Legislators return to Raleigh next week for the start of the General Assembly's short session. For state employees and retirees, the stakes couldn't be higher.

The legislature's failure to pass a state budget last session had real consequences. State employees and retirees went without raises. Health care premiums went up anyway. And the gap between what the state pays and what the private sector pays kept growing — to the point where private sector wages have risen nearly four times faster than state salaries since 2014.

More than one in five state positions are vacant today, not because the jobs aren't needed, but because the state doesn't pay enough to fill them. When agencies are understaffed, everyone feels it: longer wait times, slower services, overextended facilities. And there's an effort underway to use vacant positions to justify job cuts, when the truth is the state needs to pay more to hire more workers.

State retirees haven't received a cost-of-living adjustment since 2017. Every year, a fixed income buys a little less. Meanwhile, the state's retirement formula sits below the national average, meaning retirees lose more than 10% of their earned benefits from the first day of retirement.

In this week's episode of The SEANC View podcast, we preview the session and the budget debate. We also discuss State Treasurer Brad Briner's expansion of AI tool use at his office, including measures to protect state employee data. Other topics include the long-running Lake retiree health care suit, workforce vacancies that strain state services, and how SEANC plans to engage members through Lobby Day and election efforts.

What you can do right now: Use SEANC's action center to send a message directly to your House and Senate legislators. It takes less than two minutes. Tell them to pass a budget with real raises for state employees and retirees this session.

Your legislators need to hear from you. Click here and make your voice count.