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Voluntary retirement plans healthy, among nation’s largest, lowest cost | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By David Beasley | The Center Square contributor – (The Center Square – ) 2025-02-20 18:01:00

(The Center Square) – While the pension plan for North Carolina state employees remains underfunded, the same can’t be said for a separate, voluntary 401(k) style programs for public employees, according to a report Thursday.

There are 294,625 employees enrolled in NC 401(k) Plan, and another 57,413 in the NC 457 Plan. Both plans are designed to supplement public pensions. State Treasurer Brad Briner chairs the board that oversees the two programs.

Briner has expressed concern that the state’s pension plans are underfunded by about $16 billion and rank near the bottom nationally in investment performance.

However, the 401(k) and 457 programs are “among the largest and lowest-cost public plans in the country,” the treasurer’s office said in a release.

The 401(k) plan allow public employees to make contributions with pretax payroll deductions. The 457 plan, also through payroll deductions, is a deferred compensation program.

Michael McCann, managing director of Empower, which manages the North Carolina plans, provided an upbeat report to the state’s Supplemental Retirement Board of Trustees.

“From a plan health perspective, everything is looking really good in terms of the trend line,” McCann told the board. “Average participant balances are continuing to increase. The active participation rate is above its historical norm. The active average employee deferral continues to set higher and higher trends in terms of what participants are contributing.”

Even with an aging population and increased retirements, the plans continue to grow, McCann added.

“We’re also replenishing that population, where total unique participant balances continue to increase,” he said. “Last year, was our second best year ever, beating 2023 in terms of total enrollment.”

Another sign of stability of the plans is loan activity – participants borrowing from their accounts – remained consistent in 2024, despite the heavy damage from Hurricane Helene in the western part of the state.

About 2,000 plan participants did take advantage of the Qualified Disaster Relief distributions that were approved by the board last fall. Participants who lived in the disaster areas were allowed to withdraw up to $22,000 without penalties, and can later recontribute some or all of the amounts withdrawn if they choose.

A waiver extension of the board’s administrative fee for 12 months was approved unanimously. A release says the action will save participants $1.7 million over the next year.

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Sex education bill proposed in North Carolina House | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-04-01 13:32:00

(The Center Square) – Directions on curriculum measured age appropriate and access in public libraries to materials considered harmful to minors are in a proposal at the North Carolina House of Representatives.

Parental Rights for Curriculum and Books, also known as House Bill 595, adds to state law a section for age-appropriate instruction for students; a human growth and development program for fourth and fifth graders; and says reproductive health and safety education shall not happen before seventh grade.



Rep. John A. Torbett, R-Gaston




The bill authored by Rep. John Torbett, R-Gaston, and filed Monday additionally has sections on instructional materials and clarification of “defenses for material harmful to minors.” Public library access for minors is in a fourth section.

Gender identity instruction, a buzzword of recent election cycles, is prohibited prior to students entering the fifth grade. The proposal extends that to prior to the entering seventh grade.

The bill would require parental consent to learn about some elements associated with sex education – infections, contraception, assault and human trafficking.

State law allows schools the option to adopt local policies on parental consent for the reproductive health education.

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Foxx: Judicial warfare in the flesh causing irreparable damage to America | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 16:37:00

(The Center Square) – Judicial warfare is eroding the confidence in Americans’ justice system leaving a blight on justice itself, says a North Carolina congresswoman who leads the Rules Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C, is speaking out against judges blocking the president’s decisions as granted in the Constitution ahead of a Tuesday congressional hearing.

“As of late, we have certainly seen a slew of rulings by rogue judges that surpass their own constitutional authority,” she said in a post to social media Monday afternoon. “This is judicial warfare in the flesh. If it is not remedied in a commonsense and expeditious fashion, these exercises in partisanship will do further irreparable damage to the nation and to the confidence of Americans in our justice system.”

More than a dozen orders from President Donald Trump – more than in the entire time Joe Biden, Barack Obama and George W. Bush served as presidents – have been thwarted or attempted to be blocked. Among the judges in the spotlight is U.S. District Judge James Boasberg, a pivotal figure in deportation of people accused of being in gangs in addition to just being named to preside in a case involving military operations and a messaging app.

Boasberg, appointed by Bush to the Superior Court of the District of Columbia in 2002, was nominated to the federal bench by Obama and confirmed in the Senate 96-0 in 2012.

Boasberg on Wednesday issued and on Friday extended a temporary restraining order that prevents Trump from using the Alien Enemies Act to deport people believed to be part of the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua. A hearing, Judicial Overreach and Constitutional Limits on the Federal Courts, is at 10 a.m. Tuesday to be conducted jointly by the Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, Artificial Intelligence and the Internet, and the Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government from within the Judiciar Committee of the U.S. House of Representatives.

California Republican Darrell Issa is chairman of the former committee, Texas’ Chip Roy the latter. North Carolina Democrat Deborah Ross is a minority member of the former; North Carolina Republican Mark Harris is a majority member of the latter.

Witnesses scheduled include former House Speaker Newt Gingrich and Cindy Romero, a victim of criminal activity believed perpetrated by Tren de Aragua in Aurora, Colo. Also on the invite list are witnesses from the Edwin Meese III Center for Legal and Judicial Studies at the Heritage Foundation.

Other federal judges drawing fire from supporters of the president include Biden appointees Amir Ali, Loren AliKhan, Deborah Boardman, Angel Kelley and Brendan Hurson; Obama appointees Paul Engelmayer, Amy Berman Jackson, John McConnell and Leo Sorokin; Bush appointee Joseph Laplante; Bill Clinton appointee William Alsup; and Ronald Reagan appointees John Coughenhour and Royce Lamberth.

“Without question,” Foxx said, “exceeding constitutional mandates as a matter of judicial philosophy does nothing more than blight justice itself.”

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Carolinas wildfires battle helped by rain | North Carolina

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www.thecentersquare.com – By Alan Wooten | The Center Square – (The Center Square – ) 2025-03-31 15:21:00

(The Center Square) – Wildfires continued to burn Monday in the Carolinas, though a sign of optimism arose with a burning ban lifted in 41 South Carolina counties and measured rainfall in both states.

Largest of the fires is Table Rock in Pickens and Greenville counties of South Carolina. The Black Cove fire is burning in North Carolina’s Polk and Henderson counties, the Rattlesnake fire is burning Haywood County, and the Alarka 5 fire is in Swain County.

South Carolina’s Horry County at the Atlantic Ocean and North Carolina border, and the northwestern counties of Spartanburg, Greenville, Pickens and Oconee remain under a burning ban. In North Carolina, all 100 counties have a ban in effect.

The Table Rock fire size is about 13,191 acres in South Carolina and 574 in North Carolina, the Forestry Commission of the former said. Containment is about 30%.

The Persimmon Ridge fire is 2,078 acres in size with 64% containment. Rain Sunday into Monday measured nearly 1 inch.

The Covington Drive Fire in Myrtle Beach is about 85% contained and in mop-up and strengthened firebreaks stage.

In North Carolina, the Black Cove complex of fires are 7,672 acres in size. It includes the Black Cove (3,502 acres, 36% contained), Deep Woods (3,971 acres, 32% contained) and Fish Hook (199 acres, 100% contained) fires. Rainfall overnight into Monday helped the battle.

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