North Carolina Legislator Profile
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
North Carolina Legislator Profile Sen. Joyce Krawiec: (R-Davie, Forsyth) Senate District 31 “Feminist ideology, which has strayed so far from its original goals, can share some blame for the decline in the traditional American family.” -Mouth from the South (Krawiec’s blog) Joyce Krawiec is a Republican senator, real estate broker, and longtime conservative political operative. Krawiec first became politically involved in Citizens for a Sound Economy (CSE) in the mid 1990s and early 2000s. CSE was a Koch-funded group with a conservative agenda that was run by a tobacco heir and two Koch family members. Krawiec previously said she had “no desire to run for office” or turn her activism into paid work because it would “limit her independence.” Krawiec later held multiple leadership roles at FreedomWorks, a split off group from CSE. In 2012 Krawiec was one of the Freedom Platform’s “commissioners” for a platform that included repealing Obamacare, “Reining in the EPA,” and “Eliminating the Department of Education.” Krawiec later joined the ranks of the NCGOP establishment and was appointed to the SD31 seat. She then won reelection in 2014, 2016, and 2018. Krawiec has not had a close general election race yet. New districts in 2020 may change that. Sen. Krawiec Krawiec, a high-ranking conservative senator who chairs the Committee on Health Care, opposes the Affordable Care Act and refuses to close the coverage gap for uninsured North Carolinians. A 2019 budget chair, Krawiec called the Republican budget, which failed to expand Medicaid and cut millions of dollars from the program, “good,” “solid,” and “bipartisan.” Not only does Krawiec not support Medicaid expansion, which would close the coverage gap for more than half a million North Carolinians and is 90 percent funded by the federal government, but she also supported a Republican budget that underfunded Medicaid by more than $60 million and included a $15 million cut. As a 2019 budget chair, Krawiec did not give teachers adequate raises and failed to restore Masters’ pay. The 2019 Republican budget would give teachers an average raise of 3.9 percent over the next two years while Gov. Senate District 31 Cooper’s budget included an 8.5 percent raise for teachers. Additionally, the 2019 Republican budget would include raises of less than 1 percent for education support staff like custodians and cafeteria workers. Krawiec supported multiple bills based on Junk science that place extreme restrictions on reproductive health care in the state and criminalize doctors. She sponsored a bill based on a problem that does not exist, which would mandate care for “infants born alive” after an abortion attempt and would make doctors liable to be charged with a felony. Krawiec sponsored bills that required people to wait three days before accessing abortion care, would have required doctors to give medically inaccurate information to patients about “abortion reversal” despite opposition from the medical community, and make most second-trimester abortion procedures illegal. Despite saying “we can’t afford to line Duke’s pockets,” Krawiec voted to allow Duke Energy to shift costs of cleaning up coal ash onto consumers. Though previously opposed Duke’s systems of carbon credits, saying, “we can’t afford to line Duke’s pockets,” Krawiec has received thousands in campaign cash from Duke Energy PAC. Krawiec also voted for an early version of S559, which Duke lobbied “heavily” for, and would have made it easier for Duke to shift costs onto consumers. • Duke customers still saw a rate increase of more than $5 per month on average in 2018. Summary Krawiec, a high-ranking senator who chairs the Committee on Health Care, does not support the Affordable Care Act and refuses to close the coverage gap for uninsured North Carolinians. • Krawiec has long opposed the Affordable Care Act. • Krawiec, a 2019 budget chair, called the Republican budget, which failed to expand Medicaid and cut millions of dollars from the program, “good,” “solid,” and “bipartisan.” • Medicaid expansion, which would close the coverage gap for between 500 and 600 thousand North Carolinians, would be 90 percent funded by the federal government. • The Republican budget underfunded Medicaid by more than $60 million and included a $15 million cut to Medicaid. • Krawiec removed language from a rural health care bill that would have required the state to study the cost and benefit of expanding Medicaid. As a 2019 budget chair, Krawiec did not give teachers adequate raises and failed to restore Masters’ pay. • The 2019 Republican budget would give teachers an average raise of 3.9 percent over the next two years while Gov. Cooper’s budget included an 8.5 percent raise for teachers. • The 2019 Republican budget would include raises of less than 1 percent for education support staff like custodians and cafeteria workers. • The 2019 Republican budget would require school districts give teachers $200 to purchase classroom supplies, while a federal government report found that teachers spend an average of $500 per year on classroom supplies. • Krawiec introduced a bill to provide bonuses to teachers who carry a weapon in the classroom but voted for a budget that did not include hiring new school psychologists. Krawiec has supported multiple bills based on Junk science that place extreme restrictions on reproductive health care in the state and criminalize doctors. • Krawiec sponsored a bill based on a falsehood, which would mandate care for “infants born alive” after an abortion attempt and would make doctors liable to be charged with a felony. • Krawiec was a sponsor of a bill that required people to wait three days before accessing abortion care and said, “I don’t see why 72 hours is unreasonable.” • Krawiec sponsored a bill that would have required doctors to give medically inaccurate information to patients about “abortion reversal” despite opposition from the medical community. • Krawiec filed a bill with Rep. Conrad that would make most second-trimester abortion procedures illegal. Despite saying “we can’t afford to line Duke’s pockets,” Krawiec voted to allow Duke Energy to shift costs of cleaning up coal ash onto consumers. • Thought previously opposed Duke’s systems of carbon credits, saying, “we can’t afford to line Duke’s pockets,” Krawiec has received thousands in campaign cash from Duke Energy PAC. • Krawiec also voted for an early version of S559, which Duke lobbied “heavily” for and would have made it easier for Duke to shift costs onto consumers by allowing the company to gain approval for rate hikes over multiple years. • Duke customers still saw a rate increase of more than $5 per month on average in 2018. Krawiec, who chairs the Senate Committee on Health Care, opposes the Affordable Care Act and closing the coverage gap for hundreds of thousands of uninsured North Carolinians. Krawiec chairs the Senate Committee on Health Care. (North Carolina General Assembly, retrieved 11/12/19) Krawiec has long opposed the Affordable Care Act and called it a “disaster.” Krawiec wrote a report titled “What Can Women Do?” where she lamented the NCGA’s inability to override the Governor’s veto of the Health Care Repeal. “Thanks to those who joined us on Wednesday, March 9, at the General Assembly to let the Democrats and the Governor know our feelinGs on the veto of the Health Care Repeal, HB2. As you know, we only needed 4 Democrats to join Republicans in order to override the Governor's veto. We met with the Democrats that we thouGht would be most likely to vote with us, but Found them to be steadfast in their commitment to stick with the Governor. Even the two Dems who voted with Republicans For repeal, caved in and stuck with the Governor. We also heard From Speaker Tillis and Majority Leader Stam. They thanked us For beinG there, encouraGed us to continue to speak out on the issues. When we asked how we could be most helpful to our leadership, the answer was, help them educate the public. It was encouraging that we had a lot of media attention there with us and we were joined by tea party activists from across the state, as well as FreedomWorks and Americans For Prosperity. This is just one battle of many and I hope that you will stay suited up For the next round. It is critical that our voices join together in these future alerts. Stand stronG.” (NCFRW Grassroots Activism Report, 3/2010) Krawiec called the ACA a “disaster” and said she does not support an increase in the minimum wage. “Q: Should North Carolina set up a state exchanGe under the Affordable Care Act or just participate in the national exchange system? Why or why not? Answer: This decision has already been made. N.C. chose not to set up a state exchanGe but to use the national exchanGe. ACA has been a disaster. The Web design as well as the entire system is a Flawed MESS. Setting up our own exchange would have just added to the chaos when N.C. was already dealinG with a health care crisis leFt bvthe Perdue administration.” (Winston-Salem Journal, 10/20/14) Krawiec insisted that Obamacare was a “disaster.” “"We were fiGhtinG this for a lonG time because we knew it was GoinG to be a disaster," Krawiec said. "Obamacare has been a disaster and it's going to get worse. This is the infant stages of it." A lot of carriers, like Cigna, Aetna and Humana, are leaving North Carolina and iF more Follow suit, the state will be in trouble, she said.” (Winston-Salem Journal, 10/28/16) Krawiec was a 2019 budget chair and called the budget, which failed to expand Medicaid and cut millions of dollars from the program, “good,” “solid,” and “bipartisan.” Krawiec called the 2019 budget “good,” “solid,” and “bipartisan.” “The GOP senators stressed their belief that the latest version of the budGet "reflects compromise between the House, Senate and Executive Branch." "We passed a Good solid budGet with bipartisan support," said state Sen.