With the release of a spending plan on Friday and votes in both chambers now scheduled this week, the General Assembly is back in action after two relatively quiet months.
While the official announcement of votes came on Friday, speculation on the September schedule and details of the spending plan itself started well before, culminating Thursday afternoon with a press conference where top Democrats assailed one provision they expected to make up part of the plan — full funding of private school voucher expansion.
They were correct, but the last-minute push to rally opposition against the voucher funding increase had little time to gain momentum. The plan released Friday at 11 a.m. — a conference report for House Bill 10 — contains $463.5 million in increased funding for vouchers.
The money would clear the Opportunity Scholarship waitlist for the current school year and be retroactive, with families being eligible for tuition reimbursement from schools.
“Families across North Carolina made it clear that they want a greater say in their child’s education,” Senate Leader Phil Berger said in a press release. “Whether you’re a single parent, a young family, or in a military household, educational freedom should be attainable for all.”
The Senate is expected to vote at noon on Monday, while the House is expected to vote Wednesday.
Other provisions in the plan were also anticipated but not confirmed until Friday’s release of the conference report. A lobbyist outlined parts of the bill — voucher funding, the Medicaid rebase, funds for public schools and community college enrollment increases, infrastructure funds for Chatham County and requiring sheriffs to honor ICE detainers — for State Affairs on Aug. 29.
The same day, a House Democrat confirmed that the caucus was “hearing the same rumors as everyone else,” but that no word had come from the corner offices about voting this week. Both the House and the Senate confirmed that no votes were scheduled at that time.
By the middle of last week, Republican House members had been told they’d need to be in Raleigh this Wednesday.
Rep. Dean Arp, R-Union, one of three senior chairs of the House Appropriations Committee, described the report released Friday as a “super-negotiated” document that pulls together provisions upon which the House and Senate agree.
Other areas, such as university spending, still need attention, he said. “We're doing the K-12 and we're doing the community colleges, but we're not necessarily getting everything that we're looking at strategically for the university system,” he said.
There is also unfinished business related to capital improvements, Arp said, but further spending may have to wait until next year.
“This is a significant step between the House and the Senate coming together,” he said. “I don't know that there's going to be another push to do anything else in the budget until next year, but that's just my speculation.”
Arp doesn’t expect to see a sine die resolution anytime soon. In addition to having to come back to take up an expected veto of HB 10 by Gov. Roy Cooper, the legislature will need to allocate federal broadband funds after they are received, he said. “We're going to go all the way to the end of the year, I'm sure.”
Cooper, on Thursday, said voucher expansion with no income cap equates to a handout to the state’s wealthiest families. Senate Democratic Leader Dan Blue, of Wake county, called the measure a scam, with 51% of Opportunity Scholarship applicants last year coming from just 10 North Carolina counties.
Arp said Republicans believe the voucher program empowers parents to decide what is best for their children. “It's wildly popular with all income groups,” he said. “I believe that that's the right philosophy for us to go forward.”
Reached on Friday, Democratic leaders said caucus was reviewing the full plan, but that the inclusion of voucher expansion was a disappointment.
The conference report for House Bill 10 also includes $24.7 million recurring to clear the North Carolina's Education Student Accounts (ESA+) program waitlist for children with disabilities, as well as:
- $64 million recurring for Community College enrollment growth
- $95 million recurring for K-12 enrollment increases
- $277 million recurring and $100 million nonrecurring for Medicaid
- $55.1 million for infrastructure improvements to support economic development in Chatham County
- $150 million for major transportation improvements at the Randolph County megasite
- Authorization of a new program to expand high-speed internet in rural communities
Landfill Pollution
A constant stream of 18-wheeler trucks file into the Sampson County landfill, located next to a small, historically-Black community named Snow Hill. The front of the facility is adorned with lush landscaping. The landfill has a well documented history of air pollution. However, testing by state environmental officials last year found toxic chemicals known as PFAS in the landfill's groundwater, surface water and leachate, a liquid that's formed when rain water draws out chemicals from waste. PFAS was also found in nearby private wells, which provide drinking water for residents.
This week, the Southern Environmental Law Center announced a proposed legal agreement with GFL Environmental, the owner and operator of the landfill. Under the settlement, GFL said it will reduce PFAS discharges, establish an air monitoring system for the landfill’s gas emissions, and create a community fund for Snow Hill.
The landfill was established in 1973 despite community outcry. Today, the facility spans nearly 1,000 acres and accepts over 1.8 million tons of waste annually. Trash comes from across North Carolina, which includes business, commercial yard and residential waste.
Last year, the state Department of Environmental Quality, or DEQ, began requiring all solid waste sanitary landfills in North Carolina to test for PFAS in their groundwater, surface water and leachate. PFAS are toxic, human-made chemicals highly present in North Carolina waterways. Available research shows PFAS can cause kidney cancer, birth defects and increased cholesterol.
Waste Systems
Last month, Tropical Storm Debby brought soaking rains to North Carolina that overwhelmed some wastewater treatment infrastructure in the eastern part of the state. For instance, Brunswick County posted public notices on Aug. 8 and Aug. 10 estimating that a total of about 1.5 million gallons of treated and partially treated wastewater overflowed a stormwater pond and drained into a tributary of the Lockwood Folly River. A county news release noted both spills were related to the inundation created by Debby.
Aging water and wastewater infrastructure is an issue in North Carolina. According to the 2021 Report Card for America’s Infrastructure, the state’s wastewater infrastructure needs about $5.3 billion in upgrades. Recently, state leaders have rolled out funding initiatives to address that glaring need.
In July, Gov. Roy Cooper’s office announced $253 million that will, in part, support “drinking water and wastewater infrastructure funding and stormwater construction grants,” according to a release. The funds would support “70 projects in 30 counties statewide, including 51 construction projects.”
That’s on top of close to $2 billion that the legislature appropriated in the state budget in 2023 for at least 241 water and sewer projects paid for by federal dollars that flowed to the state for coronavirus relief.
Missing, however, from the billions dedicated to shoring up the state’s water infrastructure is funding to help owners of properties that have septic tanks.
Septic systems provide wastewater treatment to homes in areas without municipal treatment facilities, such as rural and unincorporated communities. Roughly half of all North Carolina households rely on septic or decentralized wastewater systems, according to information provided by North Carolina State University’s Crop and Soil Sciences program.
Septic tank owners bear sole responsibility for their systems’ upkeep. What’s more, if a system is not properly maintained, it could seep sewage into ground and surface water and pose a threat to public health. Those systems are not always in optimal conditions, said N.C. State University Extension Specialist Erik Severson in an article on the extension’s website.
“Across the state, we have enormously different soils, some of which are challenging to drain,” he said.
When asked why septic systems were not addressed in the latest round of water and wastewater infrastructure funding, a North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality spokesperson said that failing septic systems are a “high priority.”
The department has a pilot program for “decentralized” wastewater treatment systems that could provide funding for “qualified applicants,” including septic tank owners whose systems are in need of repair. Recipients could receive as much as $500,000 under the program to do the work. The deadline for local governments to apply during the 2024 funding cycle is Monday, September 30, at 5 pm.