This year’s short session of the General Assembly may live up to its name.

Lawmakers return to the capital today for the first time since the historic 2013 session in which they reformed the tax code, cut taxes, enacted broad changes to election laws, fought back against Medicaid expansion and Obamacare, and tightened up the state’s unemployment insurance program.

“I truly believe for the first time in my 30 years around the legislature that there may be something true about the title of this session,” said Sen. Dan Blue, D-Wake, the Senate’s minority leader. “It might be a short session.”

“I think that the dynamics are still there for a short session,” said Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph.

The primary focus will be adjusting the state’s $21 billion general fund budget for the 2014-15 fiscal year. Budget writers will take into account how tax collections match up with revenue projections, and will see whether expenses are meeting expectations. Included in the mix will be how to provide pay raises for state employees and teachers, and dealing with Medicaid cost overruns.

Rep. Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, senior chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said he doesn’t see the General Assembly going back to old tricks to balance the budget, such as using one-time revenues to pay for recurring expenses.

“Pay raises will be paid for with recurring dollars,” Dollar said. And pay raises will be a top priority, he said.

“There’s broad agreement about the No. 1 priority being compensation,” Dollar said.

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, outlined a handful of non-budget issues he expects the General Assembly to take up during the short session.

“You’ll also see us move forward on the issue of coal ash,” Berger said. He said that he wants lawmakers to address not just the coal ash spill in then Dan River, but ensuring that Duke Energy makes sure such spills don’t happen again.

Berger also said that lawmakers could look further at addressing regulatory reform and move forward on an energy policy.

Berger said he didn’t think the ambitious agenda would keep lawmakers in town all that long.

“I think these priorities are going to be priorities in both chambers,” Berger said. “I don’t see our ability to move the session along in a business like fashion being a real problem.”

Dollar also said he thought the session would progress orderly. “The General Assembly is designed to multitask, and be able to handle a range of issues,” he said.

Sen. Jerry Tillman, R-Randolph, said he expects the “dynamics” to be in place for a short session. Rep. David Lewis, D-Harnett, said he did not expect to see many major new initiatives.

Teacher pay has been a hot topic since the General Assembly adjourned last summer. Although spending for public schools increased by 4.8 percent over the previous year’s appropriation, the budget did not include across-the-board pay raises for teachers.

Earlier this year, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory and top legislative leaders outlined a pay increase plan for early career teachers that would amount to a 14 percent pay increase over the next two years. New and early career teachers would get a $2,200 pay increase the first year, and a $2,000 pay increase the second year.

McCrory also proposed pay increases for state employees and other teachers.

But a report last week that tax collections were running more than $400 million below projections has raised questions about where the money for those pay raises could be found. McCrory is scheduled to release his budget proposal for the coming year this afternoon.

Moreover, a legislative task force looking into teacher compensation decided to punt. It did not offer any recommendations on teacher pay for the 2014 session. Instead, the task force recommended legislation directing the State Board of Education to conduct its own study on teacher compensation.

“This task force really isn’t making any express recommendation with respect to that,” said Rep. Rob Bryan, R-Mecklenburg, who co-chaired the task force.

The report left some task force members frustrated.

Rep. Tricia Cotham, D-Mecklenburg, noted that when she asked her history students to write a report, she would on occasion tell them that their reports contained “a bunch of fluff.”

“And that’s what I thought of this report when I read it,” Cotham said.

Cotham said she’d heard phrases like “it’s a long-term study,” and “we can’t do this now,” from both Democrats and Republicans.

“As I said to them at the time, that’s a bunch of fluff, so I repeat the message again,” Cotham said. This is a disappointing report.”

Last year, lawmakers passed a two-year General Fund budget, appropriating $20.6 billion for the current (2013-14) fiscal year and $21 billion for the next (2014-15) fiscal year.

One issue lawmakers will have to deal with is the budget unpredictability of Medicaid, the joint federal-state health program for the poor. State officials say that Medicaid is running about $140 million over budget.

Dollar said that the actual cost overruns could come in significantly lower.

McCrory plans to ask for 19 new positions in the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to increase regulation and monitor the closing of some coal ash ponds near coal-powered electricity plants. The move comes after an earlier coal ash spill from a Duke Energy coal ash pond leaked into the Dan River.

“Since taking office in January 2013, my administration has discovered a number of long-standing shortcomings in state law that hamper our ability to adequately protect public health and the environment in addition to dealing with emergencies when they happen,” McCrory said in a statement. “We need to close these loopholes and give our regulators the tools they need to solve this more than 60-year-old coal ash problem.”

Environmental groups are critical of the plan, and have issued a statement critical of McCrory.

“This proposed bill does not require a cleanup and asks the Legislature and the public to trust DENR and Duke to decide what to do with Duke’s polluting coal ash pits,” said Frank Holleman, senior attorney at the Southern Environmental Law Center.

Voucher supporters could be taking a wait-and-see approach before deciding what to do about the Opportunity Scholarships program, which is tied up in state courts.

In February, Superior Court Judge Robert Hobgood issued a preliminary injunction preventing the state from awarding up to $4,200 in scholarships for up to 2,400 students from lower income families to attend private schools. Parents who have intervened as defendants, along with legislative leaders, have asked higher courts to lift that injunction.

“In my opinion, we need to wait until the courts rule and to see if they’ll lift the injunction, so we’ll know what to do,” Tillman said. “The money is set aside.” Tillman was referring to $10 million placed in the N.C. State Education Assistance Authority budget to award the scholarships.

Lewis said there could be some tweaking of the tax reform package passed last year. He said that one item to look at is providing a clearer definition as to what is and what isn’t a service contract. Also, Lewis said, lawmakers will decide whether to extend the film tax credits, which expire at the end of 2014. He said support for the film tax credits is waning.

An interim legislative committee has also called for enacting an excise tax on e-cigarettes.

The FAIR NC Coalition, a group of auto insurers and trade organizations, is pushing for a change in the state’s auto insurance laws that would allow companies to offer discount programs that are available in other states, but not North Carolina. Those programs include State Farm’s Steer Clear program for teen drivers, Progressive’s Snapshot program, and Allstate’s accident forgiveness program.

The fate of some bills left hanging from last year’s session could also be decided. They include whether to approve a proposed constitutional amendment preventing eminent domain abuse, whether to privatize economic development functions of the Commerce, and whether to regulate puppy mills.

Barry Smith (@Barry_Smith) is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.