Tuesday Wrap: Senate budget bits 'n' pieces, masks in school

The Senate's proposed $25.7 billion budget cleared its first hurdle Tuesday with few changes and remains on track for passage by the end of the week.

Posted 1:34 a.m. Jun 23, 2021 — Updated 1:34 a.m. Jun 23, 2021

RALEIGH, N.C. — The Senate's proposed $25.7 billion budget cleared its first hurdle Tuesday with few changes and remains on track for passage by the end of the week.

In addition to tax cuts and raises of teachers and state workers, the budget includes a number of policy provisions, such as reining in the governor's emergency powers and the attorney general's ability to settle lawsuits over state laws. It also would split the prison system off into its own cabinet-level agency, revamp many state buildings in downtown Raleigh and dole out billions of dollars in federal pandemic relief money.

Elsewhere, a House committee passed a measure that would allows school districts to decide whether to require masks in their schools in the upcoming school year, while another House committee advanced a bill that would raise the legal age to marry in North Carolina from 14 to 16.

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