North Carolina state budget signed into law
For the second time in nearly 11 years, North Carolina has a signed budget.
First-term Democratic Gov. Josh Stein on Tuesday signed the $34.4 billion spending plan passed Thursday by the Republican majority General Assembly. The 2026 Appropriations Act, known also as Senate Bill 257, brings Hurricane Helene relief with $700 million and adds $450 million to the Savings Reserve in the General Fund – often called the rainy day fund – to lift its balance to more than $4.2 billion.
The state’s rapidly growing population of 11.2 million will get billions of dollars in tax cuts; have 8% average pay raises for teachers amid increases across the board for all state employees; and send more than $1 billion into funding the state’s Medicaid program.
“This budget bill gets a lot of things right,” Stein said in a signing ceremony. “It delivers the largest starting teacher pay raise in nearly 50 years and the largest overall teacher pay raise in the last 15 years. It protects healthcare for millions of North Carolinians by fully funding Medicaid. It gives double-digit pay raises to state law enforcement officers and bonuses to local law enforcement.
“It appropriates another $700 million to help people of western North Carolina continue their recovery from Hurricane Helene. The budget also makes meaningful investments in our community colleges, the DMV, childcare, and summer food programs for our kids. These are real wins worthy of celebration and worthy of my signature.”
The budget was due to be enacted July 1, 2025. The negotiations stalled and were not resolved until this spring and early summer. Lawmakers, in the interim, passed spending measures to bridge the gap.
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