Opinion
How to resolve budget impasse
Unlike recent budget stalemates in Washington, the face-off between Gov. Cooper and legislative leaders in Raleigh hasn’t produced a government shutdown.
News
Senate moves to keep federal dollars flowing as budget standoff continues
A move to keep funding state programs that count on federal money is moving through the General Assembly. Senate Republicans announced their plans in a news conference Tuesday, July 16. Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, and Sen. Harry Brown, R-Onslow, say federal dollars shouldn’t be at risk because lawmakers and the governor can’t agree on...
Video
JLF’s John Hood analyzes legislators’ approach to N.C. budget impasse
John Locke Foundation Chairman John Hood discusses N.C. legislative leaders’ response to the state budget impasse. Hood offered these comments during the July 12, 2019, edition of “NC SPIN.”
News
Budget battle continues as House Republicans pull back veto override
After several starts and stops, on Tuesday, July 9, the N.C. House failed to vote on an override of the governor’s budget bill. Instead, the House Appropriations Committee plans to meet Wednesday to consider a temporary funding bill, which would keep programs running — including those needing federal money — as the state budget battle...
News
Senate Republicans say Cooper veto threatens funding for hurricane relief, other priorities
As N.C. legislators prepare to consider overriding Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of their 2019-21 budget deal, Republican senators are drawing attention to funding priorities threatened by the veto. News releases issued Monday, July 8, from Senate leader Phil Berger’s office cited the veto’s potential impact on funding for hurricane relief, the state’s rape kit backlog,...
News
Governor, citing lack of Medicaid expansion, vetoes proposed state spending plan
Gov. Roy Cooper has vetoed the biennial budget bill, saying North Carolina residents are dying because Republicans won’t expand Medicaid rolls. With prospects of budget passage evaporating before the fiscal year ends at midnight June 30, Cooper and Republican lawmakers traded sharp accusations Friday, June 28. They blamed one another for unwillingness to compromise or...
News
General Assembly passes $24 billion compromise budget, governor likely to veto
The N.C. Senate passed a $24 billion General Fund spending plan without debate. The House took nearly an hour Thursday, June 27, before following suit and approving the 2019-21 compromise proposal, House Bill 966. The vote was 33-15 in the Senate; 64-49 in the House. The plan now lands with Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who...
News
Senate passes budget after heated debate focused on Vidant/UNC squabble
The Senate passed its version of a $23.9 billion 2019-20 budget amid sharp rhetoric that broke along partisan and regional divides. Sen. Don Davis, D-Greene, condemned Republicans, accusing them of using the budget process to punish Eastern North Carolina over a governance dispute between Vidant Medical Center and the UNC System Board of Governors. Davis...
News
Budget battles just getting started
If the state budget process seems polarized now, just wait. It could get even more quarrelsome as lawmakers contemplate how their votes might affect 2020 political prospects. Call it the Three P’s — preening, posturing, and preparing for election campaigns — and some of that was on display during House committee and floor debate on...
Opinion
State budget battle is looming
Even under a best-case scenario, any surpluses in North Carolina’s revenues could not possibly finance every spending promise made by every politician running for office last fall.
News
Lawmakers, Governor Agree On $21.7 Billion Spending Cap
RALEIGH — In a sign that the state budget impasse may soon end, Republican Gov. Pat McCrory announced Tuesday that he and legislative leaders had reached an agreement on a $21.735 billion bottom line for the 2015-16 fiscal year General Fund budget. Including funds from the federal government and transportation spending, the overall state budget is roughly $50 billion.
