(The Center Square) – North Carolina’s General Assembly is sputtering along at best. At worst, it’s simply stalled.
There’s no state budget and no votes planned this week, and there remains a pair of vetoed bills yet to face override challenges in a session where all 14 before them were overturned with Republicans 100% united – something they are not when it comes to gaming inclusion in the state budget.
The House of Representatives, led by Speaker Tim Moore, was to convene Wednesday morning for its 114th day this session with a calendar of “none.” Moore said Tuesday formal House business would not happen again until next week. The Senate, led by President Pro Tempore Phil Berger, was scheduled for its 116th day in session and did have items calendared, including veto messages from the governor.
Past due from the July 1 start of the fiscal year is the state budget, though there will be no government shutdown. July 14 was the seventh anniversary of the law that keeps state government running on the previous fiscal spending plan if no new budget is adopted.
That came in handy under Gov. Roy Cooper in 2019 when he vetoed the budget and lawmakers could not override. The House did vote to override, but the Senate did not attempt the vote. With the 2016 law in the background, Cooper’s state budget vetoes were overridden in 2017 and 2018; he signed budgets in 2021 and 2022.
There is negotiation ongoing to bring together proposals of more than $67.1 billion by Cooper and $60.7 billion each through differing line items by the two General Assembly chambers. Cooper’s signature on the budget is a requirement for the chambers to expand Medicaid.
While gaming and casinos are cited as the major hurdle to reaching a budget agreement between the chambers, Berger said Tuesday there are places in the fiscal document that are “a series of compromises.” Translated, there’s a domino effect.
In other comments Tuesday, it’s unclear exactly what arrangement – if any – is in place between Berger and Moore representing their chambers to get a budget vote onto the floor of their respective chambers.
Other key elements of the budget include pay raises to workers in public education and other state employee sectors; funding for NCInnovation; income tax reductions; and education spending to include rulings in the Leandro litigation that began in the 1990s.
The two vetoed bills that could come back up for override challenges are related to election law changes and accountability for boards and commissions. Each was vetoed on Aug. 24 and referred to the Committee on Rules and Operations of the Senate on Aug. 28.
