NC Senate passes mini-budget on busy legislative Tuesday

RALEIGH, N.C. (WTVD) -- Amid the ongoing veto overrides inside the North Carolina legislative building on Jones Street, Senate lawmakers had one more goal to accomplish -- pass a mini version of the long-awaited state budget.

"I anticipate the governor signing the bill," said House Speaker Rep. Destin Hall, while addressing reporters on the House floor as Senate leaders began to take up their vote. "This is the kind of stuff that neither stuff is kind of leveraging over the other. And it goes to the working folks in the state. So we wanted to go ahead and get these things done."

Lawmakers had a July 1 deadline to put a budget on Gov. Josh Stein's desk. Typically, lawmakers would submit a budget to the governor for consideration ahead of the upcoming fiscal year.

"Today, the General Assembly is returning to Raleigh. They have the opportunity to make a real difference in the lives of people across North Carolina," said Stein in a Tuesday morning news conference.

Inside House Bill 125, more than $200 million is being made available for education, including teacher raises. Both sides agreed to allot about $600 million for Medicare and Medicaid.

What's unclear is whether North Carolinians included in the expansion will have coverage to participate in the entitlement program under the state budget following the early July passage of President Donald Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill."

"The changes that have taken place will cause us to take a look where we are," said Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger. "Are there things that we can continue? Are there things that we can change? We're not at a place at this present time to make those decisions."

Both Berger and Hall said Tuesday that they will continue to follow developments out of Capitol Hill and how federal funding will affect how North Carolina spends its taxpayer dollars.

"The things that are in contention are not in that bill either way, and one of those obviously, state employee raises and teacher pay," said Hall. "And on the House side, we want to give some significant raises, and we're continuing to talk to the Senate about that. No deal reached yet. But we're going to continue to try and get a deal reached on those things."

Additionally, lawmakers came to an agreement to hire more workers for an already challenged Department of Motor Vehicles.

"These things that we have narrowed it down to address the pressures that we know of at this moment. That without these adjustments, there would be major problems come here shortly in a few weeks for agencies and for a lot of North Carolina citizens," one senator said.

The Senate was able to take House Bill 125 to the floor as a conference report, which means it did not have to formally go through the routine process of being debated and worked over in committee.

Hall said the House intends to take up HB 125 in a Wednesday vote on the floor.