The NC House is rolling out its state budget plan. Here’s what we know so far.

North Carolina’s state budget is inching closer to completion, as lawmakers in the N.C. House of Representatives began rolling out their spending proposals Thursday morning.

Some of the details that might be of the widest public interest — like proposals for tax cuts, or raises for teachers and other state employees — aren’t expected to be announced until next week, however.

But lawmakers are now discussing some of the other details of the budget. Those include debates on how much the state should be spending on everything from criminal justice reform to road construction, education needs, COVID-19 relief and more.

The N.C. Senate has already passed its own spending plan, so the House needs to pass its plan in order for the two chambers to formally get together and hammer out a compromise that they can then send to Gov. Roy Cooper.

The stakes are higher this year than normal since North Carolina has not had an official budget since 2018. Cooper vetoed the 2019-20 budget, and the Republican-led legislature couldn’t convince enough Democrats to override his veto — nor were they willing to negotiate with Cooper and try to reach a compromise.

This year, however, the two sides have seemed less antagonistic. The 2020 elections saw voters once again elect a Democratic governor and a Republican majority at the General Assembly. And in May, the News & Observer reported, relations seemed less frosty between Cooper, House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger.

“While not exactly best friends now, the political rivals are getting along a lot better,” The N&O reported of the leadup to budget discussions this spring.

Now, several months later, the finish line is in sight at the legislature with the Senate passing their plan and the House now on the verge of passing theirs, too.

What’s in the new House budget plan?

Details trickled out in bits and pieces Thursday for the House budget plan.

Not all of it is public yet, though, and the parts that are now known were announced in a way that made it difficult for the public to follow along. Lawmakers held a series of topic-themed budget meetings Thursday morning, all in different rooms but at the same time.

The meetings took a break around lunchtime but are expected to continue in the afternoon.

If you’re interested in the budget documents or watching the livestream of the various meetings, you can find them at www.ncleg.gov.

The budget writers plan to spend this weekend hammering out the final details of some big-dollar items like raises and tax cuts, said Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Winston-Salem Republican who’s one of the lead budget writers.

They then plan to post the full budget online Monday for people to read, then will spend all day Tuesday debating it and possibly making last-minute changes. The vote is then expected later in the week.

The fact that the House proposals for taxes and raises aren’t finalized yet likely indicates that the House plans to propose different numbers on each than what the Senate already passed.

Much of the rest of the budget, however, is already starting to come together. Some details are the same as the Senate proposed, but not everything.

What did the Senate pass?

The Senate tax cut proposal calls for completely eliminating corporate income taxes in North Carolina, plus reducing the personal income tax rate from 5.25% to 3.99% and increasing the standard deduction as well.

The Associated Press reported that the Senate’s tax cut plan would cost the state over $2 billion in revenue over the next two years. State lawmakers plan to spend around $26 billion per year for the next two years, The News & Observer has reported.

For state government pay raises, the Senate proposed giving nearly all state employees, including teachers, a 1.5% raise each of the next two years — for a total of a 3% raise over both years. The only exception was corrections officers in state prisons, who would get a 7% raise this year.

Cooper has proposed spending more on raises — 10% for teachers over both years, and between 5% and 7.5% for other state workers.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.

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