Legislative Watch: Environment an Issue in Budget Showdown
The North Carolina General Assembly reconvenes this Wednesday, May 16th, for its biennial budget “short session”—and there’s already a looming showdown between two very different versions of a budget. Environmental spending is one of the big differences.
The detailed budget amendments proposed by Gov. Roy Cooper last week include some major positive changes for environmental program funding, including investing nearly $19 million from deed stamp tax revenues directly into three trust funds dedicated to parks and recreation, water quality protection, and farmland conservation. It also includes $8 million for monitoring and regulation of “emerging” toxic water pollutants, $4.5 million to improve the permitting process with better public information and transparency, and $3 million for matching funds for water infrastructure projects. (See page 14 for the summary, and page 113 for more complete details.)
One state conservation advocate praised Cooper’s proposals as “a win for North Carolinians and the environment thanks to increased funding for clean water and land protection” as well as for “strengthen[ing] the state’s capacity to enforce environmental laws.”
The majority leaders of both the state House and Senate immediately dismissed Cooper’s budget proposals as “more of an unserious attempt to score political points in an election year than a responsible, sustainable budget,” which forecasts another party-polarized budget session instead of negotiation and compromise.
The kernel of truth in the legislative leaders’ response is that 2018 is indeed a legislative election year. NCLCV will have more recommendations on that front as the campaign season progresses.
