North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) talks to reporters on April 29, 2026. (Christine Zhu/NC Newsline)
North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell) told reporters Thursday he remains optimistic about the House and Senate finally reaching agreement on the state budget, but he says they’re not there yet.
Republican lawmakers reached an impasse over the budget last year due to disagreements over teacher raises and tax cuts. It left North Carolina as the only state without an enacted budget in the current fiscal year.
The main sticking point is whether to cut the state’s personal and corporate income taxes. A state law passed years ago promised a tax cut this year and next if state revenue reaches certain targets. However, state economists and Democratic Gov. Josh Stein have warned that letting the cuts take effect as scheduled will create a state budget deficit as soon as next year.
Can North Carolina lawmakers pass a budget? Here’s what to watch as session begins
House Republicans, like Stein, want to put the next round of tax cuts on hold. The Senate wants them to take effect as previously enacted.
Hall said they haven’t yet come to a compromise on that.
“No agreement yet, but I’ll say I think we’ve made substantial progress,” Hall said. “There’s a path to get a deal done, and so I hope that happens soon.”
Hall’s comments come just two days after his Senate counterpart Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) said the upper chamber is prepared to move ahead with its own budget proposal if needed.
“If we don’t go ahead and get started on that process, and we wait until we get an agreement so that we can get started, there’s no way you’re going to meet a deadline of the end of June,” Berger told reporters on Tuesday.
Hall said it’s certainly the Senate’s prerogative to send over a bill, but “it won’t be the first time that one chamber sends a bill to the other to not be taken up.”
“At this stage, there’s still a chance that we’re going to get it done in a conference report format,” Hall said. “I don’t think it’s really constructive for each side to fire off their own bills.”
House Majority Leader Brenden Jones (R-Columbus) posted a video on social media Thursday saying the legislature was hoping to pass a budget soon.
“We’re looking at some really good raises for our teachers, up to 8%, our law enforcement, up to 8%, the state employees across the board getting a very good raise as well,” he said.
Hall said he hasn’t seen Jones’ video, but says no deal has been reached.
He’s been in regular contact with Senate leaders to make an agreement, he told reporters.
“My desire is that we wind up with rate increases similar to those… and I think we’ve got a good chance to do that, but none of that’s resolved yet,” Hall said, adding, “we certainly still have plenty of time in this session to do that.”
House Republicans proposed average teacher raises of more than 8% over two years. They pitched spending $32.6 billion in the current budget year.
On the other hand, Senate Republicans want much smaller teacher raises, averaging just 3.3%. The Senate proposed spending $32.3 billion this year.
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