After impasse, N. Carolina politicians make big deals in '21
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) —
As the year draws to a close in politically divided North Carolina, hostilities have eased somewhat between the Democratic governor and majority-Republican lawmakers, both of whom recently agreed on a comprehensive budget more than three years after the last one was approved. But their relationship is still far from harmonious.
Last month, second-term Gov. Roy Cooper signed a two-year, $53 billion state budget bill penned by GOP legislative leaders that was 4 1/2 months late, and with lots inside for him to dislike, such as provisions that rein in his emergency powers and phase out corporate income taxes. And there are only plans to study the broad Medicaid expansion he's sought for years, with no promise for an actual vote.
Two years ago, Cooper vetoed the spending bill. But this year, there was enough in it to make him sign, including an avalanche of surplus funds that Republicans were happy to direct toward myriad projects across the state, including broadband expansion and water treatment plant repairs.
“The good outweighed the bad, and it was time to move forward,” Cooper said in an interview with The Associated Press. “There’s been a long time since we’ve had a budget, and (vetoing) it would have at that time stopped everything.”
North Carolina, the nation's ninth-largest state, was the last to enact a budget for 2021.
The governor's signature capped a year in which Cooper agreed with Republican House Speaker Tim Moore and Republican Senate leader Phil Berger that good-faith negotiations, rather than stalemate, was the path to take.
The two sides also passed compromise legislation requiring more students to return to in-person classes earlier this year when the coronavirus pandemic eased and data showed low transmission among young people;...