Autism Society of North Carolina Public Policy updates:
- NC Governor’s budget released
- What’s next in the state’s budget
- Federal budget update: continuing resolution passes US House and Senate
- Ongoing efforts to protect Medicaid
Governor’s budget released
Governor Stein released his budget recommendations on March 19, 2025. Included in those recommendations is $5 million in increased funding for direct support professionals, 200 new Innovations Waiver slots, 75 traumatic brain injury waiver slots, and $5.7 million (leveraging $21 million in federal funds) to support increased access to vocational rehabilitation (Employment and Independence for People with Disabilities [EIPD] in North Carolina). The budget also includes additional funding for exceptional children (special education), school health personnel, teacher salaries, as well as community college and apprenticeship programs.
The Autism Society of North Carolina (ASNC) appreciates that the Governor has highlighted the needs of people with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities in the budget, particularly the need for additional funding support for community-based employment. This set of budget recommendations comes during a particularly challenging time for North Carolina with the state budget under pressure from recent natural disasters and facing a lot of federal budget uncertainty.
Recognizing that, it is still important to note that the needs of people with autism and their families, especially those on the Innovations Waiver waiting list and those who have been authorized for services but are struggling to find direct support staff, are facing their own potentially disastrous situations. ASNC continues to advocate with the North Carolina General Assembly to significantly increase the number of waiver slots and raise DSP wages along with our other policy priorities.
What’s next in the state budget process?
The North Carolina General Assembly (NCGA) appropriations committees have been meeting for several weeks. They will likely hear more from the Governor’s office and state agencies regarding the Administration’s priorities; however, they are not required to use those as a starting point for the next two-year budget. The NC Senate will start the budget process at the NCGA this year by releasing their version of the budget later this spring, followed by the NC House version, and then the work on conference report that works out the differences between the two versions before the final budget is passed, hopefully by June 30.
Federal budget update: continuing resolution passes US House and Senate
The federal government avoided a shutdown by agreeing to a stopgap spending bill, known as the continuing resolution or CR, to continue funding federal programs until the end of the federal budget year on September 30, 2025. The bill cuts about $13 billion in domestic spending and includes some increases in spending on defense and HUD housing programs. The CR does not address inflation or growth in programs, nor does it address cuts proposed by the new Administration.
This continuing funding resolution does not change the previous overall budget spending resolution passed by Congress in late February that targets spending cuts to various programs over the next decade. The CR does delay the need to pass separate appropriations bills for congressionally authorized programs administered by federal agencies.
Ongoing efforts to protect Medicaid
ASNC appreciates the efforts by all those who wrote and called their members of Congress regarding Medicaid cuts. The fight to preserve Medicaid funding and maintain health care and disability supports for people with autism is not over. Congress must eventually agree on spending levels for health and disability programs before the federal budget ends in September. We are counting on all of you to continue to communicate to your members of Congress your concerns that programs supporting people on the autism spectrum, like Medicaid, vocational rehabilitation, special education, and others will continue in the future.
As always, if you have not recently reached out to your members of Congress (you have one US House member and two US Senators) please consider doing so over the next few months as they consider what federal programs to fund and work on federal funding bills. You can view our recent updates, which include information about contacting members of Congress and other elected officials, by using these links: Protect Medicaid Before It’s Too Late and Public Policy Update Jan. 28, 2025.