Inflation hits budget bill, grows 14% in a month

Inflation can hit anything and in just a matter of days, the budget bill before the North Carolina General Assembly has grown 14 percent. When the state Senate passed its version of the budget in mid-May, the bill text and report came in at 861 pages.

When the state House of Representatives finished with its version two-and-a-half weeks later, the two documents -- bill and report -- had grown to 891 pages.

By 11:30 on Monday night, when the House and Senate leadership's compromise was posted on the legislature's website, the bill and conference report had grown to a total of 983 pages -- leaving little time for even the speediest of readers to identify all the items added, taken out and modified before both chambers vote to send the legislation onto Gov. Roy Cooper for consideration.