Under the Dome: NC bills empowering state auditor move ahead. Next up, the budget
Good morning and welcome to Under the Dome, brought to you today by Kyle Ingram and Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan.
Since his election in November, North Carolina Republicans have repeatedly sought to give more powers to State Auditor Dave Boliek.
Another bill doing just that advanced in a House committee on Tuesday, though lawmakers from both parties raised concerns about its scope.
House Bill 549 would give the auditor more flexibility in hiring and firing employees and would clarify that he is able to investigate non-state entities that receive public funds in addition to state agencies.
“The auditor is one of our constitutional officers charged with being a watchdog for the public,” House Majority Leader Brenden Jones, the bill’s sponsor, said. “This bill gives the office the clarity, tools and flexibility it needs to do that job.”
But committee members questioned whether the legislation would go too far, giving the auditor privileges not afforded to other Council of State members and expanding his investigative purview.
Rep. Brandon Lofton, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, called the bill “fairly broad and onerous.”
“So any church that receives any grants, any factory that receives state incentives, any hospital or farm that receives subsidies, any private school that receives voucher money — all of these entities, no matter how much money they receive, are now subject to these requirements?”
Kirk O’Steen, director of government affairs for the auditor’s office, said these entities would be subject to the bill.
“The intention of this legislation is (for) any public dollars that are being put out, that we’re able to track those and follow the money,” he said.
Several committee members raised the idea of including a threshold within the bill that would trigger the auditor’s authority to investigate non-state entities only once a certain amount of money has been allocated.
“I think we need to do a little work at some point on being sure that we audit what needs to be audited so that it doesn’t become a fishing expedition in the hands of the wrong people,” Rep. Hugh Blackwell, a Burke County Republican, said.
Jones said he would work with the auditor’s office to address some of the committee’s concerns in a future version of the bill.
The Senate is pushing its own bill to expand Boliek’s powers, called The DAVE Act, that would give him more say over job cuts. The Senate passed that bill Tuesday.
SENATE BUDGET SET TO COME OUT MONDAY, WILL INCLUDE DAVE ACT
The Senate is on track to release its budget bill Monday afternoon, Republican Senate leader Phil Berger told reporters after the Senate session on Tuesday evening.
The budget, which will likely spend more than $30 billion in taxpayer money and fund raises for state employees and teachers, is a two-year spending plan. The budget process starts with the upcoming Senate version, which will go through committee on Tuesday, with floor votes Wednesday and Thursday, Berger said.
Then the House will likely pass its own version in May, and a final budget will be negotiated among Republican leaders.
Berger said though the Senate ran the Dave Act bill separately, it would be part of the budget bill released next week.
The bill includes much of what Boliek requested, like adding positions, during a budget committee early in the legislative session.
Asked about including policy in the budget, which has become the norm the past several years, Berger said, “there are things that will be in the budget that some people could argue are policy, but I think budgets are about policy.”
Today’s newsletter was by Dawn Vaughan and Kyle Ingram. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol.
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This story was originally published April 9, 2025 at 5:00 AM.
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