Here are even more changes NC’s state budget would make. Plus, all our coverage.

Good morning and welcome to Under the Dome. I’m politics editor Jordan Schrader. Welcome to July, and welcome to the state’s 2026-2027 fiscal year. Yes, North Carolina went one full year without a comprehensive new state budget.

But now a proposed budget for the coming year is here, and it could be law in just days. Our team is still poring over the 634-page bill and related documents that were released Tuesday, but below you’ll find a roundup of our coverage of the plan.

And there’s more that we haven’t yet included in our stories. Here are some of the budget provisions that politics reporter Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi highlighted as significant changes that would happen if the spending plan becomes law.

• Restoring access to Medicaid to about 27,000 immigrant children and pregnant adults with certain forms of legal status who were swept up in cuts approved in a 33-page Medicaid funding bill lawmakers passed and Gov. Josh Stein signed into law earlier this year.
• Over $700 million more for Helene recovery. The majority of those funds — $450 million — is for the state to unlock federal disaster recovery funds that require a matching contribution. There is also roughly $90 million set aside for various efforts to help people with housing needs, such as temporary housing and grants to organizations helping repair and rebuild homes. Another $30 million is for fixing roads and bridges on private property, and another $65 million is for grants to towns and counties for rebuilding and repairs. There is also a $27 million grant for Madison County and $21 million for grants for dam safety.
• Funding tied to food stamps. Under the One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed by Congress last July, states will have to take on costs that the federal government previously paid for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. That includes more administration costs and a penalty should they exceed certain rates of incorrect benefit payments. The budget would provide over $5 million — with about half being one-time funding — to upgrade technology systems to handle new eligibility rules, hire over 30 employees to work on reducing payment errors, and implement artificial-intelligence guidance, among other measures. As for the federal penalty, should the state have to pay one, the state would pass some of the cost down to individual counties using a formula that pulls from sales tax earnings.
• Closure of a health equity office. The Office of Health Equity, within the state’s health and human services department, which works to improve health access and eliminate health disparities, would be closed and its functions transferred to the Division of Public Health.
• Children’s hospital funding. The budget includes $208 million for a proposed children’s hospital being built by Duke Health and UNC Health. Duke and UNC previously estimated the Apex-based hospital will cost approximately $3 billion and that construction should begin in 2027, taking six years to complete. The budget also authorizes the UNC Board of Governors to enter into agreements with Duke, UNC, NC Children’s Health, or any combination of them for the “provision of pediatric research, health care, and discovery” — without regard to the effect on the market.

All of our budget coverage

• Raises for teachers, police and state workers in NC budget. Here’s the breakdown
• NC budget would give raises to officers — and cut hundreds of vacant positions
• NC budget bill ends one incentive for data centers, keeps other tax breaks
• NC public schools lost money due to vouchers. How lawmakers are responding
• Religious instruction, public schools and the NC budget: 5 things to know
• NC could ditch physical car registration cards and stickers under budget plan
• NC budget includes UNC, NC State athletics for sports betting tax distribution
• NC budget draft gives Charlotte last chance to change I-77 toll vote before payback
• Mecklenburg County could avoid vehicle emissions testing in new state proposal
• Here is NC’s overdue budget: Read the documents about spending of your tax money

And even more stories from the team

• NC House passes sweeping elections bill with auditor powers, ballot challenges
• Sam Page sues Phil Berger’s son, alleging interference in NC Senate campaign
• Why is healthcare so expensive? A bipartisan NC group will tackle rising costs

Thanks for reading Under the Dome

That’s all for today. We’ll be right back here on Thursday.

• Ideas or feedback about our Under the Dome newsletter? Email our politics team at dome@newsobserver.com.
• Not a newsletter subscriber? Sign up here.
• Listen to the latest episode of our Under the Dome podcast here or wherever you get your podcasts.
• And learn more about issues facing North Carolina colleges and universities by subscribing to Higher Stakes, a weekly higher education newsletter from reporter Jane Winik Sartwell.

This story was originally published July 1, 2026 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Here are even more changes NC’s state budget would make. Plus, all our coverage.."