State Budget

Legislative Bulletin	JUNE 15, 2001

House hopes to draft a budget with no increases in taxes or major cuts in human services House budget writers said Wednesday that they plan to accomplish what the Senate said was impossible: draft a state budget for the coming year that doesn’t raise taxes and doesn’t slash spending on human services. Many observers were skeptical whether the House could achieve 100 percent of that goal and said the stance largely reflects the sharp political divisions in the chamber. Appropriations Committee Co-chair David Redwine (D-Brunswick) said the leadership will write a budget bill that doesn’t include any of the $190 million in so-called tax loophole closings recommended by Gov. Mike Easley and largely embraced by the Senate. He and others in the Democratic leadership also said the House will not slash the state Health and Human Services Department nearly as much as the Senate did, cuts that would require closing Dorothea Dix, the huge state mental health hospital in Raleigh, and two schools for the deaf. See June 1 Legislative Bulletin, page 1. Redwine told the Associated Press the House has found additional revenue needed to write a balanced budget in the federal research grants received by the UNC System. The universities typically receive around $100 million a year in federal grants, which come with additional money – usually 45 percent of the grant -- earmarked for administrative and other overhead expenses. The UNC System reportedly is holding $89 million in unspent overhead receipts from previous federal research grants. Redwine unveiled the plan as teachers and students from the state’s two schools for the deaf protested outside the General Assembly for the second time in recent weeks. Return to Page One