Entrance of the NC Legislative Building (Photo used under license from shutterstock.com)

Anthony DeHart

Lawmakers will be coming back to Raleigh in a few weeks for the “short session,” primarily to make adjustments to the second year of the state budget. State Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger tells WPTF News several issues will be on the table.

“Things like Medicaid, we do something called the Medicaid rebase,” Berger said. “We also want to take another look at where we are as far as salaries, we clearly want to look at our revenue picture.”

Berger said action could also be taken on issues such as casinos, which didn’t make it through the House last year after a groundswell of protests.

Looking at the state’s financial wellness, Berger says the current outlook is bright.

“[We’re in] the best fiscal shape that we’ve been in, at least since I’ve been in the legislature and just looking at some records, I think for a period of time even before that,” Berger said. “We have a very healthy fund balance.”

Berger says they have tried to reflect population growth in funding the state’s needs, and that inflation continues to increase expenditures.

“It’s not that the budget has been flat or cut or anything like that,” Berger said. “We actually have seen growth in many parts of the budget, but all within the confines in the context of inflation and the population growth in North Carolina.”

Berger said that education is one area where spending has increased in recent years.

“Real dollars that are appropriated to education in North Carolina are billions more than they were just a few years ago,” Berger said.

On the House side, legislators are looking at increasing funding for Opportunity Scholarships, also known as private school vouchers. Governor Roy Cooper, who is finishing his second term, has been critical of such an expansion.

State Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger was the guest on this week’s edition of ‘Carolina Newsmakers’ with Don Curtis. You can listen to the latest episodes here.