funding
model is outdated, with Harris noting that motor fuel tax
is no longer a reliable way to fund our roads
as vehicles become more fuel efficient and electric cars grow
(11:37):
in numbers. Noting that even after fee increases, ev drivers
pay less yearly than most gasoline power drivers contribute through
the gasoline tax, leaving a growing hole in road funding.
Harris said that lawmakers should replace this outdated system with
a vehicle mild travel tax that ensures every driver pays
(12:00):
their share and provides a stable, long term solution for
maintaining our highways, ending the quote there from Joseph Harris.
The emergence of electric vehicles allows many to sidestep this
so called user fee and not pay for their share
of wear and tear on the roads. To close this loophole,
many states have considered implementing that vehicle mile travel tax
(12:24):
or a VMT or a mileaged based user fee also
known as an MBUF. The gas tax downturn would continue
to accelerate if former Governor Roy Cooper's goal of increasing
electric vehicles to one point two five million by twenty
thirty is met. It is noted that if that goal
(12:45):
is met, evs would account for fourteen percent of North
Carolina's vehicular fleet by twenty thirty, according to a John
Locke Foundation report called Lighting the Path. Also the report
reads quote such an out is unlikely, however, even before
considering costs, It would require the number of a number
(13:06):
of new evs to double every two years. But zero
emission vehicle registrations have been recently slowing, not increasing. The
annual registration fee for an electric vehicle at North Carolina
is two hundred and fourteen dollars and fifty cents, and
that overall, generates about fifty dollars less revenue for the
(13:27):
state than a typical driver of a gasoline powered vehicle
that is paying at the pump every time they are
filling up, and paying that gas tax per gallon every
time they are a filling up their vehicle. This report
is available over on our website this morning Carolina Journal
dot com the headline story report North Carolina drops in
rankings of highest gas tax in the state. That again,
(13:52):
that article available over at Carolina Journal dot com. Turning
our attention up to Washington, DC this morning, I risk
mean Brad Nott, who represents North Carolina's thirteenth Congressional district,
joined members of the Republican Study Committee in Washington earlier
this week to spotlight President Donald Trump's push to crack
(14:14):
down on crime in the nation's capital. This is what
Not had to say earlier in the week.
Speaker 2 (14:19):
My name is Brad Not I'm from North Carolina, and
before my time in Congress, It's a short while ago.
I was a federal prosecutor. I investigated violent criminals, I
investigated cartels, I investigated human traffickers wherever they were all
over this country. And it became very clear to me
when I was working with law enforcement that if you
(14:39):
don't fight crime, if you don't attack it, if you
don't work hard for long sentences, crime will flourish. And
that's exactly what we've seen here in Washington, d C.
For the last couple of years. And from my time
as a federal prosecutor. I know some of the federal
agents who have been called to serve in Washington as
part of the President's initiative, and since their arrival, I
(15:02):
have been astounded, as I have stayed in touch with them,
at the amount of contraband, the number of dangerous people,
whether it's drugs, whether it's gangs, whether it's illegal firearms,
whether it's human trafficking, whether it's South American cartels, you
name it, it is right here in Washington, d C.
The soft on crime policies of the Democrats has unfortunately
(15:27):
allowed crime to spiral out of control, whether in d
C or elsewhere around the country. Unfortunately, we are seeing
the Democratic Party and the far left portions of this
country protect the criminals rather than backing law enforcement. We've
seen city after city spiral out of control in decay
(15:50):
right in front of our eyes, including Washington d C.
I applaud the President for saying the simple truth. It
does not have to be this way. It does not
have to be this way. And regardless of who you are,
when you come to Washington, it's a safe city now.
Businesses are thankful, families are thankful, citizens, tourists, we are
(16:15):
all thankful. It's time to stop turning a blind eye
for crime wherever it is. Wherever it is, we must investigate,
we must prosecute, and we must protect the law abiding
citizens of this country.
Speaker 1 (16:30):
As you heard there from BRADNT, not everybody agreeing with
the presidents of policies to clean up crime into Washington, DC,
as protesters decided to yell and scream during the press
conference talking about the fact that there has not been
a murder in the District of Columbia since the President did,
in fact deploy federal agents to that and take over
(16:50):
the Metropolitan Police Department. More than eight hundred National Guard
troops were deployed to tackle crime. They have been doing
so since early in August. Fox News recently reported that
since the President's declaration of DC, authorities have made more
than one thousand, six sixty nine arrests, including sixteen gang
(17:11):
members tied to MS thirteen and Trende Aragua. Recent Carolina
Journal polling shows crime is a top concern for voters
here across North Carolina, with more than sixty three percent
saying it is somewhat or very concerned concerning issue in
their communities. When voters were also asked, which of the
following issues related to public safety do you consider the
(17:34):
most pressing in your area? Drug related issues at forty
three point four percent, property crime at thirty six thirty
six point one percent, and violent crime at twenty five
point eight percent. Crime continues to be a major national
topic and discussion. Obviously a lot of the emphasis are
revolving around DC the District of Columbia right now, but
(17:58):
it is an issue in every state across North Carolina.
You can read some additional comments there from a Congressman
Brad Not, including some of the details in our most
recent Carolina Journal poll over at our website this morning,
Carolina Journal dot com. That story's headline, nc's Bradnot highlights
Trump's efforts to tackle DC crime. It's five thirty six,
(18:24):
so welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Over. Good
Thursday morning to you News Talk eleven ten ninety nine
to three WBT tracking some news across North Carolina. This morning,
public school students increased proficiency scores in reading and math
compared to recent years. However, the results are still lagging
behind those some of those marks in those proficiency ratings
(18:47):
prior to the COVID nineteen pandemic, when so many students
were ripped out of the classroom, sent home, and learned
on Zoom and other sorts of virtual learning for multiple years.
This is all according to new data released by the
North Carolina Department of Public Instruction. The data presented to
the State Board of Education yesterday on September third, indicates
(19:08):
improved performance in twelve out of fifteen math and reading
assessments that are used for this report statewide. The only
exceptions third grade Reading English two and North Carolina Math one.
The only exceptions where improvements did not take place out
of the fifteen assessments as for standardized tests across the state.
(19:30):
In those results, the average composite score for eleventh graders
taking the ACT increased to eighteen point two in twenty
four to twenty five school year, after a slight dip
to just eighteen point one the previous year. Additionally, the
four year graduation rate climbed to eighty seven point seven percent.
(19:51):
That's great news. It's the highest number in a decade,
up from eighty seven point zero percent in the previous year.
Moe Green, who is a the Superintendent of Public Instructions,
set in a press or release quote, I'm proud of
our students and educators who have worked hard to improve
these metrics, even as we acknowledge that our students are
(20:12):
more than test scores. While the progress and growth shown
in these reports deserve praise, we must continue our work
to promote excellence for all of our students, noting that
he is eager to see this data continue to improve
as the State Board of Education and DPI works to
implement a strategic plan to continue to provide academic excellence
(20:36):
across North Carolina. School performance ratings also improved in this study,
with increases in schools earning an AB or C grade
and decreasing those earning a D or F. Approximately seventy
one percent of schools met or exceeded growth expectations in
the twenty four to twenty five school year, resulting in
(20:58):
nearly fifty few schools labeled as low performing and sixty
few are continually low performing compared to last year. However,
doctor Bob Luke, the director for the Center for Effective
Education at the John Locke Foundation, says there's a lot
more work to be done. He told The Carolina Journal,
even if we're talking about incremental improvements, the result is
(21:22):
less than half of our eighth grader's demonstrate preparedness to
be successful at the next grade level in math, and
only thirty percent are on track to be prepared for college.
Lupke also pointed out that there's also been not been
substantial progress in closing the gap for minority students, noting
that reading and math scores for black and Hispanic students
(21:45):
are still not where they need to be across the state.
While the numbers offered a few reasons to celebrate, Lupke says,
the overall trajectory of test scores over the last few
years has been very concerning the state of North Carolina,
and more predominantly, DPI has rolled out a five year
strategic plan to make North Carolina's public schools the best
(22:07):
in the nation. You can read some additional details on
that five year planned by twenty thirty from DPI and
this new report. It's available. It'll be available over on
our website, Carolina Journal dot com. The headline story there,
student testing data improves but still lags behind pre COVID highs.
It's now five point forty. You're listening to the Carolina
(22:29):
Journal News Hour. Earlier this year, the United States Department
of Justice sued the North Carolina State Board of Elections
over concerns that they were not maintaining voter records properly.
This goes back to a federal act passed in the
early two thousands known as have a Getting some additional
details this week, it looks like both parties, the State
Board of Elections and the United States Department of Justice
(22:51):
are looking to end that legal battle to get us
up to date. This morning, Mitch Goki the John Locke
Foundation joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour. Mitch,
this is a pretty significant legal case here in the
state of North Carolina, concerns about voter registration records and
dating back more than a decade or so. What's the
latest out of the courts.
Speaker 3 (23:11):
Well, the latest is there appears to be a deal
in the offing between the Justice Department and the State
Board of Elections. And that should not be terribly surprising
for people who have followed this case. This lawsuit was
filed in May, and that was around the same time
that the State Board of Elections changed substantially. It changed
from a three to two Democratic majority to a three
(23:33):
to two Republican majority thanks to some new appointments from
the State Auditor, Dave Bolock, who took over control over
the State Board of Elections, and that new board fired
the old state Elections Director and hired a new one,
Sam Hayes. And so around the time that this lawsuit
was filed, you had this new election infrastructure that was
(23:53):
already concerned about this issue. And the issue, as you mentioned,
deals with the Help America Vote Act or JAVA, and
its requirement that voter registration lists include either the last
four digits of a person's Social Security number or a
driver's license number. And there was concern that tens of thousands,
(24:14):
or more than one hundred thousand, or back some time
ago there was a claim of maybe more than two
hundred thousand voters on North Carolina's roles did not have
that information. It was the source of a lawsuit that
the national and state Republican parties filed in summer of
twenty twenty four. And then it was the big piece
of the case that Jefferson Griffin filed when he was
(24:37):
challenging the twenty twenty four State Supreme Court election, which
he ended up losing, but the issue didn't go away
of these incomplete voter registrations. And so just at about
the same time the new state Board of Elections was
coming into power, the US Justice Department filed this suit
right after that happened. Sam Hayes, the new elections director, said,
this is an issue we know about. It's something we
(24:59):
want to We saw that the state Board of Elections
came up with this plan to repair the registrations. It
was called the Registration Repair Project. You've talked about it
on your program with Terreso Opeka. And so this is
something that has been moving forward. And now the US
Justice Department, its Civil Rights Division, and the North Carolina
(25:22):
Justice Department lawyers who represent the state Board of Elections
have come to an agreement about ending this lawsuit. And
basically what they are saying is they are asking US
Chief District Judge Richard Myers to sign off on this deal,
and if he does, that would end the suit. There
is another wrinkle in here because it's not just these
two parties, the Justice Department and the State Board of
(25:44):
Elections who are trying to take part in this case.
Some outside groups the Democratic Party, NAACP, Legal Women Voters
of North Carolina, and a group called the North Carolina
Alliance for Retired Americans Retired Workers, which is a group
that's working with the Democratic operative Mark Elias's law firm.
(26:05):
They all want to be involved in this case as
defendants because they are not quite sure about this North
Carolina Repair registration repair project and how it's going to operate,
so they want to be involved in the case. This
latest court filing says to Judge Myers, don't allow these
folks in as parties in the case. If you want
(26:27):
to hear from them, have them file an amicus or
friend of the Court brief and give them a couple
of weeks to do so you can get their input
and then you can decide whether this is an order
that you can accept or not. But they're basically hoping
to get this thing resolved relatively quickly so that the
lawsuit would end and this registration repair project can move
(26:47):
forward as it is already playing out.
Speaker 1 (26:50):
Well, let me ask you about that. You know that
we're talking of this morning about both parties saying okay,
we're ready to kind of put this thing to close. Mitch,
there's still tens of thousands of voters throughout the state
of North Carolina that the State Board is still trying
to collect either the last four of their social Security
number or full driver's license number. Is this case being
ended because the state Board has put an action plan
(27:12):
in place to work on correcting some of these registrations.
Is that why we're seeing both parties say Okay, we've
satisfied some of the issues here, we can move forward.
Speaker 3 (27:22):
Yes. I think from the Justice Department's perspective, they only
wanted to ensure that the state was doing something about
this when this lawsuit was filed. I think there was
some interest within the Board of Elections and its new
staff to do something about this, but there was not
a planning place at the time the Justice Department filed suit.
After the Justice Department filed suit, the State Board of
(27:43):
Elections came up with this plan and started acting on
this plan. We know that when it started there were
more than one hundred thousand of these incomplete voter registrations.
As of the filing of this latest court document, that
number was down just a little bit over eighty one thousand,
and there are plans in place to do some mailings
to try to get some of this additional information. One
(28:03):
of the other things that's spelled out in the deal
is that if anyone who was targeted for one of
these mailings goes and fills out the information, goes to
vote in an upcoming election, and the information is complete,
they will vote a regular ballot. If they do not
provide the information, they would have to vote a provisional
ballot and then provide the information for their ballot account.
(28:27):
One thing that's also spelled out in here is that
nothing as part of this deal or as part of
this project will remove someone from the voter rolls. Which
is one of the complaints that was raised by the
Democratic and Democratic Line groups so is that they were
worried that what would happen is that this project would
be used to remove people from the voter roles. The
(28:50):
agreement that's put forward before Judge Myers makes clear that
nothing would remove someone from the roles. All it would
do if you don't have the complete information is it's
you to vote a provisional ballot until your information could
be checked out and it's clear that you are eligible
to vote.
Speaker 1 (29:09):
There's a lot of information over on our website, Carolina
Journal dot com and on the State Board of Election
website where you can check if your name if you're
one of those voters that has potentially an incomplete registration,
all of the different ways that you can correct it,
whether that be through the MYDMV portal, showing up to
your local state, your local county Board of Election office,
all of those different ways are spelled out in the
(29:31):
state Board has done a really good job at providing
that information. We appreciate the legal update. This morning, Mitchkochi
from the John Locke Foundation joins us on the Carolina
Journal News Hour. Coming up in just a couple of hours,
it's time for the sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive.
(29:53):
This this Thursday, Today, September the fourth WBT and the
One Blood, Big Red Bus will be at the Dog
in Uptown Charlotte from ten am until three pm, and
we're encouraging you to make a life saving blood donation.
It's the sixth annual WBT Little Heroes Blood Drive today
ten am to three pm at the Doghouse in Uptown Charlotte.
(30:14):
Visit WBT dot com for location details and register your appointment.
This morning. It's now five point fifty four. Welcome back
to the Carolina Journal, News Hour, News Talk eleven ten
ninety nine to three WBT. Some relief for drivers across
the state of North Carolina, as the state now ranks
eleventh in the nation for the highest gas tax according
(30:36):
to a new report out from the Tax Foundation, and
this is an improvement from last year, where the state
had the ninth most expensive gas tax anywhere in the nation.
The gas tax in North Carolina average is forty point
five to five cents per gallon, down from last year
sixty eight point one zero cents per gallon. That's a
(30:56):
price drop of more than fifteen cents. Tasca remains the
state with the lowest gas tax at eight point nine
to five cents per gallon, and California remains at the
highest with seventy point nine two cents. According to the report,
the gas tax operates as a user fee, requiring drivers
to pay for construction and upkeep of roads that they travel.
(31:19):
User fees ensure that government services like a road repair
and maintenance are the responsibility of those who directly benefit
from them, rather than taxpayers who might not use those services. However,
as that unfolds, there are concerns over electric vehicles and
other sorts of cars on the road that are not
paying into the gas tax, or at least not as much.
(31:42):
Here in North Carolina, the tax revenue goes to the
Highway and Highway Trust Funds under the North Carolina Department
of Transportation. That money is used for road maintenance and construction.
Joseph Harris, a fiscal policy analyst over at the John
Locke found A, told The Carolina Journal quote North Carolina
(32:03):
has the eleventh highest gasoline tax in the nation. However,
that funding model is outdated. The motor fuel tax is
no longer a reliable way to fund our roads as
vehicles become more fuel efficient and electric cars grow in numbers.
Even after fee increases, ev drivers pay less yearly than
(32:24):
most gasoline power drivers contribute through the gas tax, leaving
a growing hole in road funding. Lawmakers should replace this
outdated system with a vehicle mile travel tax that ensures
every driver pays their share and provides a stable, long
term solution for maintaining our highways end quote there from
(32:45):
Joseph Harris. The emergence of electric vehicles allow many to
sidestep that user fee and not pay for their share
of wear and tear on the roadways. To close this loophole,
many states have considered implementing that vehicle mile travel tax
or a mileage based user fee across the country. With this,
(33:06):
the annual vehicle registration for an EV is two hundred
and fourteen dollars and fifty cents across the state, which
generates about fifty dollars less in revenue for North Carolina
and Dot than the typical driver of a gasoline powered vehicle,
who of course is paying that fee, paying that tax
every time they head on over to the pump and
(33:27):
fill up. We've got some additional details on this report
and some of the concerns about evs and more fuel
efficient vehicles over on our website This Morning Carolina Journal
dot com. Well that's going to do it for a
Thursday edition to WBT News is next, followed by Good
morning BT. We're back with you tomorrow morning five to
six right here on Newstock eleven ten and ninety nine
(33:49):
to three WBT
Popular Podcasts
NFL Daily with Gregg Rosenthal
Gregg Rosenthal and a rotating crew of elite NFL Media co-hosts, including Patrick Claybon, Colleen Wolfe, Steve Wyche, Nick Shook and Jourdan Rodrigue of The Athletic get you caught up daily on all the NFL news and analysis you need to be smarter and funnier than your friends.
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com