Republican budget writers rolled out a 634-page spending plan Tuesday chock-full of special provisions and policy changes with limited time for review before the first planned vote on the $34 billion package.

The measure includes raises for state employees and teachers first announced by Senate Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingha, and House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, in May, along with an agreed-upon cut in the state’s personal income tax rate from 3.99% this year to 3.49% next year. It also includes hundreds of millions for Helene relief.

Republican leaders put the proposal into a format that cannot be amended in any way. There will be no committee hearings on the measure, only the opportunity to speak on the bill on the chamber floors and vote yes or no. Legislators say that speeds up the process of completing the budget, but critics say it leaves minority lawmakers and taxpayers shut out of the conversation. “North Carolinians waited a full year for a state budget, only to see the final decisions made behind closed doors with little opportunity for public input,” said Alexandra Sirota, director of the N.C. Budget and Tax Center.

As is always the case, the fine print of the massive bill is littered with policy provisions sought by leaders and majority-party lawmakers. This year, that includes eliminating state programs that address racial disparity after lawmakers enacted three new laws last week banning diversity, equity and inclusion programs in state government and public education over the governor’s vetoes. 

The budget eliminates the Office of Health Equity at DHHS. The office will be absorbed into the Division of Public Health. It also abolishes the Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses in the Department of Administration, eliminating 12 jobs. For more than 25 years, the office has promoted opportunities for minority businesses from across North Carolina to compete for state and local government contracts. And it shutters a mentoring program for minority male students in the N.C. Community Colleges System office. 

One of the largest expenses in the budget is a $1 billion allocation towards funding Medicaid, including $847 million for Medicaid rebase. There’s $1.5 million for investigating fraud, waste, and abuse within the program, heeding requests from Attorney General Jeff Jackson and DHHS Secretary Dev Sangvai. 

Sangvai said Tuesday morning that he had not seen the budget. “We’re going to take a look at the entire budget and then understand what’s in there,” he said. “We’re optimistic that a lot of what the department had been hoping for, that would be included in the budget, will be in there.”

The budget provides $9 million for the Healthy Opportunities Pilot, a program the DHHS had been fighting to revive. The Healthy Opportunities Pilot provides services in rural areas such as food, housing, and transportation to help participants improve their health. DHHS paused the program last July because the state did not have a budget, and Healthy Opportunities did not have money.

Other noteworthy items in the spending plan include:

* $650,000 for six full-time positions to staff a new Child Welfare Case Escalation Team in the Department of Health and Human Services. This was a top priority for Rep. Carla Cunningham, U-Mecklenburg, after the horrific abuse death of 6-year-old Dominique Moody.

* $5 million in recurring funds for the School of Civic Life and Leadership to operate as a separate academic unit at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Courses will focus on the “development of democratic competencies informed by American history” and the study of the great texts of Western civilization that “form the foundation of the American republic.” UNC faculty have broadly criticized SCiLL since it was established for its lack of rigor and transparency.

* Nearly $49 million for Farmland Preservation, including a $2 million increase in recurring funds. It also requires the Department of Environmental Quality to participate in federal FAST-41 permitting for nuclear power plants, natural gas plants and pipeline projects.

* An additional $28.7 million to the General Maintenance Fund for improving statewide road maintenance. NCDOT has warned that growth is outpacing state funding for transportation needs.

* $25 million in federal rural healthcare stabilization funds to Martin County to reopen its shuttered Martin General hospital as a rural emergency hospital.

* $97 million to increase child care subsidy rates, setting a rate floor based on the 2021 Child Care Market Rate Study.

* Allows the Board of Transportation to establish tolls on all ferry routes. The North Carolina Ferry System serves an estimated 700,000 vehicles and over 1.5 million passengers annually. Most of North Carolina’s ferries have been in service for 25 years or more, and it’s estimated that in the next 20 years most of the fleet will reach the end of its useful life.

* Moves the N.C. Department of Public Safety out of its longtime downtown offices in the Archdale Building to the N.C. Education Lottery’s building near Capital Boulevard.

* Instructs the Department of Motor Vehicles to develop a system that would eliminate physical vehicle registration cards and stickers in order to cut down on administrative costs and streamline the registration process. There’s funding for 30 more positions at the DMV, and to support new driver license offices in Wake Forest or Rolesville and Tabor City.

* Requires the city of Charlotte to repay NCDOT for the money the agency spent to plan the expansion of I-77 through the city, a project city leaders recently decided to abandon.

* Repeals the sales tax exemption on electricity for data centers, an idea that Gov. Josh Stein has endorsed, and closes a loophole for sales tax relief for hospitals that some hospitals had begun using to get around the cap on the benefit.

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