(The Center Square) – Hurricane Helene’s impact on North Carolina also extends to Tax Day, traditionally April 15 for state income tax and federal income tax.

Both the state Department of Revenue and the IRS have granted an extension until May 1.

In the state, the Department of Revenue says in a release, “The department reminds taxpayers that the due date for filing a calendar year 2024 North Carolina income tax return is April 15, 2025. However, the department will remove late action penalties assessed against a taxpayer affected by Hurricane Helene if the taxpayer files the state income tax return and pays tax due on or before May 1, 2025.”

Those unable to file by May 1 may still qualify for penalty relief, the Revenue Department says. Extensions beyond May 1 are also possible.

Those granted an extension by the IRS will automatically be granted an extension by the state, a release says.

The IRS release says the filing deadline is May 1 for FEMA disaster declarations impacting everyone in the states of North Carolina, South Carolina, Alabama, Florida and Georgia. The extension is granted without need for taxpayers to make the request.

Those needing a longer extension can make the request to the IRS.

Many tax experts are encouraging filing by Tuesday to avoid the situation of either agency making a mistake and assessing a penalty and then the filer needing to go through the process of getting it corrected.

(The Center Square) – A drug program designed to help low-income patients pay for medication through hospitals is raising questions in state legislatures, where some lawmakers are questioning the transparency of the program.

The 340B Drug Pricing Program was established more than 30 years ago to create a discount program for not-for-profit hospitals that serve low-income patients.

Senate Bill 1414, sponsored by Tennessee state Sen. Richard Briggs, R-Knoxville, would prevent manufacturers from “imposing any restrictions, prohibitions, discriminating against, or otherwise limiting the acquisition of a 340B drug.”

Opponents say there’s already a lack of transparency surrounding the program.

“It’s important to taxpayers because the 340B program is one of the most abused laws that Congress has ever passed and costs taxpayers a lot of money because drug companies increase their prices for non 340B entities to cover the losses that have grown over the last couple of decades,” said Joseph Grogan, founder of Firearrow, a health care consulting firm, in an interview with The Center Square. “340B was set up to provide relief for true charitable hospitals with a lot of poor patients. It has become a profit-generator center for over 28,000 entities and grown far beyond what Congress ever intended.”

Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., began raising questions about the program in September 2023. A 2010 decision to let hospitals enter into agreements with contract pharmacies led to an increase in pharmacy participation from 789 to 25,775 between 2009 and 2022, according to a 2024 news release from the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, which Cassidy now chairs. He has sent letters to hospitals, community health centers and contract pharmacies as part of his investigation into how the program is being used.

This year, the issue reached state legislatures.

Rural lawmakers may be worried about the program, which can be a lifeline for small hospitals that have higher Medicaid and uninsured rates, said Ryan Long, director of Congressional Relations and Senior Research Fellow with the Paragon Health Institute, in an interview with The Center Square.

“But the problem with the program is that it provides a lot more, overwhelmingly a lot more assistance to wealthier hospitals because of their large percentage of commercial paid patients,” Long said.

The number of purchases through the program increased from $6 billion in 2010 to $66 billion in 2023, according to a report from Drug Channels.

Sen. Brent Taylor, R-Memphis, one of four senators who voted against the bill when it came up in the Tennessee Senate Labor and Commerce Committee, questioned the 11-fold increase.

“No one has really been able to adequately show me that there’s been an 11-fold increase in money available for indigent care nor that the resources have been stretched 11-fold which indicates to me that there’s a diversion going on and that the people are buying these drugs at a lower price and turning around and selling them and that money never makes back for its intended purpose which was to provide indigent care or to stretch those resources to provide indigent care,” Taylor said.

Briggs said the bill protects rural providers who are a part of 340B from closing.

“If you start closing them or making them not part of the program, we may have, particularly with our patients in the rural areas, who may have to drive 30 minutes, 40 minutes to an hour just to go to a pharmacy,” Briggs said.

The Senate version of the bill is on Monday’s Finance, Ways and Means calendar. The House Finance, Ways and Means Committee advanced the bill with no discussion on Wednesday, which makes it eligible for a vote by the full chamber.

Tennessee is not the only state considering a 340B law. Nebraska Gov. Jim Pillen, a Republican, signed a bill Wednesday called the “Contract Pharmacy Protection Act.” The unicameral Legislature passed the bill 42-5.

(The Center Square) – The Trump administration is continuing to reverse Biden administration energy policies, including its moratorium on new oil and natural gas lease sales on federal land and offshore waters.

In response to President Donald Trump’s executive order, “Unleashing American Energy,” Interior Secretary Doug Burgum issued an order to reduce regulatory burdens and expedite domestic energy development, impacting 3.5 million acres in seven western states.

In Trump’s first month in office, the Interior Department’s Bureau of Land Management began leasing federal land in five western states. In January, it leased 13 parcels covering 1,324 acres in Montana and North Dakota for $11,314,786. In February, it leased seven parcels totaling 1,317.29 acres in New Mexico for $20,671,801. In March, it leased 4 parcels totaling 2,443.11acres in Wyoming for $6,725,713 and in Nevada 10 parcels totaling 19,954 acres for $295,309.

Total lease sales in three months totaled more than $39 million, reflecting “an ongoing focus on unleashing domestic energy production, supporting job growth, and reducing reliance on foreign resources through efficient, streamlined permitting and leasing processes,” the BLM said.

“Unlike under President Biden, we will not leave our critical energy resources locked up when so many Americans are suffering through the unnecessarily high cost of living imposed by the previous administration,” Burgum said. “Unleashing America’s energy resources will lower prices at the pump, at the grocery store and across all aspects of American life while strengthening our national security.”

On Thursday, the Interior Department announced it would no longer require the BLM to prepare an environmental impact statement for 3,244 oil and natural gas leases in seven Western states in compliance with Trump’s executive order.

Nearly every day, it’s also announcing new leasing opportunities.

One includes scheduling an oil and gas lease sale on June 3 to offer 13 oil and gas parcels totaling 20,888 acres in Utah.

Another includes requesting public input for an upcoming lease sale of 99 oil and gas parcels totaling 84,045.23 acres in Wyoming and for 29 oil and gas parcels, totaling 9,102 acres, in a September sale in Montana and North Dakota.

“Leasing is the first step in the process to develop federal oil and gas resources,” the department explains. “Before development operations can begin, an operator must submit an application for permit to drill detailing development plans. The BLM reviews applications for permits to drill, posts them for public review, conducts an environmental analysis and coordinates with state partners and stakeholders.”

Oil and natural gas leases are awarded for a renewable 10-year term. The federal government receives a royalty of 16.67% of the value of production.

The Interior Department also approved a new natural gas pipeline in Humboldt County, Nevada, authorizing construction and maintenance of a 16-mile, 24-inch buried pipeline and associated above ground facilities that will cross public and private lands.

Burgum also directed the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management to hold offshore lease sales in the Gulf of America. The first proposed notice of sale is slated for June.

According to BOEM’s latest analysis, oil and natural gas resources in undiscovered fields in the Gulf of America include 29.59 billion barrels of oil and 54.84 trillion cubic feet of natural gas. 

“By continuing to expand offshore capabilities, the United States ensures affordable energy for consumers, strengthens domestic industry and reinforces its role as an energy superpower,” the Interior Department argues. “Opening the Outer Continental Shelf is central to this strategy as it unleashes domestic energy potential that had been blocked under the previous administration,” and is expected to generate tens of thousands of high-paying jobs throughout the industry.

Outer Continental Shelf oil and gas activities have generated billions of dollars in revenue from lease sales, rental fees and royalties to the federal government and states, helping to fund infrastructure, education and public services and wildlife conservation. They also help strengthen U.S. energy independence, national security and global stability, by reducing reliance on foreign producers, the Trump administration argues.

Offshore production in the Gulf of America accounts for the third greatest volume in the country, of nearly 1.8 million barrels of oil per day, according to Energy Information Agency data from January. The greatest volume is produced in the Permian Basin in west Texas, which leads the U.S. in oil and natural gas production, The Center Square reported.