Despite their failure to agree on a new state budget, North Carolina lawmakers are taking most of the month of July – the first month of the new fiscal year – off. Not surprisingly, this is not a situation that’s sitting particularly well with a lot of state employees as they wrestle with another year of declining pay, staff shortages, and soon-to-be-announced premium hikes for the State Health Plan.

NC Newsline’s Rob Schofield got the chance to discuss some of these issues and concerns with the executive director of the States Employees Association of North Carolina, Ardis Watkins. And as Watkins told Newsline, the fix for what ails much of state government – improved appropriations — is no particular mystery. The question is whether lawmakers will ever muster the courage to honestly confront this hard truth.

Click hear to listen to the full interview with States Employees Association of North Carolina Executive Director Ardis Watkins.