Price started his comments in the hearing today with sympathy for the people who suffered in the devastation of the Oklahoma tornado. “For me and others, as parents and grandparents, the loss of so many children at a school is truly heartbreaking. We must do all we can to help,’ he said.

Price said he generally supports the funding bill that committee produced. He said one of its strong points was that it provides $6.22 billion for the Disaster Relief Fund, enough to keep it fully funded.

The 2013 funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security was passed in March. Price announced Tuesday that North Carolina will receive $13.4 million in federal grant funding from DHS, $630,000 more than last year.

—Renee Schoof, McClatchy Washington Bureau

Gov. Pat McCrory declined to say Wednesday whether he would veto a state budget that includes provisions he disagrees with.

The Republican governor told the Charlotte Observer he believes he can compromise with leaders of the GOP-controlled General Assembly. McCrory doesn’t like some parts of the Senate budget that could be passed by that body Wednesday. Among them: a proposal to eliminate special Superior Court judges, transferring the SBI from the Attorney General’s office to the Department of Crime Control and Public Safety and the lack of pay increases for state employees. “I’ll probably follow the same line I did as (Charlotte’s) mayor,” the governor said. “I never showed my cards this early in the process.”

Supporters of continuing public financing for high court judges Wednesday brought to Raleigh two prominent West Virginia Republicans to argue that North Carolina's law was a model for keeping the courts impartial.

Former West Virginia S.C. Court Justice John F. McCuskey and his son, Delegate John B. McCuskey, noted that their state had recently adopted a public financing law modeled after North Carolina.

“The perception of judges being bought, rather than acting impartially created a great distrust among the populous,'' said McCuskey, the former justice, who served on who served on the West Virginia Independent Commission on Judicial Reform. “Everyone agreed, Democrat and Republican, that something needed to be done.''

McCuskey, a Delegate and self-described conservative, said the business community wants to be sure “it will get a fair shake'' in the courts and this is one way of helping making sure it happens.

The McCuskeys were brought to Raleigh by the NC Center for Voter Education, where they met with legislative and judicial leaders, and testified before the House Elections Committee. They come at a time when both Gov. Pat McCrory and legislative leaders are considering proposals to abolish the nation's first public financing system for appellate court judges that was created in 2002.

The state Department of Health and Human Services' testing program for the new Medicaid billing system was seriously flawed, a report from State Auditor Beth Wood's office said.

The state is preparing to launch a new, expensive, and long-delayed Medicaid billing software on July 1. DHHS did not have adequate tests and evaluations in place to make sure the system, which DHHS calls NCTracks, is ready, the audit says.

In its response, DHHS agreed with the recommendations and is acting on them.

Even though DHHS was moving to plug holes in its preparations, the audit includes an ominous warning.

"The complexity of the NCTracks system makes it impossible to predict all of the scenarios that could impact the project, even after it is tested in accordance with industry best practices."

In other words, providers should expect things to go wrong.

UPDATED: DEMOCRATIC PARTY'S PROBLEMS GROW: The head of the North Carolina Democratic Party is facing questions about credit card charges made during a March trip to a Las Vegas casino to watch basketball games with his old college buddies. Records obtained by The Associated Press show state Democratic Chairman Randy Voller made $3,327 in charges to Southwest Airlines and the Wynn Las Vegas Hotel on an American Express Business Gold Card embossed with his name and that of the North Carolina Democratic Party. He said he's paid off the balance in full. Much more to this story -- click here.

N.C. LAWMAKERS TO PLAY "THE OTHER CAROLINA" IN BASKETBALL: North Carolina lawmakers will challenge their South Carolina counterparts to a game of hoops Wednesday evening at Reynolds Coliseum. The game is the first in at least four years between lawmakers from the two Carolinas. Rep. Burt Jones, a Rockingham Republican who will coach the North Carolina squad, helped revive the tradition. “The games in the past were pretty competitive,” he said. (Scouting report below.)

***This is the Dome Morning Memo -- the source for N.C. political news and fun (see below). Send news and tips to dome@newsobserver.com. ***

A House proposal that won unanimous approval last week to allow limited toll collection on Interstate 95 faced an unexpected challenge from toll foes when it returned for a final House floor vote Tuesday.

The House eventually gave its final approval -- not unanimous, this time -- and sent to the Senate a bill that would let the state Department of Transportation charge tolls only on new lanes added to interstate highways, while guaranteeing that drivers still can use the original lanes without paying tolls.

Rep. Michael Speciale, a New Bern Republican, tried to amend the bill to give the legislature power to veto any DOT decision to add toll lanes to an existing interstate highway. He said he supported the legislature's ongoing efforts to remove politics from transportation decision-making ... but not on toll roads. “I don’t think it’s a good idea to leave it in DOT’s hands” to decide which roads get tolls, Speciale said. “I don’t think we should abdicate our position and turn it over to an unelected bureaucrat, to let DOT make that decision for us.”

Department of Public Safety Secretary Kieran Shanahan will no longer practice law on the side while he holds public office, his former law firm announced Tuesday afternoon.

He has transitioned out of his practice at the law firm he started in 2001, and will be on a temporary leave of absence from that firm and from practicing law at all.

The announcement came after The News & Observer reported last week that Shanahan had been moonlighting at his law firm on a limited basis, and followed questions The N&O raised earlier today about connections between the law firm and the lobbying company that he and his wife formed in 2009.

Dave Richard, executive director of the ARC of North Carolina, will be the next director of mental health, developmental disabilities and substance abuse services at the state Department of Health and Human Services.

He replaces acting director Jim Jarrard.

Richard has been at the ARC of NC for nearly 25 years. He starts his new job May 28.

"His extensive expertise in program implementation, public education, government affairs, and his deep understanding of individual and community needs will help us improve customer service as we seek to help every North Carolinian fulfill their potential," DHHS Secretary Aldona Wos said in a statement.

As ARC executive director, Richard was an outspoken critic of the Medicaid managed care system for mental health that now governs payments and treatment.

He said recently that he liked the plan for the statewide Medicaid waiver that Gov. Pat McCrory's administration is pursuing.

A major immigration bill is headed to the House floor after clearing a final hurdle Tuesday. The measure --dubbed the RECLAIM NC Act -- grants driving permits to people who didn't enter the country legally. But it also allows law enforcement to detain those suspected of being here illegally.

The legislation could come to the House floor as early as next week.

In testimony at the House Finance Committee, the debate split along interesting lines. A number of groups that advocate for immigrants spoke against the reach of the legislation, saying the complications of getting driving permits isn't worth the hassle. And anti-illegal immigration organizations condemned the bill's Republican sponsors for granting driving privileges.

Debate over the House bill that would offer vouchers to public school students to attend private school turned into a real back and forth Tuesday as people for and against took turns arguing their positions.

The committee heard introductory remarks from the bill sponsors and public comment. Committee members didn't debate the bill, and there was no vote.

Charles Brown, chairman of the Scotland County Board of Education and vice-chairman of the Scotland Republican Party, said vouchers will undermine public education. "Education is not the place where free market principles work as intended," he said Public schools take all comers, while private schools do not, Brown said.

Only one in 10 North Carolina voters support a sales tax on groceries, according to a new Public Policy Polling survey, and many appear uninterested in the House and Senate tax plans.

The Senate tax plan would levy a 6.5 percent state and local sales tax on food -- 14 years after state lawmakers repealed it. Local governments currently can tax food at 2 percent but the state doesn't received the revenue.

The Democratic firm's poll of North Carolina voters found that 81 percent oppose the Senate's idea and another 9 percent are undecided. The House tax plan doesn't touch the food tax.

Asked if they support the Senate's tax plan (without description of what it did), 44 percent opposed the plan and another 42 percent were undecided. Only 14 percent support it. Likewise, the House plan -- which debuted Thursday -- fared about the same with just 11 percent supportive and 41 percent opposed. Another 48 percent were undecided.

NEARLY HALF VOTERS CONSIDER SAY #NCGA CAUSING NATIONAL EMBARRASSMENT: One of the more intriguing poll numbers in the latest monthly Public Policy Polling survey due out later today: 45 percent. That's the portion of voters who believe the N.C. General Assembly is causing the state "national embarrassment." The poll question comes after a number of hot-button legislative issues received national attention -- and ridicule. Another 31 percent don't think the state legislature is a blemish and another 24 percent are undecided. (More from poll below.)

TODAY AT THE STATEHOUSE: No rest for the weary this week on Jones Street. The Senate appropriations committee meets at 8:30 to discuss its $20.6 billion state budget. Democrats will raise objections but no significant changes are expected. At the same time, the House Finance Committee will consider a major immigration bill that is drawing increasing fire from the ACLU and others concerned about Arizona-type provisions about stopping and detaining people who did not enter the country legally. At 11 a.m., the House Education Committee will get its first look at a new private school voucher bill. Senate and House floor calendars are light after crossover week's flurry, but the House will give final reading to a bill limiting tolling of existing highways.

Gov. Pat McCrory will meet with the Philippine ambassador at 8:45 a.m. in a private meeting and later attend a N.C. Department of Transportation luncheon. McCrory will speak to a group of under-45 CEOs as part of the southern chapter of the Young Presidents' Organization conference and travel to Charlotte this evening for a forum with the city's other current and former mayors.

***This is the Dome Morning Memo. Read more new exclusive PPP numbers below and get more insights into the state budget. ***

House lawmakers will consider a revamped plan to provide taxpayer dollars to help send public school students to private schools.

Rep. Rob Bryan, a Charlotte Republican and lead sponsor of House Bill 944, said the new provisions help address concerns about accountability by requiring schools that receive more than $300,000 in voucher money to submit to an audit. Another part of the bill requires schools with more than 25 voucher students to report aggregate test scores.

The maximum voucher is $4,200 for a child who is eligible for free or reduced lunches, or $3,780 for families with income at 133 percent of the threshold that qualifies for the federal program.

Jonathan Wayne Broyhill admitted to police his “involvement” in the fatal stabbing of Democratic fundraiser Jamie Hahn last month, according to a search warrant made public today.

Police have said that Jamie Hahn and her husband Nation were attacked with a knife at their North Raleigh home on April 22. According to the warrant, Broyhill told investigators that he brought the weapon from his home on Glascock Street when he visited the couple that day. Read more here.

Now that the N.C. Senate is trying to move the State Bureau of Investigation to the N.C. Department of Public Safety, an outside group is putting a spotlight on Secretary Kieran Shanahan's record.

Progress North Carolina Action, a political group opposed to the Republican governor and legislature, is trying to draw attention to a News & Observer report earlier this month about Shanahan moonlighting in a second job. To keep his law firm role, Progress North Carolina says Shanahan should release a client list -- or resign office.