Chapter 143C

(a) Title of Chapter. - This Chapter is the "State Budget Act" and may be cited by that name. (b) The provisions of this Chapter shall apply to every State agency, unless specifically exempted herein, and to every non-State entity that receives or expends any State funds. No Stat…

(a) Appropriation Required to Withdraw State Funds From the State Treasury. - In accordance with Section 7 of Article V of the North Carolina Constitution, no money shall be drawn from the State treasury but in consequence of appropriations made by law. A law enacted by the Gener…

(a) Types. - The Controller shall account for State resources through use of the fund types listed in this subsection. The Controller may not establish a fund type that differs from the listed fund types unless the Governmental Accounting Standards Board has approved the use of t…

(a) Interest Earnings Credited to the General Fund. - Unless otherwise provided by law, interest earned on all funds shall be credited to the General Fund. (b) Exception for Interest Earnings on Highway Fund and Highway Trust Fund. - Interest earned by the Highway Fund and the Hi…

Except as expressly provided in G.S. 143C-1-3(c) or otherwise expressly provided by law, The University of North Carolina shall be subject to the provisions of this Chapter in the same manner and to the same degree as other State agencies. (2013-360, s. 6.12(d).)

(a) Class 1 misdemeanor. - It is a Class 1 misdemeanor for a person to knowingly and willfully do any one or more of the following: (1) Withdraw funds from the State treasury for any purpose not authorized by an act of appropriation. (2) Approve any fraudulent, erroneous, or othe…

A person convicted of an offense under G.S. 143C-10-1 is liable in a civil action for any damages suffered by the State in consequence of the offense. (2006-203, s. 3.)

(a) State Officers or Employees of the Executive Branch. - The Governor may suspend from the performance of his or her duties any State officer or employee of the executive branch except an officer elected by the people, who persists, after notice and warning, in failing or refus…

(a) Governor is Director of the Budget. - The Governor is the Director of the Budget. In that capacity, the Governor is required by Article III, Section 5(3) of the North Carolina Constitution to prepare and recommend a budget and to administer the budget as enacted by the Genera…

The Director shall coordinate the efforts of governmental agencies to collect, disseminate, and analyze economic, demographic, and social statistics pertinent to State budgeting. The Director shall do all of the following: (1) Prepare and release the official demographic and econ…

A State agency proposing a bill that affects the State budget shall prepare a fiscal analysis for the bill and submit the analysis to the Fiscal Research Division upon introduction of the bill. The fiscal analysis shall estimate the impact of the legislation on the State budget f…

The Director of the Budget, by and with the consent of the Governor and Council of State, may authorize and direct the State Treasurer to borrow in the name of the State, in anticipation of the collection of taxes, such sum as may be necessary to make the payments on the appropri…

(a) The Director of the Budget shall require the Office of State Budget and Management, with the support of the Department of Information Technology, to build and maintain a database and website for providing a single, searchable website on State spending for grants and contracts…

(a) The Office of State Controller, the Department of Administration, and the Department of Information Technology shall provide the Office of State Budget and Management with the statewide information on State contracts necessary for the development and maintenance of the databa…

The Legislative Services Officer shall give the Director an estimate of the financial needs of the legislative branch for the upcoming fiscal period in accordance with the schedule prescribed by the Director. The estimates for the legislative branch shall be approved and certifie…

The Administrative Officer of the Courts shall give the Director an estimate of the financial needs of the judicial branch for the upcoming fiscal period in accordance with the schedule prescribed by the Director. The estimates for the judiciary shall be approved and certified by…

(a) General Provisions. - A State agency that is not in the legislative or judicial branch of government shall submit its budget requests for the upcoming fiscal period to the Director in accordance with the schedule prescribed by the Director. The Director shall give each State …

Unless otherwise provided by law, budget requests from non-State entities shall be submitted to the Director or to a State agency designated by the Director. A State agency designated to receive a budget request from a non-State entity shall evaluate the request and forward its e…

(a) Budget Proposals. - The Governor shall present budget recommendations, consistent with G.S. 143C-3-1, 143C-3-2, and 143C-3-3 to each regular session of the General Assembly at a mutually agreeable time to be fixed by joint resolution. (b) Odd-Numbered Years. - In odd-numbered…

The budget recommended by the Governor and the budget enacted by the General Assembly shall be balanced and shall include two fiscal years beginning on July 1 of each odd-numbered year. Each fiscal year and each fund shall be balanced separately. The budget for a fund is balanced…

(a) Creation. - The Unfunded Liability Solvency Reserve is established as a reserve in the General Fund. The Unfunded Liability Solvency Reserve is an employee benefits trust as described under G.S. 143C-1-3(a). (b) Definitions. - The following definitions apply in this section: …

(a) Medicaid Contingency Reserve. - The Medicaid Contingency Reserve is established as a reserve to be used only for budget shortfalls in the Medicaid program. (b) Funds from the Medicaid Contingency Reserve may be allocated or expended only if all of the following criteria are m…

(a) Creation. - The Savings Reserve is established as a reserve in the General Fund and is a component of the unappropriated General Fund balance. (b) General Use of Funds. - In each fiscal year, funds reserved to the Savings Reserve shall be available for expenditure in an aggre…

(a) Legislative Intent. - The General Assembly recognizes the need to establish and maintain a sufficient funding source to address the ongoing capital and infrastructure needs of the State. The General Assembly further recognizes the need to protect the State's substantial impro…

(a) Creation. - The Contingency and Emergency Fund is established within the General Fund. The General Assembly shall appropriate a specific amount to this fund for contingencies and emergencies in the Current Operations Appropriations Act or other appropriations bill. (b) Author…

Whenever money is required to match an appropriation made for a specific purpose by the State of North Carolina, the recipient of the appropriation shall actually receive as a gift, grant, earnings in actual money, or a pledge that can be used as collateral in any prudent loan tr…

(a) Size Limitation. - Except as otherwise provided in this section, the General Fund operating budget each fiscal year shall not be greater than seven percent (7%) of the projected total State personal income for that fiscal year. (b) Increase in Size Limitation. - To the extent…

The total number of permanent budgeted positions established in State agencies shall not be increased by the end of any State fiscal year by a greater percentage rate of change than the percentage rate of change of the residential population growth for the State of North Carolina…

All funds appropriated into a reserve by a Current Operations Appropriations Act or other act of the General Assembly may be expended only for the purpose or purposes for which the reserve was established. (2017-57, s. 6.3.)

(a) Creation. - The Pay Plan Reserve is established within the General Fund. The General Assembly shall appropriate in the Current Operations Appropriations Act (Act) or other appropriations act a specific amount to this reserve for allocation, on an as-needed basis only, to fund…

The Current Operations Appropriations Act recommended by the Governor shall be introduced by the chairs of the committee on appropriations in each house of the General Assembly. This section shall be considered and treated as a rule of procedure in the Senate and House of Represe…

(a) Each house of the General Assembly shall first pass its version of the Current Operations Appropriations Act on third reading and order it sent to the other chamber before placing any other appropriations bill on the calendar for second reading. This section does not apply to…

The Current Operations Appropriations Act enacted by the General Assembly shall state the General Fund, Highway Fund, and Highway Trust Fund availability used as basis for appropriations from those funds. (2006-203, s. 3.)

(a) Enactment Deadline. - The General Assembly shall enact the Current Operations Appropriations Act by June 15 of odd-numbered years and by June 30 of even-numbered years in which a Current Operations Appropriations Act is enacted. (b) Procedure for Budget Continuation. - If a f…

A committee report incorporated by reference in the Current Operations Appropriations Act and distributed on the floor of the House of Representatives and of the Senate as part of the explanation of the act is to be construed with the appropriate act in interpreting its intent. I…

(a) Governor to Administer the Budget as Enacted by the General Assembly. - In accordance with Section 5(3) of Article III of the North Carolina Constitution, the Governor shall administer the budget as enacted by the General Assembly. All appropriations of State funds now or her…

Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Director may establish a program of dependent care assistance and a flexible compensation plan for eligible officers and employees of State agencies as provided in G.S. 126-95. With the approval of the Director, savings in the emplo…

(a) General Provisions. - Appropriations made for transportation projects are subject to the provisions in this section. If the provisions in this section conflict with the budget acts, the budget acts prevail. (b) Cash Flow Management of Transportation Projects. - Transportation…

(a) The Department of Transportation shall develop a comprehensive cash-spending plan, known as the "Spend Plan," that is based on the appropriations of the General Assembly, to spend money from any source, including federal funds and bond proceeds, for programs, functions, activ…

The Office of State Budget and Management shall report quarterly to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations and the appropriate Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on reorganizations of State agencies and movements of State agency positions. Each report subm…

By December 1 of each year, the Office of State Budget and Management shall submit an annual report to the Joint Legislative Commission on Governmental Operations and the Joint Legislative Oversight Committee on General Government on the progress in implementing the cost-benefit …

(a) Appropriations. - Each appropriation is maximum and conditional. The expenditures authorized by an appropriation from a fund shall be made only if necessary and only if the aggregate revenues to the fund during each fiscal year of the biennium, when added to any unreserved fu…

Except as otherwise provided by law, an annual appropriation of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) or less to or for the use of a nonprofit corporation may be made in a single annual payment, in the discretion of the Director of the Budget. An annual appropriation of more th…

(a) Disbursement and Use of State Funds. - Every non-State entity that receives, uses, or expends any State funds shall use or expend the funds only for the purposes for which they were appropriated by the General Assembly. State funds include federal funds that flow through the …

(a) Definitions. - The following definitions apply in this section: (1) Grant or grant funds. - State funds disbursed as a grant by a State agency; however, the terms do not include any payment made by the Medicaid program, the State Health Plan for Teachers and State Employees, …

To receive the operating funds appropriated to it, a State agency shall submit to the Director, at intervals and in a format prescribed by the Director, a request for an allotment of the amount estimated to be required for the agency's operating costs during the ensuing fiscal pe…

(a) Findings. - The General Assembly recognizes that even the most thorough budget deliberations may be affected by unforeseeable events; therefore, under the limited circumstances set forth in this section, the Director is authorized to adjust the enacted budget by making transf…

(a) Unless otherwise specified by law, funds carried forward at the end of the fiscal year may only be spent in the succeeding fiscal year for the purpose for which they were carried forward. Carryforward funds that have not been liquidated in the year in which they were carried …

(a) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, no funds from any source, except for gifts, grants, or funds allocated from the State Capital and Infrastructure Fund in accordance with G.S. 143C-4-3.1, funds allocated from the Contingency and Emergency Fund in accordance with G.S…

(a) No State funds may be used for the performance of abortions or to support the administration of any governmental health plan or government-offered insurance policy offering abortion, except that this prohibition shall not apply where (i) the life of the mother would be endang…