Bringing The World Home To You

© 2024 WUNC North Carolina Public Radio
120 Friday Center Dr
Chapel Hill, NC 27517
919.445.9150 | 800.962.9862
91.5 Chapel Hill 88.9 Manteo 90.9 Rocky Mount 91.1 Welcome 91.9 Fayetteville 90.5 Buxton 94.1 Lumberton 99.9 Southern Pines 89.9 Chadbourn
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NC Senate Starts To Reveal Parts Of Its Budget Proposal

North Carolina legislative building
Dave DeWitt
/
WUNC
N.C. General Assembly

State Senate leaders held a news conference Monday to discuss details of their $21.47 billion budget proposal. The proposal is smaller than the state House’s budget plan released almost a month ago, and  would create a separate state agency to administer North Carolina’s Medicaid program.

WUNC Capitol Reporter Jorge Valencia said the Senate has only given a general idea of its budget proposal, and includes increasing the starting salary pay for teachers to $35,000 a year, a $2,000 increase.

"Even though we are at the proposal stage, this figure is likely to stay in the Governor's budget and in the House of Representatives budget," Valencia said.

Valencia said the Senate also wants to create a new, separate entity to oversee the state's 1.8 billion Medicaid recipients. The new organizations would be the Health Benefits Authority and would create "manage care entities"  that are essentially insurance companies managing Medicaid's costs.

More details about the Senate's two-year spending plan are expected Tuesday.

Phoebe Judge is an award-winning journalist whose work has been featured on a numerous national radio programs. She regularly conducts interviews and anchors WUNC's broadcast of Here & Now. Previously, Phoebe served as producer, reporter and guest host for the nationally distributed public radio program The Story. Earlier in her career, Phoebe reported from the gulf coast of Mississippi. She covered the BP oil spill and the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina for Mississippi Public Broadcasting and National Public Radio. Phoebe's work has won multiple Edward R. Murrow and Associated Press awards. Phoebe was born and raised in Chicago and is graduate of Bennington College and the Salt Institute for Documentary Studies.
More Stories