After a historically unproductive 2025, the North Carolina General Assembly is about to get back to work. 

They’ve got a long to-do list. Last year, the Republican-led NCGA passed just 97 bills– a record low for a “long session.” They also failed to pass a budget– making North Carolina the only state in the country to fail to do so.   

Here’s what we’re keeping an eye on when the 2026 “short session” kicks off on April 21. 

A (Very Overdue) Budget 

North Carolinians have been waiting on their legislators to pass a budget for 9 months. Despite Republicans controlling both the NC House and the NC Senate, their leadership haven’t been able to agree on a spending plan. We’re the only state in the country that has failed to pass one. 

Maybe the most concerning consequence of the budget impasse has been its impact on our state’s public schools. No budget means no pay raises for hard-working teachers. North Carolina ranks 43rd in teacher pay in the country. The average salary is $14,000 below the national average and lower than each of our neighboring states. 

The NCGA knows this is a problem– the House actually proposed an 8.7% raise for teachers. But Senate Republicans dug in their feet, refused to pass a budget, and declined to give 92,000 NC public school teachers the raise they deserve. With teacher attrition on the rise, and hard-working educators fighting as hard as they can to support their students while they’re already struggling to support their own families, we can’t afford to keep waiting. 

Medicaid Funding

Last year, Washington made massive cuts to affordable health care. They allowed tax credits to expire, increasing health insurance premiums for hundreds of thousands of North Carolinians. They also cut roughly $1 trillion from Medicaid, jeopardizing the health coverage of 600,000 more. 

State legislators didn’t do much to help, their inability to pass a budget leaving NC Medicaid on the brink. North Carolina’s Medicaid program only has funding for a few more months, and if funding does run out, there will be cuts to care for 3.1 million North Carolinians. And when Medicaid funding gets cut, hospitals and clinics across the state, particularly in rural areas, have trouble keeping their doors open. 

Gov. Stein has called on the NCGA to allocate $319 million to keep Medicaid running. He understands that during an affordability crisis, we can’t afford to strip health care from millions of working families. Hopefully, NCGA leaders put their personal politics aside to protect affordable health care for North Carolinians. 

Veto Overrides

Last year, Gov. Stein vetoed a number of bills that could harm North Carolinians. From a bill that would raise families’ electric bills, to legislation that would allow private school volunteers to carry firearms on campus, Gov. Stein did all he could to block these laws from being enacted. The General Assembly ultimately overrode his vetoes, and they have four more overrides on the calendar for this year as well. 

Gov. Stein had a great quote when asked about the potential for veto overrides this session: 

“A number of the overrides that are outstanding are things like, should we allow teenagers to walk around with concealed weapons, with no safety training whatsoever. I don’t think that’s a good idea, and I don’t think they think it’s a good idea.” 

Beyond the dangerous concealed carry bill, Stein also vetoed bills targeting DEI, and an immigration bill that would threaten North Carolinians’ safety. We’ll see if the NCGA decides to focus on the pressing matters facing North Carolinians, like rising costs, or if they choose to dedicate their time to playing politics and overriding vetoes.  

A Perfect Time To Act

With state legislators preparing to head back to work next week, now is a great time to call or write your representatives. Let them know that you want to see our public schools adequately funded. Let them know that costs are too high to be cutting affordable health care. Tell them that you want your legislators to focus on critical responsibilities, like passing a budget and tackling the affordability crisis, rather than playing political games with the lives of North Carolinians.  

As we’re waiting on our legislators to get to work, we can get to work too– the work of holding leaders accountable when they don’t show up for us. In the words of Senate Democratic leader Sydney Batch: “The clock is ticking. The needs are real. And the work must start now.”