NC budget with year-delayed raises is now law. Gov. Stein signs spending plan
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- Gov. Josh Stein signed North Carolina’s delayed state budget into law in 2026.
- Teachers will receive an average 8% raise, with highest increases for starting teachers.
- Most state, UNC and community college employees will receive 3% across-the-board raises.
North Carolina — a year late — now has a state budget, as Democratic Gov. Josh Stein signed the legislation into law on Tuesday.
The new law means that thousands of teachers and state employees will get across-the-board raises they’ve been waiting on for a year, as the Old North State was the last state in the country to pass a new budget.
“This budget bill gets a lot of things right,” Stein said at the signing ceremony, highlighting provisions in the budget, such as double-digit pay raises for state law enforcement officers and $700 million to help residents of Western North Carolina continue their recovery from Helene.
“These are real wins worthy of celebration and worthy of my signature. So, after careful deliberation this morning, I will sign the state budget into law,” he said.
But “I won’t sweep this budget’s flaws under the rug,” he said.
Stein said the raises for many state employees are not enough to keep up with inflation and criticized several provisions in the budget, such as cuts to vacant job positions. He noted the budget eliminates the Office of Health Equity, within the state’s health and human services department, which works to improve health access and eliminate health disparities, and the Office for Historically Underutilized Businesses in the Department of Administration, which helps connect people to jobs.
The bill, which emerged from a long, drawn-out negotiation between Republican House Speaker Destin Hall and Republican Senate leader Phil Berger, gained support from half of House Democrats and several Senate Democrats.
It seemed likely Stein would sign the bill, in part because of the number of Democrats who already voted for it. Republicans have a veto-proof supermajority in the Senate, but need some help from Democrats or independents in the House to override a veto by a three-fifths majority. Final budget votes were 88-21 in the House and 35-10 in the Senate.
Asked by The N&O, when it first crossed his desk, about Democrats who voted in favor of the budget, Stein said he thinks “that’s a sign that there’s some good things in the bill and there’s some bad things in the bill.”
Teachers will get an average raise of 8%, with the highest raises for starting teachers.
Law enforcement raises range from 10.1% to 27.5%.
Most state employees, UNC System and community college employees will receive 3% raises across the board.
The House and Senate each passed its own budget bill in 2025, but top Republican negotiators failed to reach a final deal for a year. The main debate was over the amount of raises and tax cuts.
Berger said in a news release after the budget was signed that the spending plan builds on more than a decade of GOP-led fiscal policy focused on tax cuts, restrained government spending and economic growth.
Berger said he was “glad Gov. Stein recognizes how vital this budget is for the people of North Carolina.”
This story was originally published July 7, 2026 at 10:37 AM.
