Today, Governor Cooper returned a veto of Senate Bill 257 to the legislature with the following attached message:
"This budget neglects our schools and our economy at a time when North Carolina should be making public education stronger, not giving special breaks to those at the top.
It prioritizes tax breaks for the wealthy and corporations and shortchanges our workforce and schools at a pivotal time of growth.
The budget also lacks structural integrity by failing to account for population growth, inflation and looming federal reductions, by using one-time revenue for recurring expenses, and by adopting a tax plan that will cause the state to fail to fund promised teacher salary increases in future years, along with funding for early childhood education, community colleges and universities.
Additionally, the Act contains provisions that infringe upon the Governor's ability to faithfully execute the laws, including the administration of this Act, as required by the Constitution, and violating the separation of powers.
These shortcomings can be fixed, and I encourage the General Assembly to do so by capping tax cuts so they benefit the middle class, investing more in public education, and fixing the unconstitutional flaws in this bill. But in its current form the Act shortchanges North Carolina.
Therefore, I veto the bill."
Yesterday, Gov. Cooper also allowed the following bill to become law without signature:
- Senate Bill 577: An Act to Modernize North Carolina's Consumer Credit Installment Sale Contract Default Charge in Order to Level the Playing Field with Out-of-State Businesses