Senator Ron Rabin provides a summary of recent activities in the North Carolina Senate: 1) The Governor proposed a balanced budget that focuses on paying debts and infrastructure. 2) The Senate is analyzing the budget and how funds can stimulate the economy. 3) The Senator highlights local students who served as Senate pages and recognizes a student who organized a golf tournament for wounded veterans.

1. RONALD RABIN
STATE SENATOR, DISTRICT 12
SENATE UPDATE
April 4, 2013
March has been a very busy month and the pace picked up even more with the forwarding of the Governor’s
Budget at month's end. The budget is about the same size in terms of dollars as last years. The Governor’s
leadership and hard work have produced a balanced budget proposal that exercises fiscal discipline and keeps
state government spending within its means. His emphasis on paying off our debts and repairing our critical
infrastructure reflects a vision and commitment to the long-term fiscal health of our state.
For this budget cycle, the Senate goes first in terms of analyzing the budget's content and developing our view
of how appropriations can best be made to stimulate North Carolina's economy. Then the House will get its
turn before the General Assembly's joint proposal is sent back to the Governor and final tweaking will occur. A
full copy of the Governor’s Budget can be downloaded online at Office of State Budget and Management.
District 12 Shining Stars
LEFT: Mary Hanna MIDDLE: Jenna Katherine Johnson & Mattlyn Lauren Tart RIGHT: Wounded Warrior Golf Classic
I would like to again thank our Senate Pages for the month; Mary Hanna of Sanford, Jenna Katherine Johnson
of Benson, and Mattlyn Lauren Tart of Benson. They did a great job and hope they enjoyed being here as
much as we enjoyed having them. One of the highlights of the month was playing in the Wounded Warrior Golf
Classic at Riverwood Golf Course in Clayton. It was a highlight not because of the golf but because of the
event organizer, Ms. Becca Wilkins, a high school senior in Johnston County. She put her time and energy into

2. organizing the tournament in order to send all of the proceeds to the Wounded Warrior Fund. She did a great
job and set a great example for all of us. Thank you Becca!
Keeping Campaign Promises
You can view a complete list of bills I have sponsored or co-sponsored HERE
As Vice-Chair of the Finance Committee, l am very involved in helping to develop and deliver a modern tax
system that will be instrumental in developing a robust NC economy. We are currently working on Senate Bill
363, Business Tax Reduction and Reforms. Please be patient with our approach to tax reform. We are working
hard to phase in a fair tax system with the least turbulence to our economy.
With health care costs rising and state Medicaid spending consuming an ever-increasing portion of the state’s
budget, we must move closer to a system that rewards high-quality, low-cost care. To that end, Sen. Bob
Rucho (R-Mecklenburg) and Sen. Harry Brown (R-Onslow) filed major reform legislation last week aimed at
improving medical billing transparency, reducing health care costs and helping consumers make better-
informed decisions about their treatment.
Senate Bill 473, the Health Care Cost Reduction and Transparency Act of 2013, will require hospitals and
outpatient surgery centers to disclose all treatment costs associated with the top 50 most common procedures
performed at their facilities. The information will be published via the North Carolina Health Information
Exchange, the state’s public information forum.
The North Carolina Senate passed legislation last week directing the state and the City of Raleigh to enter a
new lease on the Dorothea Dix campus that complies with state law, charges a fair price, and upholds the
property’s longstanding purpose of serving the mentally ill. Under a new agreement, the city will be able to
lease more than 200 acres of land for a destination park.
Senate Bill 334 fixes many problems resulting from the poorly-planned lease of the property in late 2012. Prior
to its signing, Senate leaders voiced strong opposition to the last-minute deal to former Gov. Beverly Perdue
and her Council of State, arguing the prime downtown real estate was a valuable state asset owned by all
North Carolinians and should not be given to one municipality for millions below fair market value. We also
warned the lease ignored a state law requiring an analysis of needs before the transfer of the property could
occur.
The Senate pledged last year to terminate the lease – an option that was clearly included within the contract
signed by Raleigh leaders. We are keeping our word in all areas: in advocating for all North Carolina

3. taxpayers, in using the Dorothea Dix property to benefit the mentally ill, and in allowing Raleigh to have a large
destination park, so long as city leaders pay their fair share and comply with the law.
Lastly, it’s our most important responsibility to ensure our public schools are the best they can possibly be.
That means ensuring students can read when they should, guaranteeing each classroom is led by a high-
quality teacher, and helping parents determine the quality of their children’s school.
We’re building on the reforms that were passed last year with the Excellent Public Schools Act of 2013, a bill
introduced this month that will continue to reform our public classrooms.
We’re spending $9,000 taxpayer dollars per year, per student on public education. Yet nearly one in four high
school students fail to graduate and more than 40 percent of our third graders can’t read at grade level. Last
year, the reforms we passed began to fix an education system that is failing too many of our children. But there
is still more work left to do to ensure our children are being equipped for higher education and the workforce.
Here are a few of the bill’s highlights:
Emphasizes the importance of literacy by strengthening teacher education programs, licensure
requirements and professional development with a special focus on improving students’ reading skills.
Studies have shown that being able to read by the fourth grade dramatically improves students'
chances of graduating from high school.
Enables state employees to volunteer in a public school literacy program for up to five hours per
month.
Maximizes the amount of precious instructional time students receive by requiring that all end-of-
grade/end-of-course tests be administered within the final 10 instructional days for yearlong courses or
final five days for semester courses.
Boosts accountability in the classroom by employing teachers through contracts that are renewed
based on job performance. Local school boards will have the ability to offer effective teachers with at
least three years of experience a four-year contract before the end of this year. Beginning in the 2014-
2015 school year, all teachers may be offered a one, two, three or four-year contract at their local
school boards’ discretion. The current system rewards mediocrity and punishes excellence by granting
unlimited job security to all who teach a few years.

4. Continues to develop a pay for excellence system to evaluate, identify and reward the most effective
teachers. The plan will incorporate ideas from local school districts and the State Board of Education.
Builds on efforts to allow parents to identify high-achieving, average and failing schools by measuring
whether they exceed, meet or fail to meet student achievement growth goals. Together with the school
grading system implemented last year, this measure will foster greater transparency, encourage
struggling schools to improve and empower parents to determine the best options for their children.
Potentially saves taxpayers money and relieve teachers from the burden of learning new tests by
requiring the Department of Public Instruction to review the quality and value of new Common Core
exams and obtain approval from the General Assembly before buying them.
Other education bills to keep an eye on this month are SB 337 NC Public Charter School Board, SB 569
Access to Sports/Extracurricular for All Students and SB 586 Standardization of School Building Design.
The days of accepting a broken education system are over. We must continue to demand better results and
positive change. This bill will ensure our students receive instruction from the most highly-motivated and
effective teachers and are equipped with a strong skill set that prepares them for the future.
SENATOR RON RABIN
DISTRICT 12
526 Legislative Office Building
Raleigh, NC 27601-2808
Phone: 919.733.5748
Fax: 919.754.3150
Ron.Rabin@ncleg.net