Several significant differences between the House budget plan and the Senate budget proposal are unlikely to be worked out before the July 1 beginning of the new fiscal year. According to this WRAL report:
Speaking just after the Senate had passed its draft Thursday, President Pro Tem acknowledged it was unlikely the House would just accept a version of the budget that looks drastically different from what House lawmakers drafted last month.
“I suspect, if they (the House) don’t concur, it will probably take us a while to get to the point where we’ve got an agreement,” Berger, R-Rockingham, said.
When asked if a continuing resolution, a temporary spending bill that runs the government while lawmakers negotiate a final deal, was coming, he said, “That’s possibly what we’re going to be dealing with.”
Berger’s counterpart in the House also allowed it could be a longer-than-typical summer for the legislature in Raleigh.
“We’ll be here as long as we need to be,” House Speaker told the Associated Press. “I’m in no hurry.”
To hash out their differences, a conference committee consisting of members from the House and Senate will convene and develop a new state budget plan. With significant differences in total spending, taxes, Medicaid reform and teachers/teacher assistants; it may well be deep into July or even August before a final state budget is settled upon.
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