[Editor’s note: Please see update at the end of this story.]

RALEIGH — In the first outright partisan skirmish of the legislative session, Gov. Bev Perdue vetoed a GOP-backed budget-trimming bill Tuesday that would siphon millions from economic development accounts to help overcome a $2.4 billion budget hole.

The measure, Senate Bill 13, passed both chambers of the General Assembly along party lines earlier this month. It would divert $176 million from dozens of state accounts that Democrats have guarded tightly for years, including the Golden LEAF foundation, Job Development Investment Grants, and the One North Carolina Fund.

Beyond the economic development reductions, S.B. 13 also would give Perdue expanded authority to slash an additional $400 million from state agencies. Perdue supported that part, but balked at the other cuts.

“This bill started out as a way to help North Carolina secure $400 million in additional savings from state government agencies during this difficult budget time,” Perdue said in a statement. “I suggested that bill to the General Assembly and was ready to sign that legislation. But the bill in its current form forces a one-time cash-grab from funds that are intended to create jobs and spur economic development. That’s not the right move for North Carolina, where jobs simply must be our No. 1 priority.”

Democrats in the legislature have vowed to uphold Perdue’s veto. Republicans have a veto-proof 31-19 majority in the Senate, but their 68-52 advantage in the House means GOP leaders would have to convince at least four Democrats to switch their votes.

N.C. State Political Science professor Andrew Taylor said the move served as a test on Perdue’s part for whether she can sustain vetoes going forward. “We’re seeing, perhaps, the beginnings of the confrontational politics that many people expected we would get at the very beginning of the year,” he said.

Minutes after Perdue’s announcement, Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, issued a press release condemning the veto.

“Gov. Perdue’s veto makes it more difficult to balance the state’s budget without cutting teachers’ jobs and negatively impacting our classrooms,” Berger said. “And while her solution is to raise taxes that destroy private sector jobs, Senate Republicans refuse to reach further into North Carolinians’ pockets.

Likewise, House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, said, “with this veto, the governor makes balancing the budget more difficult, and makes it harder to protect teachers and state employees.”

The veto follows on the heels of Perdue’s announcement Feb. 17 of a $19.9 billion budget proposal for the new fiscal year. The spending plan largely relies on renewal of a temporary sales-tax hike from 2009, cuts to state agencies, and elimination of 10,000 state employee positions (70 percent of which are now vacant) to brighten the financial scenario.

On the economic development front, Perdue’s proposal would carve off $7 million in JDIG funds, but it appropriates another $10 million to the One North Carolina Fund.

In addition to other cuts, S.B. 13 would divert $88 million from North Carolina’s Master Settlement Agreement — $68 million from Golden LEAF, $2.8 million from the Tobacco Trust Fund, and $17 million from the Health and Wellness Trust Fund.

David N. Bass is an associate editor of Carolina Journal.

UPDATE: Berger confirmed to the Greensboro News & Record that the Senate would not try to override Perdue’s veto. Instead, the Senate plans to introduce separate legislation giving Perdue authority to cut $537 million from the current fiscal year budget. None of the cuts could come from the legislative or judicial branches.