Bill > S659

This bill appropriates funds for salary increases for various state employees, expands a childcare program, and creates a tax credit for small businesses, covering the 2025-2027 fiscal biennium. * **Teacher Salary Increases:** $872,642,336 from the General Fund for the 2025-2026 fiscal year to implement salary raises for licensed teachers, with specific salary schedules and supplements based on experience and qualifications. * **State Employee, Community College, and University of North Carolina Pay Raises:** $408,040,000 in recurring funds and $543,511,000 in nonrecurring funds from the General Fund for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, and $701,100,000 in recurring funds and $40,000,000 in nonrecurring funds for the 2026-2027 fiscal year, to provide a 3% cost-of-living adjustment for state employees, community college personnel, and University of North Carolina SHRA employees, with flexibility for EHRA employees. * **Retiree Cost-of-Living Adjustments:** Provides a 2% increase to retirement allowances for beneficiaries whose retirement began on or before July 1, 2024, and a prorated increase for those who retired after July 1, 2024, but before June 30, 2025. Additionally, one-time supplement payments of 2% are provided in late 2025 and 1% in late 2026 for eligible retirees. * **Expansion of the WAGE$ Program:** $22,700,000 in recurring funds for the 2025-2026 fiscal year and $36,300,000 in recurring funds for the 2026-2027 fiscal year from the General Fund to the Department of Health and Human Services to expand the Child Care WAGE$ program statewide, providing salary supplements to early childhood educators. * **Small Business Tax Credit:** Creates a tax credit for qualifying employers, equal to the lesser of $10,000 or 5% of wages paid to employees during the taxable year. This credit is refundable and sunsets for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2028. Qualifying taxpayers are employers with annual receipts of $8,000,000 or less. This provision is effective for taxable years beginning on or after January 1, 2025.