Tag: mini budget

RALEIGH

With a new state budget already four months overdue, leaders in the North Carolina House and Senate, both controlled by Republicans, have agreed on a small spending bill they will vote on Tuesday, The News & Observer has learned.

However, there’s still a chance the deal — even as minor as it is — could fall apart, according to a top Republican.

After a contentious morning voting session over drawing a new map of congressional districts, the Senate is in recess until noon, when a new, unseen bill will be presented. Called a conference report, the new legislation is something that certain House and Senate Republicans have already agreed on and can’t be amended, meaning it gets only an up or down vote.

Some money for state raises, Highway Patrol in bill

The new spending bill will include spending for the State Highway Patrol and step increase raises — which are based on longevity — at certain state agencies, Sen. Ralph Hise, a top Senate budget writer from Mitchell County, told The N&O.

It won’t include the big ticket items like across-the-board raises, Medicaid and tax cuts, Hise said, noting that the legislation would be “insignificant in the conversation of the budget.”

Negotiations between the House and Senate, led by Republicans House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger, have been at a near-stalemate for months. The General Assembly has only been back in session sporadically for a few days at a time since leaving its daily work behind at the end of June.

Lawmakers did agree to pass two so-called mini budget bills, one in July and one in September, that included minor spending including authorizing step increases. Hise said the new bill would give the Office of State Budget and Management funds needed for those step increases in some state agency jobs.

Other items in the bill would include money for Highway Patrol equipment, he said.

During the September session, each chamber passed additional small spending bills that the other rejected.

The big budget stalemate issues still stand: the House wants to adjust the levels of state revenue that will trigger future tax cuts, and the Senate does not. Senate Republicans also want to keep the 2023 plan to fund a new children’s hospital, which House leadership does not.

Even this small bill could still fail. Hise cautioned against saying it will definitely pass both chambers.

“We’ll wait and see the vote,” Hise said Tuesday morning. “It’s fallen apart too many times for me to say that.”

Hise isn’t one of the lawmakers from each chamber negotiating the bill, he said, though he was told what’s in it.

On Monday, Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said Republican lawmakers are “failing” the state by not passing a comprehensive state budget, which was due July 1.

This story was originally published October 21, 2025 at 11:11 AM.