The North Carolina state budget continues to be late, with the state joining only Pennsylvania as the two holdouts without a comprehensive spending plan.

Democratic Gov. Josh Stein said the General Assembly is “failing” by not passing a new budget.

This isn’t a partisan debate between a Democratic government and Republican-controlled legislature, as it was with the very late 2021 state budget, which didn’t become law into November.

The stalemate is between the Republican-controlled House led by House Speaker Destin Hall and Republican-controlled Senate led by Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger. The main differences are over future tax cuts, raises and funding a children’s hospital.

Berger told reporters on Monday night after a Senate voting session that because of state law, the state continues to operate at current spending levels, saying that “if we can’t get agreement on anything beyond what we have, then what we have is certainly adequate for the functioning of state government at this time.”

He said Senate Republicans have made proposals, but that “what the House is willing to do is not what the Senate is willing to do.”

“It’s a simple fact that we’ve not been able to reach an agreement on additional matters for the budget, and we continue to have conversations” with the House, he said.

‘Budget is left behind’

Stein criticized legislators for spending their time in Raleigh this week on drawing a new congressional map that favors Republicans over Rep. Don Davis, a Democrat who represents the 1st Congressional District in northeastern North Carolina.

Sen. Joyce Waddell, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, spoke during the Senate’s floor debate over the maps, saying the “budget is left behind,” and state services and employees pay the price while Republicans focus on redistricting instead.

“Instead of doing the people’s business, they are failing the voters of North Carolina by deciding for them who their congressional representation will be. It’s outrageous,” Stein said.

Stein said he has talked to Hall and Berger “about a number of topics” in recent weeks, primarily about Medicaid funding. Stein’s administration implemented cuts in Medicaid spending on Oct. 1 as pressure mounts on lawmakers to send Stein a bill with more funding.

“I urge them to do what’s right for people and not what’s right for themselves politically,” Stein said Monday.

“They are failing the people of North Carolina by not having a budget that invests in our people,” Stein said, citing law enforcement hiring, teacher pay, state employees including the Division of Motor Vehicles, and Medicaid.

Berger, however, noted that the legislature has funded some Medicaid spending and that state employees are continuing to be paid.

The two-year budget frequently includes across-the-board raises for state employees and teachers, whose base pay is set by the General Assembly. Two small budget bills have been passed in the past few months that included some funding for the embattled DMV and authorization for longevity-based raises, or step increases.

Stein said he will keep urging the House and Senate “to get their priorities straight, to pass a meaningful budget that invests in our people.”

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