There has been a malaise about the North Carolina General Assembly of late that seems to make it difficult for legislators to get things done.
Conflicts between the legislature and Gov. Josh Stein have stalled progress on a host of issues, with legislative leaders still trying to override vetoes Stein made last year. That can be difficult, especially since a veto override requires the cooperation of at least one Democrat in the House.
A bigger, though less comprehensible, barrier to progress has been the ongoing conflicts between House and Senate leadership. The most obvious example of this problem is the lack of a state budget for the budget year that began last July 1, primarily due to policy conflictsbetween Senate President Pro Tempore Phil Berger and House Speaker Destin Hall.
But the March primary unleashed forces that could allow legislators to push through a host of reforms.
First, the primary produced a schism between several House Democrats and their party. Stein and the party leadership successfully primaried three moderate Democratic House members who had occasionally voted with Republicans, particularly on veto overrides.
While the attack on those lawmakers was designed to force compliance with party leadership, it could backfire in the short term. Two of the primaried lawmakers, Reps. Carla Cunningham and Nasif Majeed, have left the Democratic Party and registered as unaffiliated. Cunningham said that hostility toward her was “fueled by the actions of the North Carolina governor and the North Carolina Democratic Party.” With their ties to their party severed, those legislators may be more amenable to voting with Republicans during their last session in the General Assembly.
Perhaps more consequential for greasing the legislative skids was Berger losing his primary to Rockingham County Sheriff Sam Page. Berger has been the Senate leader since 2011. That longevity has allowed him to use time and patience as negotiating tools in legislative conflicts with the House.
Now, this short session is his last opportunity to add to his legacy by helping pass important legislation.
So, what should legislators do with this opportunity?
The recently completed budget deal between the House and Senate is a good start, assuming that it makes it all the way through the legislative process. A deal relatively early in the short session should free legislators to tackle other significant issues before the session ends.
A partial list of other subjects the legislature should tackle this session includes:
- Election performance audits: Regular audits could help build a culture of continuous improvement in our election system.
- Claw back the NCInnovation endowment: Taxpayers should not fund a venture-capital endowment.
- Property tax levy limits: One way to slow rising housing costs is to slow property tax growth.
- Replace any retiring baseload power plant only with new baseload capacity: This measure would protect against blackouts and rate hikes from overbuilding unreliable capacity.
- Literacy test repeal: It would remove a tool from the state constitution that was used to deny blacks the right to vote.
- Expand the state’s regulatory sandbox: Allowing innovators to test new products or services on a limited basis under less restrictive regulatory constraints would spur innovation.
- Repeal Certificate of Need (CON) laws: Health care is unaffordable, and this law limits the supply of care, driving up prices.
Without a doubt, Stein will veto many of the boldest bills coming out of the General Assembly. But this will likely be the last time conservative legislators will have anything close to a big enough majority to override those vetoes for at least two years.
The General Assembly does not need to remain in Raleigh for long to accomplish those goals. Hall has committed to ending the session by July 2. As discussed in the John Locke Foundation report “Reforming North Carolina’s General Assembly,” that is a reasonable timeframe. They may have to briefly return in late July or early August for veto override votes, however.
The 2026 primary has given legislators a chance to show their constituents that they can do their jobs well and go back to their districts in a reasonable amount of time. They should not squander that opportunity.
