North Carolina still doesn’t have a budget. Here’s how that affects everyday life.

by Will Michaels March 4, 2026

Republished with Permission by our friends at NC Local

North Carolina is more than eight months into the current fiscal year without an enacted state budget, the only state in the country in that position.

“But folks may not fully appreciate that when the General Assembly returns to session next month, it will have been more than two and a half years since the state last passed a comprehensive budget,” Governor Josh Stein said in a press conference Monday to call for action on the budget. Republicans in the legislature are in the middle of a prolonged stalemate, largely because of disagreements about tax rates.

The state continues operating without a budget because of a law that allows for ongoing spending at last year’s levels. But that approach freezes key decisions about a wide range of policies, and leaves state employees like teachers without raises or cost-of-living adjustments they may have expected.