Clock is Ticking on Budget Deadline; No Hint from Gov’s Office

Governor Beverly Perdue summoned the press to the Capitol Building Tuesday to talk about the budget. There was much anticipation about what she would say or do, but there wasn’t much substance. The Governor said legislators needed to spend more for education and left. Republican leaders in the General Assembly are suprised Gov. Perdue is holding off signing the budget over a small difference in funding. House Speaker Thom Tillis (R-Mecklenburg) says they are just a fraction apart…

Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) says the Governor wants to move money from reserves into education, but he says that money is needed to shore up Medicaid overruns expected in the next fiscal year. Berger says a veto would do much more harm because the state would then be operating on last year’s budget with no expansion…

There’s more than money at stake. There is a provision in the legislative budget that would allow parents to tell schools what their children could eat and drink in homemade lunches. They could opt out of federal nutrition standards that led to the infamous “chicken nuggets” incident in a Hoke County school. Another provision would prohibit state regulators from taking school lunches into account when assessing pre-K programs at public schools. The Hoke County school pre-K program was downgraded because homemade lunches didn’t meet nutrition standards. Those provisions would go away with a veto and House Speaker Tillis says there wouldn’t be enough time to handled them separately.

The Governor has until Sunday to either sign or veto the budget. The budget becomes law that day if she does neither. Tillis says legislators will stick around until at least Monday.