NC budget stalemate could affect Medicaid expansion

RALEIGH (WRAL) — With no budget deal yet in sight, deadlocked state lawmakers are signaling they could resort to a budget workaround that could leave Medicaid expansion in limbo.

Last week, legislative leaders sounded confident they would reach a budget deal in time for a vote when the legislature resumes business on the week of August 7. This week, they were notably less optimistic.

“We’re on track for votes [on Aug. 7],” Moore told WRAL Thursday. “If we reach a deal on the budget, that’d be a perfect time to do it. But we’re going to be back the next week as well.”

Under North Carolina law, if no budget is enacted, the state keeps running on the same spending level approved in the prior year. But scheduled raises and bonuses for teachers and other state employees, as well as program growth and one-time funding, are on hold until the next budget is passed.

“State government continues to operate. Things are going fine,” Moore said. “Now, [if] you get into the fall and you start dealing with [school] enrollment growth and those things, you’re going to have to deal with that. You can deal with it through the mini-budgets, which is not the preferred way to do it, but it is a way to deal with it.”

The concept of a mini-budget dates back to 2019, when GOP lawmakers and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, with enough Democrats to sustain his vetoes, reached an impasse over teacher raises and Medicaid expansion in the full budget.

So lawmakers started writing partial budget bills to deal with spending needs that weren’t controversial but were time-sensitive or required new spending, such as raises, school enrollment growth and Medicaid growth. No full budget bill was passed into law that year. The piecemeal approach left a lot of budget work undone, but it kept the basics funded.

If the same were to happen in 2023, however, it would leave Medicaid expansion in limbo.

To read the full story, click here.