NC House Republicans release budget plan amid gridlock with Senate

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – Amid the budget impasse among Republicans in the General Assembly, the House released its own plan Monday night, which Senate leaders have said they think calls for too much spending.

The House budget includes additional raises for state employees and teachers beyond what’s already budgeted to take effect July 1. It also fully funds requests for the state’s school voucher program, known as the Opportunity Scholarship and uses hundreds of millions in funding out of reserves to pay for a shortfall in Medicaid and road improvements on U.S. 421 near Toyota’s battery plant in the Triad.

“We decided to go ahead and move forward to get a budget passed so we can sort of break the logjam,” House Speaker Tim Moore (R-Cleveland) told reporters last week.

The state is anticipated to have a surplus of about $1 billion across this fiscal year and next year.

Senate leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) says he thinks House Republicans are pushing to spend too much by dipping into reserves.

“We’ve spent a decade and a half trying to make sure that we don’t fall into the same traps that the Democrats fell into, which is if you’ve got the money spend it,” said Sen. Berger.

Leaders of the two chambers have been trying to reach a compromise on a single budget bill, and say they continue to try to do that even as the House moves forward votes on its own proposal.

Ahead of that proposal being released, House Democratic Leader Robert Reives said, “We have several serious deadlines bearing down on us over the next few weeks. To use this week to pass a budget bill that cannot become law is disrespectful and disingenuous to the people that put us here. State Senate Leadership has made it clear they are not participating in this theater.”

Under the existing budget, state employees and teachers are slated to receive 3 percent raises on average starting in July. At a minimum, the House proposal calls for them to receive another 1 percent on top of that.

Starting teacher pay would increase to $44,000 per year from the current $39,000. The raises for teachers are weighted toward those with less experience. To view a detailed breakdown of the proposed raises for teachers by years of service, click here.

The average pay increase for teachers would be 4.4 percent instead of 3 percent.

The House budget also restores master’s pay for teachers and eliminates 1200 vacant positions.

Retirees would receive a 2 percent bonus.

House Republicans propose using $350 million out of the Medicaid reserve fund to cover a shortfall in that program. They would also use $150 million from economic development reserves for the roadwork near Toyota.

Republicans in both chambers agree on fully funding the remaining requests for funding in the Opportunity Scholarship program, which allows families to access state money to pay for K-12 private school education. That would cost about $480 million over two years and would cover families at the upper end of the income scale who were not awarded funding.

The budget proposal also includes up to $180 million in funding for renovations at Poe Hall at NC State University, which the university closed late last year after finding there were PCBs in the building.

It includes $135 million in stabilization grants for childcare centers that are at risk of closing when federal funding from the pandemic runs out. Officials in Speaker Moore’s office said, that covers about 75 percent of what was requested.

The House spending plan does not include hundreds of millions in funding State Treasurer Dale Folwell (R) has requested for the State Health Plan. It also does not include a provision to allow people who bet on sports to deduct their losses when they file their taxes. In addition, the budget leaves in place the current schedule for reducing the state’s personal and corporate income tax rates over the next several years.

The House Appropriations Committee will consider the plan Tuesday. There will be votes on the House floor Wednesday and Thursday.