Moore plans rushed budget process for House, part of a troubling pattern
Once again, NC legislative leaders seem to be prioritizing political gamesmanship over the people. While Senate leadership is threatening to walk away from the state budget process entirely, House leadership put forward a plan to rush through it – with little time for input from other lawmakers, let alone the people of NC.
“House Speaker Tim Moore announced Wednesday that the House’s budget proposal will be filed sometime Monday night. It’ll then go through committees on Tuesday before being voted on Wednesday and Thursday,” according to the News & Observer.
If that sounds familiar, it’s because this is reminiscent of what happened last year when the same NC leaders put together our state budget behind closed doors, then voted on the final budget 48 hours after the 1,400+ page document was made public. That’s the same timeline Speaker Moore is suggesting for the House’s budget proposal next week.
2023-2025 Final Budget Approved In Rushed, 48-Hr Process:
Not to mention, that 48 hours next week coincides with a holiday of particular importance in our state, where slavery was once legal. Juneteenth is Wednesday, June 19, a holiday to celebrate liberation and the anniversary of the end of slavery in the US – a time when we should not have to worry about one more way all people – Black, white, and brown – are being kept out of the democratic process in North Carolina.
READ MORE: Fact sheet on how North Carolinians Deserve A Voice In How Our Public Dollars Are Spent
This has become a pattern in North Carolina: Budgets are passed and laws are changed in an anti-democratic process behind closed doors, dominated by a small number of powerful legislators, with regular North Carolinians and even most lawmakers excluded from the process.
Increasingly, reporting and analysis is documenting the harm that happens when regular people are shut out.
- NC lawmakers push new campaign finance rules. Critics call it political ‘money laundering’
- “The $100 million is one example of state lawmakers in the past several years adding major spending to state budgets just before they go to a final vote, giving little time for public scrutiny and no opportunity for removal.”
- NC Leaders’ Tax Cuts For Wealthy Mean We Will Lose More Than $13 Billion For NC Needs
Lawmakers in positions of leadership shouldn’t be the only ones deciding how to spend our state tax dollars. The state budget belongs to the people, and NC leaders need to listen to the voices of the people and all of the lawmakers we elect.
It’s time for our NC leaders to create the budget in a transparent and inclusive process and keep political gamesmanship out of it. Our state deserves better.
