North Carolina began its new fiscal year on June 30 — without a new state budget. Four months later, lawmakers still haven’t passed one.
Good evening,
Before I begin, I’d like to recognize Veterans Day and express my heartfelt gratitude to those who have served our nation. Thank you for your dedication and sacrifice.
North Carolina began its new fiscal year on June 30 — without a new state budget. Four months later, lawmakers still haven’t passed one.
On October 22, House Speaker Destin Hall told WUNC that, barring a major change, “I don’t anticipate there being anything to vote on for the remainder of the year.” In other words, the General Assembly may end 2025 without a budget.
Because our state operates under a “permanent continuing resolution,” agencies continue at last year’s funding levels. There’s no shutdown. But let’s be clear — the absence of a shutdown does not mean the presence of good governance.
North Carolina’s budget process runs on a two-year cycle. For much of the 1990s and early 2000s, the General Assembly completed its work regularly and with discipline. The 1999 and 2003 budgets, for instance, were both ratified on June 30. Even when negotiations dragged, as in 2005, they wrapped up by August.
That changed after 2011, when Republicans won control of both chambers for the first time since 1898. They inherited a $2.7 billion shortfall left over from the Great Recession — and closed it responsibly. Two years later, in 2013, they enacted the first of several rounds of comprehensive tax reforms, cutting rates and simplifying the code, and still delivered the budget on time. Those early years showed that fiscal conservatism and procedural competence could work hand in hand.
But that discipline has faded. The 2015 budget wasn’t ratified until September 18. In 2021, it took until November 18 — nearly five months into the fiscal year. The 2023 budget didn’t pass until September 22. And now, in November 2025, we still have no budget for the 2025–2027 biennium.
Going months into a fiscal year without a budget was rare. Now it’s routine.
I’m not in a hurry to spend taxpayer money. But I am concerned about whether our legislature is functioning as it should. Fiscal prudence is a conservative virtue. So is competence. A state that governs well respects both its constitution and its citizens’ trust.
That’s why the John Locke Foundation’s 2024 report, “Reforming North Carolina’s General Assembly,” deserves renewed attention. It offers a conservative blueprint for restoring order, predictability, and professionalism to the legislature — not through partisanship, but through stewardship and accountability.
Here’s how conservatives can restore competence and order in the legislature:
Set firm deadlines.
North Carolina is one of the few states without a fixed end date for its sessions. The General Assembly should adopt a defined calendar — with a June 30 finish line — to prevent endless extensions and force timely budgeting.
Limit leadership terms.
Establish term limits for top legislative leaders to encourage new voices, prevent power from concentrating, and keep the institution accountable to its members and the public.
Professionalize legislative service.
Lawmakers’ pay hasn’t been updated since 1995. Modest increases to salaries and per diem rates would make service feasible for working North Carolinians — not just retirees or the independently wealthy.
Keep sessions short and focused.
Structure sessions to mirror successful models in other states: about 90 legislative days in long sessions and 35 in short ones. Shorter, more predictable sessions promote efficiency and reduce costs.
Open up the process.
Budget negotiations shouldn’t happen behind closed doors. Committees should hold open hearings early in the process, publish draft budgets for public review, and give taxpayers a chance to see where their dollars are going.
Protect transparency in law.
Repeal the recent law allowing legislators to decide what records are public. Replace it with a constitutional safeguard requiring broad disclosure — with exceptions only when the public interest clearly demands it.
Study and sustain reform.
Create a bipartisan commission to regularly review the legislature’s structure, compensation, and transparency standards, ensuring these reforms are maintained over time.
North Carolina has strong economic fundamentals and responsible taxpayers. They deserve a legislature that matches that strength with efficiency and foresight.
Conservatism isn’t about opposing government for its own sake. It’s about ensuring government works within its proper bounds — effectively, transparently, and on time.
Learn more about the state budget and its process here, here, and here.
Esse quam videri,
Donald Bryson
CEO
John Locke Foundation
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The ongoing federal government shutdown has severely impacted the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), leaving millions of Americans facing an uncertain month.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it could only cover about half of November's benefits (roughly $4.65 billion), using a limited contingency fund, compared to the normal monthly distribution of around $8 billion.
This highlights how relying on Washington to manage essential programs leaves states and families vulnerable to political gridlock and budgetary failures.
The growth of national programs like SNAP has inadvertently displaced and weakened community- and faith-based poverty relief efforts, once the local backbone of aid.
Local organizations are better equipped to quickly identify needs, adapt to conditions, and deliver aid efficiently without federal delays.
This underscores a broader issue, how much day-to-day life should depend on the smooth operation of federal politics and what happens when it doesn’t.
Thanks to the failures of former Gov. Roy Cooper’s North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR), hundreds of families whose homes were destroyed by Hurricanes Matthew and Florence are still living in temporary housing.
NCORR diverted $107.9 million toward building generic affordable rental housing units, rather than solely rebuilding homes for hurricane victims.
No clearer example of this mismanagement than when NCORR gave $9 million to Wilmington for a 278-unit "luxury apartment complex".
NCORR eventually required an additional $297 million in state taxpayer funds to finish homes for the enrolled families.
Now, the agency replacing NCORR for Hurricane Helene recovery, the Division of Community Revitalization (DCR), is repeating the same misjudgment.
DCR has allocated $191.3 million to affordable rental housing, and another $53.4 million to workforce housing.
Meanwhile, DCR’s victim program, Renew NC, has been allotted only $807.4 million, which is about $200 million less than NCORR ultimately required, despite Renew NC having at least 1,000 more anticipated participants and facing significant construction inflation.
All unspent dollars earmarked for "affordable" and "workforce" housing should be immediately redirected to Renew NC to rebuild homes for actual hurricane victims.
The $500 million allocated by the General Assembly to NCInnovation should be reclaimed and reallocated to Renew NC.
Redirecting funds would send a clear message: North Carolina has learned from the failures of the Cooper era.
Duke Energy's latest Carolinas Resource Plan filing reveals that the source they plan to add the most capacity of (solar) is the source they expect the least productivity from, confirming the greater efficiency of baseload sources.
The data shows a significant gulf in productivity for new capacity additions (2026–2040):
Nuclear: Is nearly 4x more productive than new solar capacity.
Natural Gas: Is roughly 2x as productive as new solar capacity.
Solar: Will make up 26% of the capacity but generate only 18% of the electricity.
Nuclear: Will make up about 17% of the capacity but generate 42% of the electricity.
The disparity is due to intermittency - actual solar generation depends entirely on weather and time of day.
Duke is forced to plan for overbuilding solar capacity to compensate for its unreliability, driven by the Carbon Plan's mandate to achieve "carbon neutrality" by 2050.
This strategy of overbuilding intermittent capacity leads to:
Higher electricity bills from redundant capacity and new transmission infrastructure.
The consumption of a significant amount of the state’s endangered farmland.
If the Carbon Plan law were amended to make its carbon neutrality secondary to the needs of consumers for reliable and least-cost electricity, it would allow Duke to showcase more nuclear and natural gas, creating significant savings for ratepayers.
