After a few weeks of little action at the General Assembly since it gaveled in the session in early January, the pace began to pick up in late February/early March. All Appropriations met for initial budget overviews, and to help new members comprehend the budget process. Committees laid out a scheduled plan for the budget, with subcommittees meeting jointly every week until April.
In April, the House will begin to formulate their version of the bill, and the proposed schedule includes the House voting on its budget the first week of May. Once the House passes its budget, the schedule proposes the Senate will pass its budget by the end of May, and aspires to have a full budget adopted by the first week of June.
This proposed schedule is certainly aspirational, and it is unlikely that the chambers will be able to agree on a budget in such a timely manner, but there will continue to be joint meetings as the process is outlined.
Only two anti-immigration bills filed have been so far, which is not many compared to past sessions. The bills seem to be retreads of unsuccessful bills filed in the last biennium, however El Pueblo is aware that the Republican leadership will need all votes from their caucus this year and deals can be made on such bills.
Those two bills are HB 63 and 135.
El Pueblo continues to meet with policymakers, including the staff of Governor Roy Cooper, about the recent ICE raids.
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