NC Budget

As North Carolina legislative leaders negotiate a spending plan for the next two years, they’ll have less money to work with than expected.

Some of North Carolina’s top leaders in business, politics, education and philanthropy gathered in Raleigh on Monday to push for more focus on creating a skilled labor force. They said that includes providing more young adults with credentials aligned with employer needs.

Educators will see more money in their paychecks this year from a combination of raises, bonuses and a new county-based supplement for teacher pay.

A final North Carolina budget bill is now law after Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper signed it almost as soon as the legislature placed it on his desk. The General Assembly gave its final approval on Thursday to a two-year state spending plan with a vote in the House.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper says he'll sign the legislature’s final two-year budget bill into law once it reaches his desk. He made the announcement on Tuesday as the Senate prepared for floor debate on the budget plans. He says the good items contained inside the Republican-penned bill outweighed the bad.

A top North Carolina Republican lawmaker says legislative action on a final state government budget could happen as soon as next week, with or without formal support from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper says he'll aim to get Republican lawmakers to fund North Carolina public education improvements a judge says the state must start implementing. Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore are expected this week to send to Cooper an initial joint offer on state government spending for the next two years.

Legislation that includes more than $2 billion in tax reductions over the next two years and the phaseout of North Carolina's corporate income tax by 2028 received bipartisan approval again in the Senate on Thursday.

A proposed coronavirus relief fund and policy bill for North Carolina’s K-12 schools also would delay by one year the implementation of new social studies standards that conservatives criticized strongly.

RALEIGH -- North Carolina state government coffers are more flush than in recent memory as 2020 begins as tax collections again are beating projections…