LUMBERTON — Robeson County’s two resident state lawmakers left Tuesday’s one-day General Assembly session unhappy for different reasons.
“To put it bluntly, Democrats voted to deny teachers a pay raise for next 18 months. We brought up a clean, no-strings-attached teacher pay raise bill that the governor had vetoed, and not a single Senate Democrat joined us in trying to pass it,” Sen. Danny Britt Jr. said.
The Republican from Lumberton said the action was consistent with the Democratic Party’s behavior on teacher pay for the decade.
“They’ve never once supported a Republican-backed teacher pay raise, and Gov. (Roy) Cooper has vetoed every single one we’ve sent him,” Britt said.
Rep. Charles Graham, a Democrat from Lumberton, said he is disappointed that the state budget veto logjam could not be broken on Tuesday.
The Senate failed again to override Cooper’s veto of the two-year spending plan that won the bipartisan approval of state lawmakers on June 27. The House on Sept. 11 overrode the veto issued one day after the spending plan received final General Assembly approval.
There was no discussion in the House about the state budget situation, Graham said.
“It’s still parked in the veto garage,” he said.
The budget contained money for The University of North Carolina at Pembroke, money to give pay raises for teachers and other state employees, and money to improve Robeson County’s schools and infrastructure.
UNCP stood to receive money to help build a College of Health Sciences. The vetoed budget also allocated $91 million in State Capital and Infrastructure Fund money for UNCP. The university also stood to receive $6.5 million in fiscal year 2019-20, which began July 1, and $20 million in 2020-21.
Robeson County was allocated an additional $47 million in disaster relief for areas hit by Hurricane Florence and $250,000 specifically for Lumberton for flood mitigation projects. The budget provided $560,000 to start a new telehealth program in Robeson and Columbus counties that would help improve health care outcomes for rural residents.
Funding in the budget for an innovative drug treatment court pilot program in Robeson County and for an additional full-time assistant district attorney and another District Court judge were allocated in “mini budgets” approved by the General Assembly and signed by Cooper.
The Public Schools of Robeson County has made adjustments in light of the budget veto impasse, a district spokesman said.
“The Public Schools of Robeson County used a continuation budget based on the prior year information,” Glen Burnette III said. “PSRC will submit a current budget as though no new North Carolina state budget will be approved and will plan to move forward making amendments as necessary.”
Cooper’s office blamed Republican leadership for the budget failure.
“Public officials are elected to do the hard work of governing and find compromises, but Republican leaders are refusing to negotiate a teacher pay raise and saying that they are not going to pass any budget at all this year,” Cooper spokesman Ford Porter said. “This shows the outrageous lengths legislative leaders will go to avoid negotiating with the governor, and it’s time for them to end their partisan obstruction.”
Last fall, Cooper offered repeated budget compromise proposals that would do more to raise teacher pay and fund new school construction, Porter said.
“And while the Republicans passed mini budgets, the governor offered to negotiate teacher pay separately from other issues,” Porter said. “Each time Republican leaders refused.”
Britt and Graham agreed positive things happened Tuesday for the people of North Carolina.
Republicans were able to work across the aisle and win unanimous passage of a funding bill for scholarships for children of military veterans, Britt said.
Senate Bill 560, if signed in to law by the governor, will appropriate $2.4 million each year from the Escheats Fund to the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs to enhance the amount of money available for room and board expenses to students receiving a North Carolina Scholarship for Children of Wartime Veterans.
The funding bill adds to the total amount that the students can receive in the spring semester, Britt said.
House lawmakers also took up SB 560 on Tuesday.
“Which I fully support, and it was a unanimous vote,” Graham said.
House members also voted on legislation that made technical changes to the state’s tax code in order to bring it in line with the federal tax laws regarding the amount or dental and medical expenses a taxpayer can deduct, he said.
“Those were the two bills, and we had unanimous support and approval,” Graham said.
Senate Bill 622 passed the state House on Tuesday by a 118-0 vote, according to information from House Speaker Tim Moore, a Republican.
It will reduce the threshold amount for the North Carolina medical and dental expense deduction from 10% to 7.5% for the 2019 and 2020 taxable years, according to Moore. The higher medical and dental expense threshold is expected to save taxpayers approximately $18 million each year.
The legislation was sent to the Senate on Tuesday, where it was referred to the Committee On Rules and Operations of the Senate.
Medicaid expansion also was discussed Tuesday in the House, Graham said.
A proposed bill sponsored by Rep. William Richardson, a Democrat from Cumberland County, was introduced. The legislation, House Bill 1032, was given first reading approval and referred to the Committee On Rules, Calendar, and Operations of the House.
“That (bill) was not supported by the leadership,” Graham said. “…That means it is dead.”
He said many people in Robeson County and around the state need help with health insurance coverage.
“I find it disappointing that the General Assembly leadership is not negotiating with the governor to reach a compromise,” Graham said.
The lack of Medicaid expansion funding in the state budget was one reason Cooper vetoed it.
