(The Center Square) – With 2025 drawing to a close, the North Carolina Legislature still hasn’t approved a state budget, making it only the state in the nation without a full budget for fiscal 2026, according to the National Association of State Budget officers.
This year may seem unusual, but in recent years, operating without an approved budget has become increasingly common, Dr. Chris Cooper, director of the Public Policy Institute at Western Carolina University, told The Center Square.
“This is the new normal,” Cooper said.
The state continues to operate under the previously approved budget if a new one is not passed by the end of the fiscal year, June 30, Cooper said.
That means that the state does not face the kind of upheaval recently experienced in a federal government shutdown, when employees were not paid, flights were cut at airports and recipients did not receive food benefits on time.
With the Legislature so far unable to work out disagreements over a new budget, the state government continues to operate normally.
“There is no incentive for them to go to the bargaining table,” Cooper said.
Although the state’s day to day operations continue as normal, there can be, however, a “slow atrophy” of services as a result of the budget impasse, the professor said.
“When institutions are growing or serving more people, they aren’t getting any additional funding,” Cooper said. “But it’s not a catastrophe the way it is on the federal level.”
In the 1990s and early 2000s, North Carolina’s budget was approved earlier and easier, Donald Bryson, CEO of the John Locke Foundation, wrote recently. In 1999 and 2003, budgets were approved by June 30. There was a lengthy battle in 2005, but that was resolved by August.
The big battles started occurring more frequently in North Carolina around 2011 after the GOP won majorities in both the state House and Senate for the first time since 1898, Bryson wrote.
In 2015, the budget wasn’t approved until Sept. 18; in 2021, it was Nov. 18.
“And now, in November 2025, we still have no budget for the 2025-27 biennium,” wrote Bryson.
The budget battle is occurring in a state that is otherwise successful in many areas, according to Bryson.
“North Carolina has strong economic fundamentals and responsible taxpayers,” he wrote. “They deserve a legislature that matches that strength with efficiency and foresight.”
But Cooper is not convinced that the Legislature will pass a complete budget anytime soon.
“They have passed these mini budgets and in some way, they think it gives them more control,” the professor said. “There doesn’t seem to be a massive public outcry, probably because we don’t have shutdowns. I hope they are going to pass a budget at some point, but I’m not convinced that they will.”
