Republicans united sending long-awaited state budget to governor

(The Center Square) – Senators in North Carolina on Thursday afternoon took the final steps to sending a one-year late state budget to the governor.

Passage on final reading was 35-10 in the upper chamber. Earlier in the day, passage was 88-21 in the House of Representatives. No Republicans in either chamber opposed the $34.4 billion spending plan for fiscal year 2027 at final passage.

First-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein has been “reviewing the budget closely” since it emerged earlier in the week from conference reports. He’ll have 10 days to sign into law, veto, or allow to become law without his signature; day of presentation is Day 0 in that process.

The two-year budget is due to be enacted on July 1 of the Legislature’s long session that happens in odd-numbered years. When that didn’t happen last summer, the same spending plan for fiscal year 2025 remained in place for fiscal year 2026, though lawmakers did make some appropriations – often called mini-budgets – in the interim...