The state legislature took a break this week, but is back in action next week resuming a full schedule of committee meetings and votes on bills in the House and Senate.

Also taking place will be behind-closed-doors budget negotiations between the state House and Senate to reconcile differences between the two different tax and spending plans enacted by the individual chambers.

Casting a long shadow over discussions is news this week from fiscal analysts with both the Governor’s Office and the NC General Assembly, who have revised state revenue projections and now anticipate the amount collected by the state as of June 30th will be $180M less than what was forecast back in February.

For the coming two fiscal years the pending budget covers, the revised revenue numbers are $218M less for FY 25-26 and $222M less for FY 26-27.

Economists from both offices point to likely decreased business revenue due to tariffs and the increased possibility of recession as primary reasons for their downward adjustment.

Also This Week

In an effort to catch up on the backlog of people trying to get their driver’s license issued or renewed, 20 DMV offices will open on Saturdays from 8 AM to 12 NOON starting May 31st and ending August 23rd.

• And today, recently-appointed DMV Commissioner (and IIANC member) Paul Tine was joined by NC DOT Secretary Joey Hopkins and Governor Josh Stein at a press conference in Raleigh where they discussed plans to address agency performance issues that have in recent years attracted the ire of state lawmakers.

Tine said Governor Stein made it ‘very clear’ to him when he accepted the Commissioner role that improving customer service must be accomplished. He also thanked legislators for recent proposed increases in staff and DMV office locations, and asked for the public’s patience as staffing and system improvements are implemented in the coming months. 

• FEMA has denied a request from Governor Stein to continue the 100% match of state Hurricane Helene recovery expenses with federal disaster funding.
  
  The request was an appeal of FEMA’s original declination in April of North Carolina’s request that the 100% match be continued for 180 additional days. Governor Stein said this decision by FEMA would put North Carolinians on the hook for ‘potentially hundreds of millions of dollars’ in debris clean-up costs, but FEMA officials replied the extension was ‘not warranted.’

And finally … 

If you or someone you know is interested in running for public office or just wants to better understand how political campaigns work, consider applying to participate in the upcoming NC Institute of Public Leadership (IOPL) Fall 2025 training program by clicking HERE.

IIANC lobbyist Joe Stewart serves on the IOPL Board (pictured above with state Representative Maria Cervania and Senator Benton Sawrey who offered their insights on running for public office from their own experience at a recent graduation of the Spring 2025 class of IOPL), and is glad to chat if you want to learn more about IOPL, which has for nearly 40 years provided this nonpartisan training program  – contact Joe at jstewart@iianc.com or (919) 614-0520.