Fitzsimon File Archive

For the eighth time in nine years, North Carolina starts the new fiscal year without a budget in place. It has some company this summer, as five other states are still trying to pass a spending plan.

It is no secret that the debate over taxes is holding up the passage of a state budget and threatens to prolong the legislative session well into July and maybe beyond.

State lawmakers are expected to pass a continuing budget resolution by Tuesday, the last day of the fiscal year, to keep state government operating while House and Senate leaders continue their negotiations on a final spending plan and revenue package for next year.

The GOP’s long rhetorical walk on a short pier

Republicans appear to have decided on which state project to ridicule in their tired rhetorical efforts to portray Democratic legislative leaders as tax-and-spend liberals who want to raise your taxes while refusing to cut waste and end pork barrel spending.

House and Senate negotiators continue to work toward a final budget and tax package, but there doesn’t appear to be much progress towards an agreement on the best way to raise $900 million.

It’s been clear since the current state budget crisis began that folks on the Right welcome the unprecedented shortfall as a chance to finally shrink the government they despise, end safety net services to people they’ve never though deserved them, and dismantle the public schools they have consistently attacked.

The House floor sessions for the last two days have been dominated by debate over legislation to protect kids from bullying at school, which doesn’t seem like it should be very controversial.

This still may end up as a year of change that the majority of people in North Carolina and across the country voted for last November, but it feels like much of the optimism and hope are wilting in the Washington summer heat under pressure from the well-heeled lobbyists for business as usual.

A list not to be on

Newspapers across the state have been documenting the effects of proposed budget cuts in their communities, with most of the focus on what they would mean for the local schools. A report in the Gaston Gazette recently featured a new twist along with the usual reactions by school officials and local legislators.

There’s nothing at the General Assembly quite like the scramble to pass a budget before the end of the fiscal year June 30th. It is unpredictable and hard enough to follow in a typical year.

Governor Beverly Perdue weighed in on the budget and tax debate Wednesday, kicking off a series of statewide rallies for more education funding and, according to News & Observer, telling lawmakers privately that she wants them to raise $1.5 billion in taxes next year, more than twice as much as the tax package approved by the House late last week.

Imagine a North Carolina General Assembly where members of the House and Senate were not bound by a system that almost requires them to provide special access for donors and fundraisers, the people they need to get reelected. It’s possible.

The state budget debate now moves to a conference committee of House and Senate leaders who in ordinary years are appointed to work out the differences between the two chamber’s spending plans.

Do as I say, not as members of my own party do

Senate Majority Leader Phil Berger says House Democrats would not have to raise taxes if they cut wasteful spending out of the budget, which is easy to say for people who don’t identify exactly how they want to address the $ 4.6 billion shortfall without making devastating cuts to public school, human services, and the criminal justice system.

The House debate on the budget and revenue plan went pretty much as expected Thursday afternoon and featured nods to Thomas Paine, Winston Churchill, King Charles II, and Aristotle.