RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A key committee on Tuesday approved portions of the $19.3 billion House budget proposal that could leave North Carolina residents paying for their teenager's driver education and more for foreclosure proceedings as part of about $100 million in new or higher fees next year.

The House Finance Committee voted 17-14 in favor of new or expanded fees that are part of Republican leaders' plans to close a projected budget gap next year of roughly $2.5 billion. Most of the additional fees — $92 million — would be associated with the cost of court actions, from regular civil and criminal proceedings to the handling of estates.

Later Tuesday, Republicans also rolled out in advance of the full Appropriations Committee debate Wednesday the entire 333-page budget bill. It calls for bottom line spending that is $600 million less than Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue's $19.9 billion proposal unveiled in February. Spending in the two largest categories — education and health — would be $900 million less than what Perdue offered. Details on those cuts already were made public earlier this month.

GOP leaders, however, unveiled plans in the budget bill to alter or eliminate the three state-created funds that receive North Carolina's entire share of the national tobacco settlement. They propose intercepting two years of money heading to the Golden LEAF Foundation, while abolishing the Health and Wellness Trust Fund at year's end and shifting power over a pot of money to help tobacco growers to the state Board of Agriculture.

More than a third of the proceeds from new fees would go to counties, contingent on a separate bill that would shift more misdemeanor convicts serving time in state prisons to the county jails. One of those fees would require a new $50 payment for motorists who often get their speeding citations reduced in court to avoid a conviction that would lead to higher insurance premiums.

Democrats argued the fees in the budget bill would hurt the working poor disproportionately. They point out the foreclosure court costs — doubling to $300 — and a provision allowing local school districts to charge up to $75 per student for driver's ed to make up for a proposed 25 percent reduction from state highway dollars to pay for the program. Young people must pass a driver's education program to get a license, lawmakers said.

"If you've got three teenagers and you're working, you can't afford this," House Minority Leader Joe Hackney, D-Orange, said in the committee, which defeated a Democratic amendment that would have lowered what districts could charge to $15 per student.

Hackney said the fee package "puts many, many things that should be paid for by the general population at large ... and puts it on a select group."

Rep. Ric Killian, R-Mecklenburg, co-chairman of the transportation budget subcommittee, said he doesn't believe the driver's ed cost suddenly would suddenly make it impossible for parents to get their children on the road since it's already expensive with the cost of a car, gas and insurance. "It costs so much more to become a driver," he said.

House Speaker Thom Tillis, R-Mecklenburg, told reporters the fees are designed to shift costs, particularly in the court system, more toward people who actually use it.

"The budget is cutting the amount of dollars to the court system and we're trying to defray a portion of that by at least having the users who are causing this cost to be incurred to pay for some of it," Tillis said. "It's more a matter of trying to align the fiscal foundation of the state with the way the state interacts with its citizens."

The fee increase for foreclosure proceedings, to generate another $8.9 million annually, will be passed on to people who already are struggling to keep their homes, said Al Ripley with the North Carolina Justice Center, which lobbies on behalf of the poor. The number of foreclosures initiated soared to 66,298 in 2010, compared to less than 50,000 three years earlier, he said.

Tillis dismissed Democratic arguments that the fees are actually tax increases, saying Republicans are creating a separate tax relief bill for small business and possibly corporations and allowing more than $1 billion in temporary taxes to expire this year. The GOP ran on a platform last fall of no new or extended taxes.

The budget bill released late Tuesday sets aside $230 million in reserve for the separate tax package, of which about $130 million would be used to lower the corporate income tax rate, said Rep. Harold Brubaker, R-Randolph, senior co-chairman of the full Appropriations Committee.

The budget also would direct the state Transportation Department to generate $5 million in part by setting fees for four ferries that are currently free of charge. Special consideration would be given to lessen the financial burden of ferries on local residents who use the ferries often, Killian said.

The budget bill would intercept nearly $68 million annually for the next two years headed to the Golden LEAF Foundation, which receives half of the settlement money. The foundation would still have about $600 million.

Brubaker said it makes sense to eliminate the Health and Wellness Fund, which receives 25 percent of the settlement funds, because only about $10 million is unencumbered annually after funds for cancer research and debt service. The Tobacco Trust Fund Commission currently manages the other 25 percent.