Friends,
It's been
24 days
since Governor Cooper, Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue, and House Democratic Leader Darren Jackson proposed a compromise budget, and we still haven't received a counter-proposal from legislative leaders in the General Assembly.
North Carolina’s State Budget runs on the fiscal year (July 1 through June 30). We are now nearly a month into the current 2019/2020 fiscal year with no State Budget. The State Budget is a ~ $25 billion plan that outlines how our government raises and spends money.
What happens when we don't have a State Budget?
Well, the good news is our state does not function like the federal government. We have a state law in place that provides funding to state services at the same level from the previous fiscal year until a new State Budget is passed.
But even though this budget impasse isn't disrupting the daily processes of state parks, government offices and state services yet, relying on last year's budget does not move our state forward and address problems like the need to increase teacher and state employee pay and closing the health care coverage gap.
And to be clear, even though the legislature hasn't moved on the budget in 24 days, legislators are being called into session for a few votes every day. Very few of the bills we consider are time sensitive like the budget, but the budget bill is on the calendar for a vote each and every single day.
We're ready to move forward on negotiations, but leadership refuses to come to the table with a counter-offer. It is time for legislative leaders to buckle up, do their jobs, present a counter-offer to Governor Cooper, and call a vote on the budget.
