It's 5.06 and welcome in to a Friday edition of the Carolina Journal News Hour on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT, I'm Nick Craig. Good morning to you. An incredibly busy week in the North Carolina legislature leading up to the July the 4th holiday. The North Carolina General Assembly has officially passed a state budget to walk us through some of the details this morning. Andrew Pomerance, CarolinaJournal.com, joins us on the news hour.
Andrew, you've been down at the General Assembly all week watching a very active Wednesday and Thursday. Before we get into some of the details, what was the scene like after more than 1,000 days since the last time the state passed a budget? Yeah. Hey, Nick. Good morning.
Happy Friday of July 3rd. We're looking at now a fun July 4th weekend. I think everyone down here, legislature, can take a deep breath knowing that they have now finally passed a state budget, like you mentioned, after over a thousand days waiting. I think energy around the building really started last Sunday when we had reports come out and we verified a Monday morning here at the Carolina Journal that they had come to a budget agreement. As we followed this process along, right, we heard back in the middle of May, so almost six weeks ago now, that a budget framework had been agreed upon, and that had a lot of the top-line information, such as raises and the tax rates that so many of us were interested in.
But now it's taken an additional six weeks. And this, you know, we assumed we were going to have this budget mid-June, and then Senator Berger kind of put a quashed that timeline. And, you know, we are hoping to see this get done before the July 4th weekend. And obviously, with the fiscal year starting this week, as soon as they could up against that new fiscal year, so a lot of excitement around the building this week. It moved quickly through both chambers without really much pushback.
From everything I've heard down there, this was maybe the most common sense or bipartisan budget we've seen in a long time. And it really had little surprises in it. A lot of that was because we've had this framework out now for six weeks and reporters and myself have been able to ask. Uh, both senate leaders and house leaders, maybe some of the particulars about what we're going to see in a finalized budget, um, but not a ton of surprises in it because of that. And so, I think a pretty mute tone actually for the Democrats in the House and Senate this week as they objected to just a few pieces of the budget, but were able to, uh, a lot of them voted with Republicans.
And um, now the budget heads to Governor Stein before the July 4th weekend. I'm so glad you brought that up. For those that have followed North Carolina politics closely over the last 10 or 15 years, typically these budget battles can get pretty nasty on the House floor, Andrew. And while it was a lengthy day on Wednesday, but both chambers combined a little more than six hours worth of debate in total, yes, plenty of arguments from Democrats, a lot of it being procedural about how quickly this process moved, but we didn't really have that fire and passion that we've seen in years past. It was an interesting dynamic to watch.
Yeah, and you know, it's really interesting, I think, as someone who is viewing it from inside. You know, we heard this document was going to be policy heavy and it was going to have lots of policy included in it. And The Democrats' objections largely were not to the policy itself. They were actually to the timeline, like you've mentioned, the process in this. We received the budget Tuesday morning and we're already voting on it Wednesday afternoon.
So obviously with a document over 700 pages long, there are objections to how fast, you know, how slow this process happened and then how fast it happened at the end here. The policy was overwhelmingly supported. I think in both chambers, you know, we saw an overwhelming majority pass, no veto proof majority in both bodies. Started with now independent Carla Cunningham getting up at the beginning. Um of Session on Wednesday and saying she supported this bill.
I think that really turned the tides from what I understood from inside the body to maybe swaying some additional support for the budget, making it clear that they had a budget, a veto-proof majority when it came to the budget.
So a strange week here in Raleigh. I think one of a lot of relief for Republicans and leaders in both the House and the Senate who have been working on this for so long. We heard staff was in the building last weekend until 10:30, multiple nights in a row working over last weekend. And so I think a lot of relief around the building this week, a lot of excitement. And I think a clear direction now where the budget negotiations go for next year.
No question about that. You talk about that strong bipartisan support. The first roll call vote in the North Carolina House on Wednesday, 23 Democrats voting in favor, 22 against. And for the second reading that happened yesterday morning, 21 in favor, 22 against. And so I think it would be hard.
Hard press standard to find anybody that says there's not strong bipartisan support for something when you have, in one case, more than half of Democrats voting in favor and then a 50-50 split in the final deciding vote on Thursday. Yeah, and I agree with that. And I think it's important to note, though, in a press statement put out by minority leader Reeves' office Thursday afternoon after the final passage. In that, he says, you know, any support given for this budget was because we could not afford to wait another day. And many of the priorities the House budget and I supported last year were still maintained, right?
So this is a process that, especially in the House, leaders and leadership have been looking at now for the past two years. And I think there was some pressure on Democrats to go ahead and approve this budget so that we could start to implement those teacher raises that we've been waiting on now for over a year, you know, the police raises as well and some of the Medicaid funding and oversight changes that are happening. And so I think while they may have had some opposition, I think it was the, you know, they felt the pressure to have to act now and pass the budget.
Well, and I mean, let's talk about that. It's an election year. The November is going to be here before we know it, even though we're just about to hit the July the 4th. Weekend, I would imagine for Democrats that are looking to have a banner year here in the 2026 midterms, it would be a pretty tough situation, Andrew, to go home to your constituents and say, Hey, I've been in Raleigh for the last two years and I didn't support and I didn't vote for the budget. That's got to put, as you noted, Democrats in probably a pretty tough situation.
Especially in a budget where there is additional funding for really popular programs like teacher pay, you know, raising the largest teacher salary increase in the last 20 years inside the state, raising North Carolina to be the number one in the southeast for teacher pay, right? Overwhelmingly popular. Things like additional Helene funding for the recovery out in the western part of the state, another $300 million dedicated to that funding. And so, you know, it has got to be a hard sell. I think you're right.
two constituents when there's so much popular in this budget and the top line numbers do things like lower taxes on everyday North Carolinians. If they were to vote against it and then go home and try to explain that vote. Yeah, let's talk about the tax cuts here as well. This is something that Republicans have been pretty laser focused on over the last 15 years, continuing the process of reducing not only the personal, but the corporate income tax rate in North Carolina. Andrew, it was a little bit interesting listening to the debate in both the House and Senate on Wednesday and Thursday.
Democrats continued to say that they were in favor of tax cuts. Cuts, but then indicated these cuts didn't go far enough. This is the same group of people that have advocated against these cuts in the past.
Some Democrats saying there needs to be more cuts, some saying it's too much. Kind of an odd situation for those on the political left.
Well, and I think it starts first with the overwhelming sentiment was we needed to spend more money as a state, that this budget did not allocate enough funds to programs to help either low-income individuals or incomes or individuals just across the street struggling with inflation-based affordability issues, right, with housing and food. And so we heard a lot of that. We also then heard that we needed to cut taxes as this budget didn't go far enough on cutting taxes on everyday North Carolinians. And so I'd be curious to know where those additional funds would come from to support both an additional tax cut on top of additional spending. You know, I think a lot of the money that they pointed to was placed in a rainy day fund, which we look back just 15 years ago now and the state was in budget turmoil and having to really make some hard decisions because of leadership failures in the past.
Having that rainy day fund is something that Republican leadership has continued to harp on, being important and continuing to build.
So I think this budget strikes a really interesting balance. And I think a balance that now has taken two years to come to, but between raising pay for so many groups in North Carolina and also cutting taxes on those same groups to help with affordability issues.
So it'll be interesting to hear how Republican leadership continue to point to this budget as an affordability budget as that term gets thrown around more and more as we head in towards election year. And then as the state moves forward, what changes do they look to make to continue that push?
Some great history there for those that are maybe new to the state of North Carolina. It was 2008 when the state was in about a $3 billion deficit. Employees, state highway patrol, teachers, pretty much anybody working for the state of North Carolina furloughed or had their pay cut pretty dramatically.
So we've seen some major changes in the last 16 or 17 years. All right, Andrew, where do we go from here?
Now it's down through the General Assembly on to Governor Stein's desk. Any idea what's going to happen there? Yeah, so, you know, he has 10 days from tomorrow or from this morning to either sign the budget, veto the budget, or just allow the budget to come to law. And so we're looking at July 12th as the kind of be-all end-all day. It's that Monday.
Now, I would assume, and I've heard from around the building this week, that they expect the governor to potentially take action before that date, at the latest of that, potentially that Friday before the July 12th deadline.
So something to keep an eye on as we head into next week. But with overwhelming Democratic support, I can't see him at this point. And I think sentiment around the building and in the Republican corner offices is that they expect him to either sign this budget bill and claim some of the same things that maybe Democrats in the House did where, you know, this process was flawed and there are some flaws in the budget, but it is important that we get this done now from people in North Carolina rather than. Go through with a veto.
So I do expect, I think they do expect him to sign the budget within the next week and make this become law. But you never know with politics here in North Carolina with governor sign, right? The Democratic governor and the Republican budget.
So he could take a surprise turn and veto the bill, which would force lawmakers to come back potentially earlier than they currently are projected to, which is July 27th. Woohoo, we have a little bit of a break. But this could force them to come back before that to override his veto. And obviously they would have the votes to do so. And I think would put Democrats in an interesting position.
So at this point, I think we should feel pretty positive about the governor signing this budget and kicking out this fiscal year just about a week late with those additional funds. Yeah, we'll be keeping an eye on the progress there as it now sits on the governor's desk. And lawmakers are expected to make their way back to Raleigh towards the end of July. We appreciate the update this morning. Andrew Pomerance joins us on the Carolina Journal News Hour.
It's 5:23. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM. We are keeping a close eye on the state budget. No surprise there. We've been talking about it all week here on the Carolina Journal news hour and over the next couple of weeks, as we expect and are hopeful for a signature from Democrat Governor Josh Stein highlighting some different pieces and portions of the budget.
One of those is major state allocations for a company called Jet Zero. We've talked about them in the past. Jet Zero is a commercial aircraft manufacturing facility that is under construction at the Piedmont Triad International Airport, that is in Greensboro, North Carolina. They have been allocated $133.9 million in the state budget to fund improvements to the site. The facility is projected to create more than 14,000 jobs by the end of 2037, with Jet Zero set to invest somewhere in the ballpark of $4.7 billion into the manufacturing facility, making it one of the largest economic development investments in state history, and it is supported by a job development investment grant.
The $133.9 million in non-recurring funding for the fiscal year 26-27 is allocated in the state budget, quote, for acquisition and improvements at the project site, and that money coming from the economic development project reserve. Brian Balfour, the vice president of research at the John Locke Foundation, says it's unfortunate that budget writers are choosing to double down on this corporate welfare giveaway to a project that has already announced a delay. Taxpayers should not be forced to subsidize the bottom line of politically chosen corporations. He continued by saying investments in business ventures should be voluntary. Moreover, the track record of these corporate welfare schemes are terrible, with roughly 80% of these taxpayer-subsidized projects ending in failure to meet the stated hiring goals.
Making matters worse is the fact that these additional funds will be diverted from a special reserve fund, meaning that the budget can classify it as a receipt-supported expenditure and therefore it won't be counted in the general fund spending total. This shell game obscures the true nature of state spending and is a practice that should be stopped, Balfour told the Carolina Journal. The funding is earmarked to be used, as indicated, $15 million for each year of the 25-27 biennium for acquisition of up to 150 acres of needed land at the airport, $45 million in the fiscal year 26-27, and $50 million in the fiscal year 27-28 for access road and taxiway construction, grading of the land, engineering, site analysis, preparation, and other works. Another $7.9 million that will be spent to the North Carolina Department of Transportation for road work needed at the airport related to the project. $5 million was allocated to Greensboro for water and sewer infrastructure related to the project.
$10 million was also allocated for renovation costs and capital improvements to an existing airport hub or to offset costs incurred with the federal aviation. administration. Finally, $35 million in the fiscal year 26-27 were allocated for construction, administration, demolition, contractor fees, building services, and much more. Speaking of the delays, which is why so many, many folks are questioning this more than $133 million. It was in late May.
We brought you that story right here on the Carolina Journal News Hour just a couple of weeks ago. Jet Zero announced it would push back its hiring timeline, citing delays in the state budget. While the initial hiring target, a hiring target of more than 14,000 jobs has remained unchanged, it has been pushed back a year. It was originally set to be all those jobs filled and the company fully operational by 2036. That was pushed back to 2037.
Changes were made to the initial hiring ramp and no hiring in 2027, with the first ramp-up scheduled to begin in 2028 and 2029. And that hiring would continue until that target goal would be reached in 2037. The announcement that Jet Zero would be coming to North Carolina was first made back in June of 2025 and an initial $118 million was allocated for the project in the 2025 mini-budget. The budget does require that a report on the use of funds be provided to both the North Carolina House and Senate. It is a very significant amount of money that we're talking about here in total $133.9 million for a project that unfortunately falls under the umbrella of a job development investment grant, also known as a JDIG.
We have seen, unfortunately, over the last couple of months, some very high-profile companies that were expected to bring, in some cases, thousands, tens of thousands of jobs to the state of North Carolina, announcing that they will no longer be able to meet those hiring goals, no longer be able to meet those hiring targets. We will be keeping a close eye, not only on this project, but many of these other JDIG projects that seemingly are continually announced by leadership here in North Carolina, most particularly a lot of those. Announcements and press releases coming from the governor's office. You can read more on Jet Zero and where things stand right now over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com. Clicking on the latest story: State budget allocates $133.9 million for delayed Jet Zero project.
It's 538. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT, some good news out of Western North Carolina this morning as the Federal Emergency Management Agency, that is of course FEMA, has approved more than $197 million in additional disaster recovery funding for Western North Carolina. This includes millions of dollars for all those communities out west that are still recovering from Hurricane Helene nearly two years after the storm devastated the region. Department of Homeland Security Secretary Mark Wayne Mullin said in Chimney Rock back in the month of April, one of our biggest priorities is to clean up this backlog. If there's a way to get it done, we will do it.
This latest funding package includes more than $179 million in FEMA public assistance grants for 30 projects related to Hurricane Helene and Tropical Storm Chantal, as well as other federally declared disasters, along with an additional $18 million through FEMA's hazard mitigation grant program. According to Robert Fenton, who is a senior official performing the duties of the FEMA administrator, he said in a press release, quote, FEMA is committed to quickly delivering funding to communities recovering from disasters. As states, tribal nations, and territories lead their response and recovery efforts, these funds help support and accelerate their progress. FEMA will continue to approve necessary funding while safeguarding taxpayer dollars. In line with President Donald Trump's Executive Order of 14395 establishing the Task Force to Eliminate Fraud, FEMA said it concluded detailed reviews of claims that cost for public assistance funds to help prevent fraud, waste, and abuse.
The newly approved award highlights both the scale of North Carolina's ongoing recovery efforts as well as the continued reliance on federal assistance as communities transition from emergency response operations, which have been going on for quite some time, to more long-term rebuilding. U.S. Senator Ted Budd said in a statement this week: Ever since Hurricane Helene, Tropical Storm Chantal, and other disasters struck the old North State. North Carolinians have been working every day to pick up the pieces. The impact of these major storms was nothing short of devastating for our state.
I am grateful to Secretary Mullen for unlocking over $197 million in federal aid for North Carolina to keep rebuilding. Among the projects approved by FEMA are more than $4.7 million in funding for communities within North Carolina's 14th congressional district. That is represented by Representative Tim Moore, who said in a statement, Western North Carolina has made significant progress since Hurricane Helene, but recovery is far from over. This funding helps ease the financial burden on local governments that responded when their communities needed them the most and enables critical rebuilding efforts. I appreciate President Trump, Secretary Mullen, and FEMA for recognizing the importance of this recovery effort and continuing to support Western North Carolina communities.
The largest award within Moore's District provides approximately two point eight million dollars to the city of Morganton for repairs to its boardwalk and related infrastructure damaged by the hurricane. The funding is authorized under Section 406 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act. Another $1.8 million will be used to reimburse debris removal operations conducted in Burke County following the storm. According to congressional offices, the project removed more than 9,700 cubic yards of vegetative debris from public rights-of-way to address safety concerns and support ongoing recovery efforts.
That project is being funded through a 90% federal cost share, meaning the feds pick up 90%, the state and/or local. local government picks up the remaining 10, a very lucrative funding model there for many of these smaller governments in western North Carolina. Part of this as well, Rutherford County Schools will receive nearly $148,000 to repair or stormwater infrastructure that was damaged during Helene as well. The latest FEMA award also provides additional funding to communities across the broader swath of western North Carolina that experienced some of the most extensive storm damage. The town of Spruce Pines received two grants totaling approximately $871,000.
That is for repairs for sewer lift station pipes, embankments, and other utility infrastructure. Other towns, including the town of Crossnoor, received more than $263,000. That is to repair water infrastructure that was also damaged by the storm. The city of Asheville will be awarded approximately $1.5 million for repairs to the Suananoa River Greenway, while several schools, hospitals, and nonprofit organizations and local governments also receive some additional federal assistance. Transportation infrastructure does continue to represent one of the more major components of North Carolina's recovery efforts.
The North Carolina Department of Transportation received more than $4.2 million for repairs to Jacks Creek Road, that's in Yancey County, as well as an additional $1.08 million for repairs to multiple state routes in Watauga County damaged by Hurricane Helene. Additional transportation grants were approved for related repairs to Tropical Depression or Tropical Storm Chantal. Representative Chuck Edwards, the Republican in North Carolina's 11th district, which includes many of the communities hardest hit by Hurricane Helene, said that the latest funding approvals represent an important step towards rebuilding western North Carolina's infrastructure. Edwards said at a June 30th congressional hearing, quote, we've had somewhat of a mixed bag of dollars coming out of the federal government to western North Carolina. They seem to have really picked up their momentum.
It has picked up, and many of the projects for us to rebuild have been funded at a far quicker rate in the last few months. Debris removal also remains among one of the most expensive and prolonged aspects of disaster recovery out in the western half of our state. The latest FEMA approval includes more than $26 million for debris removal operations. That is set to be managed by the North Carolina Department of Emergency Management, along with $3 million designated. for private property debris removal.
As local governments across western North Carolina have spent months awaiting federal reimbursement for debris removal expenses that were incurred immediately after the storm. And so you've had many of these smaller communities, again, relatively limited budgets based on where they are, the population of their towns or municipalities that have already spent this money on debris removal, obviously getting the roads cleared up more than almost two years since Hurricane Helene affected the area, finally getting some of that relief. The largest single award announced on Wednesday allocates nearly $136 million to North Carolina Emergency Management for state management costs associated with administering Hurricane Helene recovery programs. In addition to recovery funding, FEMA approved what are called hazard mitigation grants totaling more than $18 million. Those funds are set to support state management activities, property acquisitions, floodproofing projects, and other mitigation efforts that are intended to reduce damage from future disasters if they are to affect the area.
Federal disaster recovery programs typically unfold over several years with emergency response and debris removal efforts, followed by permanent infrastructure repairs and long-term hazard mitigation projects. As we're close to the nearly two-year mark since Hurricane Helene struck western North Carolina, many communities continue repairing roads, bridges, utilities, schools, recreational facilities, and public infrastructure that were so heavily damaged and impacted by the storm. The latest FEMA approvals demonstrate the continued scale of North Carolina's recovery efforts and the substantial work that remains as Western North Carolina moves from immediate disaster response towards long-term recovery. I know I went through a bunch of different numbers and figures. You can read all those details this morning over on our website, CarolinaJournal.com.
Look for the story with the headline: FEMA approves $197 million to Western North Carolina after fraud review. Good morning again. It's 5:53. Welcome back to the Carolina Journal News Hour, Charlotte's FM News Talk 107.9 FM, WBT. All right, rounding out a very busy news week here across North Carolina.
After nearly three years without a new comprehensive state budget, as we've been talking about all week, North Carolina lawmakers on Thursday sent Governor Josh Stein a roughly $34 billion spending plan that funds raises, continued tax relief, adds public safety investments, and closes one of the longest-running standoffs between the North Carolina House and Senate. The final vote marked a major breakthrough for Republican legislative leaders who spent months negotiating over spending levels, tax policy, education, Medicaid oversight, Hurricane Helene recovery, and other major state priorities. The legislation is Senate Bill 257, passing. The House by a vote of 88 to 21 and a Senate vote of 35 to 10 on Thursday. That's when the final vote was taken in both chambers for the budget, with it now sitting on Governor Josh Stein's desk, who has up until 11:59 p.m.
on July the 12th to sign, veto, or the state budget will become law without his signature as it was presented to him on Thursday. Republican leaders celebrated the final passage of the budget, as we heard from Senate leader Phil Berger, the Republican from Rockingham County, who said, our state's fiscal health remains in great shape. This is a responsible spending plan that takes aim at bureaucratic bloat without endangering core services. This keeps our promise to reduce the tax burden for all North Carolinians while expanding access to an incredible Two incredible educational opportunities, keeping our communities safe and solidifying North Carolina's status as the best state in the nation. House Speaker Destin Hall, the Republican from Caldwell County, also praised the budget, saying in part: This budget invests in the people of North Carolina, it delivers historic raises, keeps taxes low, strengthens public safety, and protects taxpayer dollars by making targeted investments to crack down on waste, fraud, and abuse.
Every dollar reflects our commitment to build a North Carolina that is a better and more affordable place to live, work, and raise a family. Donald Bryson, the CEO of the John Locke Foundation, added that the budget includes several reforms that have been advocated for for quite some time, with Bryson saying after three years without a new comprehensive state budget, North Carolina taxpayers deserve a budget that advances growth, restraint, and accountability. This proposal includes several important reforms that the John Locke Foundation supports, including continued income tax relief, a targeted certificate of need repeal, stronger Medicaid program integrity, and property rights protections in local permitting and land use. Again, recapping that, the budget has passed officially both chambers of the North Carolina General Assembly. Votes on Wednesday and Thursday.
Senate Bill 257, now over in the governor's mansion, the governor did have a signing ceremony yesterday for two unrelated pieces of legislation. He did not sign the budget. When asked by reporters, he said he and his team still needed some time to go through the details. Again, the Democrat governor in Josh Stein has until 1159 p.m. on July the 12th to sign the budget, veto the budget, or allow it to become law without his signatures with lawmakers scheduled to be back in Raleigh coming up towards the end of July.
Going to do it for a very busy week here on the Carolina Journal News Hour. WBT News is next, followed by Good Morning BT. Have a great 4th of July weekend. We're back Monday morning, 5 to 6, right here on Charlotte's FM News Talk, 107.9 FM, WBT.
