With the legislature scrambling to beat its third self-imposed deadline of Sept. 18 for a state budget, SEANC lobbyists are keeping a close watch on several aspects of the budget yet to be decided. If you’ll recall, last week lawmakers announced plans for a $750 bonus for state employees. But the fate of DOT and teaching assistant jobs as well as 40 hours of bonus leave still hang in the balance.
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The General Assembly passed another continuing resolution on Thursday to extend the budget debate to Sept. 18, but not before an announcement that an agreement on a $750 bonus for all state employees this year had been reached. The bonus equates to around a 1.75% pay increase for the average state employee.
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After two weeks of skeleton meetings and unsuccessful attempts to wrap up, legislative leaders in the House and Senate finally agreed to an adjournment resolution Wednesday that ends the 2014 legislative session.
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House and Senate leaders decided on a bottom-line spending amount for the budget — $21.735 billion — at a breakfast meeting with Gov. Pat McCrory at his mansion on Tuesday. But they decided little else on a state budget that is now almost two months overdue. With state employee raises and retiree COLAs in jeopardy, SEANC Is asking members to reach out to their lawmakers.
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The longest budget debate in 13 years may finally be nearing a conclusion. House Speaker Tim Moore said Thursday he expects a deal to be hashed out in the next week. State employee raises and retiree cost-of-living adjustments are, as expected, one of the sticking points in negotiations.
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Finally, there was some movement on the state budget this week. The Senate this week conceded that it would pull Medicaid reform and Economic Development plans out of the budget negotiations if the House would agree to a cap of $21.64 billion. Senate leaders hope to have a deal in place by next Friday, but the House is less optimistic.
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The House and Senate still haven’t met on the budget, but talks are starting to heat up. Groups on the right and left made it clear they see the House’s budget proposal as the reasonable one, with the Senate’s radical proposal far out of line with the state’s values. SEANC spoke out for pay raises and cost-of-living adjustments in the House budget. Also, retiree health benefits have become a major topic in the debate, and the Transportation Secretary resigned this week after telling SEANC members in DOT to not lobby for their jobs.
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Another week came and went and we’re still nowhere near a finalized state budget. The down time this week gave SEANC members who work in the Department of Transportation all over the state a chance to come down and speak out against a provision in the Senate’s budget that would cut 56 administrative positions in the department.
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The General Assembly returned to work this week from its summer break, but little happened in the way of real progress on a budget deal between the House and the Senate. The two sides are still far apart on their priorities.
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The week after Independence Day is normally a time for legislators to tie up loose ends and prepare to end the session and head home. Instead, this year it may just be halftime.
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