It’s official, North Carolina is the last state in the nation without a state budget, and Governor Josh Stein says he’s still at the table waiting for lawmakers to pass one. “I am here at the table. Whenever the legislature is ready to join me at the table and get to work. I’m ready to welcome them,” Stein said in an interview with the Raleigh News & Observer.
North Carolina operates on a comprehensive budget that funds the state for two years. The previous budget expired last year on July 1st at the beginning of the new fiscal year, and lawmakers have been urged to pass a budget to give state agencies, state programs, and schools the much-needed funding they need.
Both the state House and state Senate agree that a budget is needed and have attempted to pass bills out of their respective chambers. However, the pause in passing a budget comes from GOP leaders of each chamber, House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate Leader Phil Berger, at odds with one another over tax cuts and a children’s hospital planned for Apex, respectively. Due to their personal disagreement, neither leader is willing to budge and will not agree to pass each other’s budgets.
“They need to pass a budget that invests in our people in a fiscally responsible way. The irony is, the core dispute is the Senate cares deeply about a children’s hospital and the House cares about fiscal prudence. And I’m with the House on fiscal responsibility, and I’m with the Senate on the children’s hospital,” Stein said. He continues on to say he could remedy the tension if the leaders would seek his mediation.
Stein has been pushing lawmakers to pass a budget since before the previous state budget expired in July and hasn’t given up. “I’m going to keep pushing them. I’m going to keep letting them know I’m here to be a constructive partner, but fundamentally, we need them to step up,” he explains. There have been several “mini-budgets” passed since the beginning of the new fiscal year last July, but North Carolina families are in need of a comprehensive state budget.
Unlike the federal government, the state does not face a government shutdown without a spending plan. However, the lack of a state budget still comes with other downfalls. According to the North Carolina Budget and Tax Center, without a state budget, the state continues on the same funds as assigned in the previous budget, except for funds that were listed as “non-recurring”. This becomes an issue as previous state budgets do not account for a growing population, increased demand, and inflation. This leaves state services and state agencies unable to keep up. A prime example is the lack of funding for the state’s Medicaid program.
The state Medicaid program relies on funding that is included in a state budget. With lawmakers refusing to act on a budget, the Medicaid program was facing a $319 million funding shortfall. Stein urged lawmakers to come together and pass a budget or pass a bill that would provide funds for the program before the October 1 deadline of last year.
“So we told the legislature, we’re in this pickle. We’re in a vise, where we know we don’t have enough money, you know we don’t have enough money, just give us the money,” Stein explained, “And they refused to do it, which to me, tells me that it was actually the right decision for HHS to institute the cuts, because they couldn’t trust the legislature to do the most basic thing, which is to fund Medicaid.” After lawmakers failed to act before the deadline, the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services began implementing cuts to the program. After several lawsuits regarding the funding cuts, the cuts were undone by Stein.
Stein is hopeful that lawmakers will pass legislation to fund the program in the new year. “I think there will be,” he said. “But then again, I thought there would be in August, I thought there would be in September. I was almost certain there would be in October, and I thought there would be in November.”
