NC House budget bill coming out in days. What being early means for raises and more

The first draft of a North Carolina state budget will be out next week, House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters on Wednesday.

Having a budget proposal in March, even in just one legislative chamber, is a big deal because the budget battle often drags on for several months while state employees and teachers wait to find out if, and when, they get raises.

The March timeline signals that the new budget and any raises could be in place by the time the current fiscal year ends on June 30.

The two-year spending plan will determine the amount of raises for tens of thousands of employees, what amount of taxes are paid, what projects are funded and what policy becomes law. The budget is supposed to be passed by June 30, but some years it is several months late or, as in 2019, there’s no budget at all.

Republicans control the General Assembly and gained seats in 2022. They are now just one vote short of a supermajority that can override any vetoes from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

What’s next for NC budget

The legislature will soon send a Medicaid expansion bill to Cooper’s desk, though expansion itself won’t take effect until the budget passes.

House Republicans will see the budget bill first during a caucus meeting on Tuesday, then release it to the press and public on Wednesday, March 29, Moore said. It will have its first committee hearing on March 30.

The budget is on track to be voted out of the House before Easter, Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Winston-Salem Republican, told lawmakers on Wednesday. The House and Senate will then take a weeklong spring break. The Senate’s budget bill is expected to follow in May. The chambers take turns going first with the budget bill, which appropriates money during odd-numbered years for the next two years, with an adjustment budget bill passed in even-numbered years.

Moore said that Republicans in the House and Senate have agreed on a total spending amount, but not on how much raises might be.

Cooper’s budget proposal earlier this month asks for raises of 18% over the next two years for teachers and principals, 9.5% for other education workers like bus drivers and 8% for state employees.

Moore called Cooper’s significant raises proposals “off the chain in terms of how fiscally irresponsible that was.”

Moore wouldn’t reveal exactly what the amount of raises in the House budget will be, but said the House is trying to “take a responsible approach to giving pay raises that we know are very much needed, and that we can afford to do. And do so in a way that is sustainable, that makes sense, both for teachers, state employees, some of those high demand, difficult-to-fill positions as well. And then also to do something for our retirees.”

Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger have agreed to increase spending by 6.5% next year, to $29.7 billion, then by another 3.75% in the second year of the two-year budget, to $30.8 billion. By comparison, Cooper’s budget would increase spending by 18% in the first year, with about $32 billion in 2023-24; and by 3.9% in the second year, to $34 billion in 2024-25.