Inside budget negotiations: Records show what NC governor, legislators offered
For most of the fall, Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper and Republican leaders of the General Assembly traded offers as they negotiated the state budget in secret.
Records obtained through a public records request show what each side offered.
Cooper, Senate leader Phil Berger and House Speaker Tim Moore all consistently maintained that the offers and counteroffers were confidential because they all wanted to have “good-faith negotiations.”
The News & Observer and other local news media made public-records requests to the Senate, House and governor’s office for the documents. Only the Senate has provided them, and only after the budget was complete. They were released Wednesday as the Senate took its final vote on the spending plan. Both chambers voted overwhelmingly in favor of the budget and Cooper signed it into law Thursday.
Here’s what the documents show:
First offer
The legislature sent Cooper an offer on Sept. 29 with dozens of pages of overall spending.
Counteroffer
On Oct. 4, Cooper sent a counteroffer that included Medicaid expansion, $700 million more in education funding over two years, and an average 8% raise for public K-12 teachers and community college faculty.
That included reducing the personal income tax rate to 4.7% by 2031 and corporate income tax to 1.25% by 2032. The tax details included the comment that “with this or similar tax package, NC will lose billions in needed revenue that must be offset by expanding Medicaid and drawing down billions in federal dollars.”
In a section called “Educator Pay Fairness,” the governor’s offer proposed an average 8% raise for K-12 teachers, instructional support and principals as well as community college faculty. It also included a proposed 6% raise for other education employees including certain UNC System faculty, community college staff and non-certified public school employees.
It also proposed restoring master’s degree pay for teachers, eight weeks of parental leave for K-12 teachers and a $15-an-hour minimum wage for non-certified public school personnel.
Another bullet point in the counteroffer simply says: “Remove all Controversial Policy Provisions (List provided upon receipt of fully proposed conference report).”
Counter-counter offer
The legislature countered on Oct. 19 with a 5% raise for state employees over two years, increasing the K-12 budget by $100 million in recurring spending, removing some policy provisions from their previous budget proposals, appropriating remaining Help America Vote Act grant funds and using American Rescue Plan Act money for digital literacy and other expenses.
Another offer
Cooper responded again on Oct. 27 with a two-option offer. One included significant tax cuts, Medicaid expansion, a 6% raise for teachers and 5% raise for state employees over two years.
The other offer from the governor included some tax cuts, no Medicaid expansion and more funding for education. That offer included 8% raises for teachers, 5% raises for state employees and $500 million in additional education spending.
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This story was originally published November 17, 2021 at 5:12 PM with the headline "Inside budget negotiations: Records show what NC governor, legislators offered."
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