NCGA’s ‘short session’ is underway and legislators have an extra $1B to work with – will the GOP supermajority be willing to help everyday North Carolinians?
The Republican supermajority in control of the North Carolina General Assembly did plenty of damage in last year’s legislative session and lawmakers are now back in Raleigh for this year’s “short session.”
The state House and Senate reconvened last Wednesday morning with a stated main goal of making changes to the state’s $30 billion annual budget, WRAL reported. But, chances are high they will address other topics as well.
As you may recall, Republicans spent nearly three months last year arguing over the budget and delaying Medicaid expansion for months (after already delaying it for 10-plus years). Now that a budget is in place, the Office of State Budget and Management released a report earlier this week showing that the state will have more than $1 billion in surplus money for the 2024-25 budget because revenue came out to $34.4 billion instead of the $33.4 billion they had planned for. That means that there is now a fair bit of money available to spread around.
Due to the way North Carolina’s two-year legislative cycles work, even-numbered years are generally reserved for campaigning since all lawmakers are up for election, but that doesn’t mean other policies won’t be discussed, especially ones that legislators will want to talk about while campaigning.
Issues such as funding the state’s multi-billion-dollar private school voucher program (by using taxpayer money and defunding public schools), marijuana, guns, immigration, gambling, changes to election laws and numerous others will likely be debated.
Lawmakers have a golden opportunity to help everyday North Carolinians by making progress in areas like public schools, accessible childcare and clean drinking water. Gov. Cooper’s proposed budget would make those investments. The question is: will Republicans be open to working with Democrats to make it happen or will they only be concerned with further destroying our public education system, making it even easier to get a gun and bring it wherever you’d like, forcing county sheriffs to become ICE enforcement agents and once again changing our election laws?
