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Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Why NC Helene funding bill could be stalled in General Assembly
RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — More than $450 million in Helene relief funding could be held up in the North Carolina General Assembly if Senators decide to incorporate it in the budget instead of passing it as a separate bill. House members passed the $464 million relief measure as a standalone bill on Thursday, meaning it could just go on to the Senate, be passed, and then immediately head to the Governor's desk. But top Senators may negotiate the funding as part of the overall budget instead. Those negotiations can take weeks, meaning the funding could be stalled. 'However they decide to do it, we just need to get it done. We don't know what's going to happen with federal support and we just need to get those resources to the people of western North Carolina,' said Senator Natalie Murdock. Top Representatives say they're hopeful negotiations on the budget will go smoothly with the Senate. 'As in the past, there will be a give or take on certain areas, areas that are priorities for each of the chambers, so you know in order to get anything done in here especially a budget with so much in it, you have to compromise on each side,' Representative Destin Hall said. But some Senate Democrats are less optimistic and say the Helene funding shouldn't be caught in the crossfire. 'I think it should be a separate bill since it looks like the budget is more controversial than maybe any of us would've wanted it to be,' Senator Julie Mayfield said. Lawmakers won't be back in Raleigh until the first week of June to start those negotiations. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
22-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
GOP-crafted NC House budget draws bipartisan support
North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) speaks to reporters after a vote on the state budget on May 21, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline) The state House budget proposal drew broad bipartisan support Wednesday after Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, said he liked a lot of it. The House gave its budget preliminary approval with a vote of 93-20 after hours of debate on proposed amendments. Thursday's vote will start negotiations between House and Senate Republicans on a compromise spending plan. The Senate passed a budget last month that is significantly different from the House plan. A final vote on the House plan is expected to take place on Thursday. The House Republican-authored budget would significantly increase beginning teacher salaries. It also gives state employees 2.5% raises, though House Republicans said workers will get more because agencies will be able to use money from the elimination of thousands of vacant jobs to fund wage hikes. Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth), a House senior budget writer, called it a 'well-crafted plan' that builds on the state's 'strong fiscal management.' Stein praised the House budget for these proposed salary increases and, in a statement, highlighted the differences between the House and Senate tax policies. The state's 2023 budget built in up to three automatic personal income tax cuts in tax years 2027 to 2034 that depend on the state meeting revenue targets. The House budget changes those targets, meaning the state would need to bring in more money to trigger a reduction in the personal income tax rate and likely delay a cut. Rep. Julia Howard (R-Davie) said the increased revenue amounts needed to trigger tax cuts were based on inflation and population growth. The House budget also increases personal income tax standard deductions and restores a back-to-school sales tax holiday. An income tax deduction on tips of up to $5,000 would begin in the 2026 tax year. Nonpartisan economists in the state budget office and the legislature have projected state revenues will drop in 2026-2027 as planned tax cuts take effect. In addition to cuts in the personal income tax rate, the corporate income tax is being phased out. The Senate budget proposal took the opposite approach, adding more triggered cuts. Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) told reporters he did not believe the revenue forecast. Stein wanted to freeze income tax cuts, but among the Republican options, he prefers the House approach. 'Importantly, the House budget cuts taxes for working families while recognizing that North Carolina is a growing state and reduces personal income tax rates after this year only when the economy is growing,' Stein said in a statement. 'In contrast, the Senate's fiscally irresponsible revenue scheme will result in fewer teachers and law enforcement officers and diminished services that would harm our people.' In an interview, House Democratic Leader Robert Reives (D-Chatham), said the state is in tough fiscal shape because of cuts to revenues and overspending on vouchers that rural students don't even have the chance to use. Republicans are protective of vouchers, and the House rejected amendments that would take even modest amounts from voucher reserves to fund other education needs. They also rejected an amendment that would restore family income limits, require schools accepting vouchers to limit their annual tuition and fee increases to 5%, and require teachers in voucher schools to hold a bachelor's degree or a teacher license. The House budget is a negotiating document, a counterproposal to the Senate budget, Reives said in the interview. 'Our ultimate goal is we have got to get a budget that is responsible,' Reives said. 'The Senate budget is completely irresponsible. We've got to get a budget that recognizes the fiscal position that we're in, and we've got to get a budget that starts talking about the tough questions.' Reives and 26 other Democrats voted for the budget. Reives said during the floor debate he wouldn't vote for it if it was the final bill. 'There is a lot of work that has to get done before we have a bipartisan budget,' he said. House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) acknowledged that it was unlikely the final budget would earn such broad support. 'Both sides got a chance to put forth their amendments,' Hall told reporters after the vote. 'And I think that … made up most of the reason why you see a bipartisan vote today.' Meanwhile, the House budget faced resistance from outside conservative voices. Club for Growth, a national group that focuses on tax cuts and often spends big in elections, sent out a public threat to anyone voting for the House budget. Those who support it 'should expect to be held accountable on election day, and kiss their political future goodbye,' the group wrote on social media. And the Carolina Partnership for Reform, in its newsletter and blog, decried the plan as a 'Republican-sponsored tax increase.' 'Having no budget deal is a better outcome than this one,' the group wrote. Rep. Keith Kidwell (R-Beaufort), leader of the body's hard right Freedom Caucus, sought to counter any criticism of the House approach to taxes. 'We've got one of the best bills from a tax perspective I've seen,' he said. 'Let's send a message to the Senate that we have one heck of a bill here, and they need to pass it.' Hall remarked that he believed the critical conservative groups 'like the Senate budget, and would prefer House members to like the Senate budget.' The House rejected 40 amendments offered by Democrats over hours of debate. The House adopted four amendments, including one that would kill tolling a portion of Raleigh's Capital Boulevard to pay to widen it. The state Department of Transportation is planning to toll the road from I-540 in Raleigh into Wake Forest. 'We do not tax free roads in North Carolina,' said Rep. Mike Schietzelt (R-Wake). The amendment will prevent using public money to study, design, build, operate, or implement tolling on Capital Boulevard. Two Wake Democrats said shutting down the option for tolls would curtail efforts to improve the highly trafficked thoroughfare 'We need to have the conversation with the communities to get to the right solutions,' said Rep. Maria Cervania (D-Wake). 'This is not going to get the outcome that you need.'
Axios
21-05-2025
- Business
- Axios
N.C. legislature one step closer to passing pay raises, tax cuts
North Carolina's Republican-controlled House released its full state budget proposal Monday, teeing up what's expected to be weeks — or even months — of negotiations between legislative leaders over what to include in their final spending package. Why it matters: Teachers and state employees will receive pay raises and bonuses, income taxes will decrease, and thousands of vacant positions in state government will be eliminated if the state House and Senate can reach an agreement on how to spend state dollars. Yes, but: Whether they'll reach a deal is unclear. Though both chambers are led by Republicans, their visions differ on how to spend taxpayer dollars and on issues like when and how to cut income taxes and whether to fund a new children's hospital. Driving the news: The House's more than 500-page proposal, detailed in a press conference Tuesday morning, would bring North Carolina's starting teacher salary to $50,000 by 2026 — above the national average — reinstate a tax-free holiday, cut 3,000 vacant government jobs, exempt the first $5,000 in tips from state income tax, and increase standard deductions. Zoom in: In one of the most significant differences from the Senate's budget, the House proposes offsetting its spending by delaying scheduled income tax cuts, which could be a major sticking point in negotiations. The House and Senate both proposed cutting vacant positions, though the House proposed more cuts, and both chambers also proposed increasing college tuition and cutting higher education spending and diversity, equity and inclusion programs. The intrigue: The House's proposal does not allocate any additional funds to the planned Duke and UNC children's hospital, as the Senate's does. The House's plan would also yank funding from NCInnovation, a nonprofit the state helped form for university research, and instead allocate it to Hurricane Helene relief. The Senate, meanwhile, proposed restructuring its funding model for NCInnovation. State of play: First-term House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger will have to work out all of these differences in budget negotiations in the coming weeks if they want to hit their goal of passing a spending plan before July, when the new fiscal year begins.
Yahoo
20-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NC House budget hurtles toward key votes as Democrats criticize continued corporate tax cuts
North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) holds a press conference with House Republicans to outline their state budget proposal on Tuesday, May 20, 2025. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline) The state House is on track to pass its proposed budget that includes substantial raises for beginning teachers while cutting thousands of vacant jobs and delaying future tax cuts. The House votes this week are a prelude to the coming negotiations between House and Senate budget writers who must reconcile the differences between two distinctly different spending proposals before sending a compromise plan to Gov. Josh Stein. 'We continue to give that tax relief while also making sure we're investing in the state's most important asset, which we believe are its people,' said House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) during a press conference Tuesday morning. The House budget includes a 2.5% raise for state employees, with some of the money for raises coming from the elimination of thousands of jobs. Though the vast majority of the job cuts are to positions that are currently vacant, the total also includes about 62 currently filled positions, lawmakers said. In addition to the 2.5%, the House budget allows state agencies and universities to use money saved by cutting vacant jobs for raises and retention bonuses. The State Employee Association of North Carolina urged its members to tell legislators to reject that plan. 'Employees are stressed and burned out from trying to fill the gaps, ensuring citizens receive the services they pay for with their tax dollars,' SEANC posted on Facebook. 'Robbing Peter to pay Paul is no way to run a state government and no way to treat dedicated career employees.' Hall said the cut vacancies would free up money for agencies to use as needed, including to amp up pay for current workers. He said the decision to eliminate the jobs 'doesn't mean we can't come back later and add those positions' back. Contrary to the proposal for most other agencies, the House budget adds more than 60 driver's license examiner jobs at the DMV and provides money to open new DMV offices in Fuquay-Varina, and in Brunswick and Cabarrus counties. Legislators had said they would wait for an auditor's report on the DMV before they put more money into the agency. But they have been inundated with complaints about long lines at DMV offices and unavailable appointments. 'All the members get a lot of questions about DMV,' said Rep. Donny Lambeth (R-Forsyth), a lead budget writer. 'We needed to respond to the needs that we're hearing all across the state to get the wait times down.' Nevertheless, the House Appropriations Committee rejected a proposed amendment from Rep. Mary Belk (D-Mecklenburg) for 10 more DMV self-service kiosks at a cost of $43,000, which would have doubled their number. The House budget raises beginning teacher base pay from $41,000 to $48,000 in 2025-26 and to $50,000 the following year. The increases would rank the state first in the Southeast in beginning teacher pay. Average teacher salaries would increase 8.7%. The House budget also restores salary supplements for teachers who hold advanced degrees. When they get to the negotiating table, lawmakers in the House and Senate will have to talk through their different perceptions of revenue growth and related tax cuts. The state's 2023 budget built in up to three automatic personal income tax cuts in tax years 2027 to 2034 that depend on the state meeting revenue targets. The House budget changes those targets, meaning the state would need to bring in more money to trigger the next cut. That plan could delay future cuts. 'When we ran the numbers, Mitch and I had true concerns that we needed to adjust those numbers,' said Rep. Julia Howard (R-Davie). She and Rep. Mitchell Setzer (R-Catawba) are senior co-chairs of the House Finance Committee. 'The first trigger is okay. The second trigger could create some problems, and that's why we adjusted it so that second trigger is most likely not going to click in,' Howard said. Population increases and inflation 'caused enough concern' to make the change, she said. Nonpartisan economists in the state budget office and the legislature have projected state revenue to drop in 2026-2027, as planned tax cuts take effect. Republicans have focused on cutting taxes since they took control of the legislature in 2011. In addition to incorporating graduated cuts in the personal income tax rate, Republicans are phasing out the corporate income tax. Corporations will pay no income tax after the 2029 tax year. The Senate budget proposal added more revenue-triggered tax cuts. Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) told reporters last month that he did not believe the forecast and anticipated revenue will continue to grow. House Republicans were less rosy in their assessment of the state's financial future. 'We'd need about an hour' to discuss the challenges they face, Lambeth said Tuesday morning. Chief among those challenges is uncertainty out of Washington. 'We made a strategic decision — let's just assume that we're going to continue business as usual,' Lambeth said. 'When something comes down the road, we may have to reconvene and deal with those changes.' In his budget request, Gov. Josh Stein, a Democrat, froze the tax rate and urged Republicans to do the same. The governor has repeatedly warned of a coming fiscal cliff. House Democratic leader Robert Reives (D-Chatham) said Tuesday that the plan was a step in the right direction, getting 'closer to what Gov. Stein proposed' on teacher pay and revenue concerns. But he criticized 'cuts to public safety, public services and negative impacts on clean air and water efforts,' and the continued funding of school vouchers. 'Democrats will be offering amendments to improve our public schools, invest in health care for working families and protect public safety and clean air and water,' Reives said in a statement. In the Appropriations Committee, Republicans took care to protect the voucher reserve fund, rejecting Democrats' requests to shift relatively small amounts of money to support a program for high school students who aspire to teach, or for a pilot on sustainable teaching practices within the New Teacher Support program. House Democrats took aim at the budget plan in a Tuesday afternoon press conference for spurning increases to health and education funding in favor of corporate tax cuts. Putting forward their own proposal, entitled 'Make Corporations Pay What They Owe,' the representatives focused their criticism on Republicans' plan to lower the corporate income tax to zero by 2030, which they said will cause the state to lose about $2 billion annually. They also criticized the elimination of thousands of positions under the House budget plan, which they said will make North Carolinians less safe, healthy, and educated. Rep. Marcia Morey (D-Durham) condemned the plan for corporate cuts as a 'house of cards' that 'cannot be sustained.' 'This shortfall is not because our state spends too much taxpayer dollars on handouts to the poor or to our public schools or to immigrants — it's because we have eroded revenue and put corporate interests over people,' Morey said. Rep. Maria Cervania (D-Wake) focused her criticisms of the budget on health policy, calling out the House's plan to eliminate 50% of funding for community-based mental health crisis services. 'We cannot build a healthy economy by gutting the health of our people,' she said. State employees also gave remarks during the press conference, including Charles Owens, a health care technician at Cherry Hospital, a psychiatric facility in Goldsboro. He singled out increases to state employee health care costs, including higher co-pays, premiums, and deductibles, despite health benefits being a key incentive to join the state workforce. 'We could deal with some of the wage problem, but now you increase our health care costs to the point where employees can't afford to get sick,' Owens said. 'It's time to stop taking care of corporations and giving them tax cuts and start taking care of the people that take care of this state.' Owens added that cutting positions at facilities like his, which house 'the most vulnerable, exploited, and some of the most dangerous people in this state,' endanger the lives of state employees. 'It's a safety issue. We're understaffed, and as we were saying, 300, 400 positions — it may [not] sound like a lot to most people, spread across the number of hospitals, but for me and my staff, that's one less person watching your back, that's one patient that could sneak up and smack you in the back of the head with no recourse,' he said. Rep. Laura Budd (D-Mecklenburg) said Republicans' lack of funding for public education runs counter to their stated aim of making North Carolina more attractive destination for corporate investment. She pointed out that the quality of local school systems is a key factor businesses rely on to determine the suitability of a location, in order to attract a skilled workforce willing to raise their families in the community. 'How do you attract qualified workers to move from other states to North Carolina if the school system where you're going to put that entity isn't very good?' Budd asked. 'Put your money where your mouth is, pay for what you need, not for what you want.' Nicole Price, associate executive director of the North Carolina Association of Educators, said it is critical for lawmakers to halt the cuts to corporate taxes and instead 'reinvest in the future of our state.' She cited a petition that has garnered more than 1,800 signatures calling for the protection of public schools, health services, and other vital programs. 'Now is the time to invest in students' future by investing in our schools,' Price said. 'We can prepare every child regardless of gender, race, ability, family income, to reach their potential, but only if we truly commit to investing in our students.' House Democrats registered some amusement that a few of their past proposals that had been derided when they submitted them had now made their way into the budget bill. Rep. Deb Butler (D-New Hanover) noted that she had proposed reducing the triggers for income tax cuts in March, citing the state's revenue shortfalls, a change House Republicans have now adopted as their own. Likewise, Cervania had previously proposed a back-to-school tax holiday that's now in the budget bill. 'Let's be clear: there's still a structural deficit. The triggers may have been adjusted, but the damage of revenue erosion continues,' Butler said. 'We're still asking our state to do more with less, and we're doing it with a straight face. Meanwhile, the federal government has been quietly shifting costs to the states.' Butler and Morey also expressed dissatisfaction with a lack of transparency and bipartisan engagement in the budget-writing process. Butler noted that she only gained access to the bill at 3:30 p.m. Monday when she was due to discuss it in committee at 8:30 a.m. the following morning. And Morey noted that the first item lawmakers received in their subcommittees was 'an entire page' of restrictions barring amendments that would increase overall funding, allocate money to Helene relief, and make numerous other changes. 'They set the lines and we can't draw out of the box,' Morey said.
Yahoo
19-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
NC House budget has big pay increase for new teachers, modest state employee raises
North Carolina Rep. Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) speaks with reporters at the legislative building on Tuesday, Nov. 19, 2024. The House will begin moving its budget proposal through the chamber this week. (Photo: Galen Bacharier/NC Newsline) North Carolina House Republicans' budget proposal includes 2.5% raises for state employees and an increase to beginning teachers' base pay. The state House will vote on its spending plan this week, with Appropriations and Finance committee meetings Tuesday and possible floor votes to follow Wednesday and Thursday. After the House passes its budget, House and Senate negotiators will meet to reconcile their differences, including differences over how to compensate state employees. The Senate budget proposal approved last month included 1.25% raises and $3,000 in bonuses spread over two years for most state employees. Law enforcement officers would receive bigger raises under the Senate plan. Both the House and Senate budget proposals would eliminate vacant jobs. The House budget says it is using money from eliminating positions to fund employee raises. The House budget includes 'one time' supplements for retirees of 1% in the first budget year and 2% in the second year. The House budget increases starting teacher base pay from $41,000 to $48,000 in 2025-26, and to $50,000 the following year. The House budget would also restore salary supplements for teachers with advanced degrees. 'The NC House budget delivers some of the largest teacher pay raises in state history – because we're serious about investing in our classrooms not just talking about it,' Rep. Brenden Jones (R-Columbus) wrote on social media. While beginning teacher salaries would rise dramatically, teachers with 25 years' experience and more would see only 2.1% raises. Tamika Walker Kelly, president of the NC Association of Educators, said that while her organization appreciates the attention to beginning teacher pay, experienced teachers deserve more. 'We appreciate lawmakers' recognition of the urgent need to raise starting teacher pay and restore master's pay to help address the teacher shortage faced by our public schools,' Kelly said in a statement. 'Attracting new and highly qualified educators into the profession is essential, but if we want our schools to be the best in the Southeast, we need to do more for veteran teachers, who are the backbone of our public schools. 'A minor 2.1% raise for our most experienced teachers doesn't send the signal that we value long-time education professionals, despite the scientific evidence that veteran teachers help students learn and grow more, and the reality that new teachers depend on the experience of their colleagues.' On taxes, the House budget increases the standard deduction by $500 for tax filers who are single and by $1,000 for married people filing jointly. A tax deduction on tips of up to $5,000 would begin in the 2026 tax year. The budget also revives back-to-school sales tax holiday for the first weekend in August starting next year. Lawmakers in both the House and Senate are having to budget more carefully this year to deal with the massive rebuilding effort in the western part of the state. Gov. Josh Stein asked state lawmakers Monday to approve an additional $891 million in post-Helene funding, amid concerns that federal aid was slow and uncertain.
