NC budget bill with some raises, DMV funding passes Senate. Here’s what’s in it
North Carolina state lawmakers revealed and are sending a budget bill to the governor’s desk all within a day.
Rep. Donny Lambeth, a Winston-Salem Republican and one of the top budget writers, told The News & Observer that Republican House and Senate leaders agreed on a mini budget bill that was likely to get a Senate vote Tuesday and House vote by Wednesday. The bill was soon after presented as a conference report, which means it did not have to have a committee hearing first.
The bill passed the Senate 47-2 on Tuesday, with two Democrats, Sens. Natalie Murdock and Sophia Chitlik, both of Durham, voting against it.
House Bill 125 spends more than $1 billion, includes step-increases for North Carolina public school teachers, which are raises that must be approved by the legislature to go into effect. Any state employee on a step-increase raise plan would also get raises if the bill becomes law, including law enforcement, Republican Sen. Brent Jackson, a top budget writer, said ahead of the vote.
The bill will also include funding to hire more employees at the troubled Division of Motor Vehicles, which has caused problems for North Carolinians across the state because of severe delays and inability to get services.
The bill would be retroactive to July 1, which was the first day of the fiscal year. Here are other significant aspects to the budget bill.
Construction projects, Medicaid, school enrollment, JetZero
Medicaid rebase funding. This is money needed each year to cover fluctuating Medicaid costs.
Capital projects, including an auditorium at Winston-Salem State University and the K-12 Education Campus, which are both under construction. The Education Campus is a major project in downtown Raleigh across from the Legislative Building and Museum of Natural Sciences, adding cranes to the city skyline. It will house multiple state agencies when it is completed.
JetZero, the airplane factory coming to Guilford County that promises to bring 14,500 new jobs, would get $118 million through the Department of Commerce.
The DMV funding would create 40 new full-time driver’s license examiner positions this year and another 21 jobs in the second year. New DMV offices would be added in Brunswick County, Cabarrus County, Fuquay-Varina in Wake County and Garland in Sampson County.
Increased funding needs based on enrollment growth for K-12 schools and community colleges.
The Agricultural Disaster Crop Loss Program would receive $142 million for statewide agricultural disasters in 2024.
Funds for operations and maintenance of already finished construction projects at N.C. State University, UNC-Chapel Hill, and the N.C. School of Science and Mathematics, according to the bill.
Funding for new positions with the Office of the State Auditor and State Board of Elections.
Stein highlighted Medicaid rebase and DMV staff as major issues impacted by the budget delay during a news conference on Tuesday morning.
What’s not in the mini budget
Lambeth said that the three biggest issues between House Speaker Destin Hall and Senate leader Phil Berger are the same three that began the impasse: raises for teachers and state employees, the total amount of future tax cuts, and funding of the UNC and Duke University children’s hospital project.
“If we get through those specifically, especially the taxes, I think things will go pretty quick,” Lambeth said about getting the full budget done. He said lawmakers might pass a second mini budget bill when they return again to Raleigh for a few days at the end of August, if the larger deal still hasn’t been reached.
Earlier in the day Tuesday, Stein urged Republicans to keep working on a comprehensive budget, beyond just the mini budget bill.
“We need to take care of all of the state’s government. I urge the General Assembly: Let’s set aside our differences. Let’s come together on a budget that is sound, balanced and in the interest of the people,” he said.
Lambeth also said that discussions around Medicaid expansion, which was cut in Congress’ big spending bill, are ongoing. He said that lawmakers will need to come back to handle the impact of the federal government changes on the state.
When will the budget bill pass?
Hall told reporters after a House session on Tuesday that the legislature has more time to address federal cuts because they won’t impact the state yet.
Hall also said the mini budget bill included “things that are not really in contention in either chamber. The hope was, of course, is that you get the entire comprehensive budget done, including these things. But ultimately, this is the kind of stuff that neither side is sort of leveraging over the other, and it goes to the working folks in the state.”
The House will vote on the budget bill on Wednesday.
This story was originally published July 29, 2025 at 11:58 AM with the headline "NC budget bill with some raises, DMV funding passes Senate. Here’s what’s in it."
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