NCACC Weekly Update — June 17, 2022 | Eastern North Carolina Now

Legislative Brief

Notable Activity

    The General Assembly's short session continued this week with committee work and floor sessions in both chambers. As policy work begins to wind down, the largest item still left on the table for the legislature to tackle is addressing 2022-2023 state budget adjustments. House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate President Pro Tem. Phil Berger made comments separately to reporters on Tuesday that they expect to meet by the end of the week to negotiate the last outstanding differences between the House and Senate budget plans. The General Assembly is deciding what to do with $6.2 billion in additional revenues through mid-2023. Among other uses of these funds are additional salary increases for teachers and state employees as well as tax reductions. If the leaders of both chambers can negotiate the differences in their respective budget priorities this week, the General Assembly may approve a budget as early as next week and remain on track to adjourn the short session by July 1.

    One of the many policy bills still up for debate at the General Assembly is House Bill 149 Expanding Access to Healthcare, which among other things, expands Medicaid coverage for roughly an additional 600,000 North Carolinians. The bill passed the Senate early during the short session but has not yet been taken up in the House, where leadership has indicated it believes the bill is better suited for consideration in next year's long session. The bill is the first piece of legislation to pass either chamber of the North Carolina General Assembly that fulfills one of NCACC's priority goals to "Support continued state funding of Medicaid and support efforts to close coverage gaps." As such, NCACC released a statement this week supporting the Senate approved legislation.

    To read about other legislation considered this week at the General Assembly that has county impacts, click here.


   Contact: NCACC
   Email: communications@ncacc.org