House budget

The House Appropriations committee approved the third version of the budget on May 9.

The $20.3 billion spending plan includes a 4.25 percent raise for state employees, $3 million for the N.C. Zoo, money for a needle-exchange pilot program and other projects.

It also includes extensions of two temporary taxes from 2001.

It does not include money for a drag racing museum, the Charlotte Hawkins Brown Museum in Greensboro or the Natural Science Center.

The attached file is the 229-page budget as approved by the Appropriations committee. It now heads to the House floor for a vote.