N.C. Employment Security Commission Chairwoman Lynn Holmes said today that, at the direction of Gov. Bev Perdue, she is suspending certain provisions of a bill passed this summer because they do not comply with federal law.

Senate Bill 532 made a number of changes to the state's employment security commission. Perdue vetoed the legislation, but the legislature overrode it. 

Opponents warned that flaws in the law would lead to improper denial of unemployment benefits for those out of work and increased state and federal unemployment tax rates for businesses.

The bill's supporters said the concerns are overblown, and that the Department of Labor has never sanctioned a state so that unemployment tax rates rise.

For the second straight year, North Carolina has been ranked the second best state for business by Chief Executive Magazine.

The news is being touted by Gov. Bev Perdue and Keith Crisco, the state's commerce secretary, as further proof of North Carolina's business-friendly climate and quality workforce.

The rankings are based on surveys completed by 556 CEOs who were asked questions about each state's taxation and regulations, workforce and living environment.

"Not surprisingly, states with punitive tax and regulatory regimes are punished with lower rankings, and this can offset even positive scores on quality of living environment," the magazine notes in a write-up on this year's rankings.

"While state incentives are always welcome, what CEOs often seek are areas with consistent policies and regulations that allow them to plan, as well as intangible factors such as a state’s overall attitude toward business and the work ethic of its population."

Texas earned the top spot in this year's rankings. North Carolina was followed by Florida, Tennessee, Georgia, Indiana, Virginia and South Carolina.

So what to make of these rankings?

Well, it seems fair to note that CEOs as a group aren't exactly hurting right now.

The Employment Security Commission said today that it expects by Friday to have returned nearly all the deductions it made from longtime unemployed workers benefit checks.

Spokesman Larry Parker said the agency began refunding the money late last week.

The payments are being deposited into people's accounts as individual payments, he said.

Last month, the ESC faced a firestorm of criticism after it began recouping $28 million in overpayments the agency mistakenly made to about 38,000 unemployed workers.

The ESC earlier estimated that about $4 to $5 million was deducted from unemployed workers checks before the deductions were halted.

Governor Beverly Perdue is scheduled to make a jobs announcement in Halifax County today at 3 p.m.

The event will take place at Halifax-Northampton Regional Airport. Perdue will be joined by Dale Carroll, deputy secretary with the N.C. Department of Commerce.

The unemployment rate in Halifax County in November was 13.6 percent, among the highest in the state.

Edgecombe County, which borders Halifax to the south, had the highest unemployment rate of any county in the state in November at 16.6 percent.

The statewide unemployment rate was 10.7 percent in November.

Halifax County is home to Roanoke Rapids, a city that borrowed more than $20 million several years ago to build the Randy Parton Theater in an effort to spur economic development.

The theater failed and the city ended up taking control of it and renaming it Roanoke Rapids Theater.