North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein pledged Wednesday to work with lawmakers on items like Helene recovery and public safety.
In his first State of the State address, Stein also called for a $4 billion bond for school construction and substantial increases for teacher pay — two issues that haven't always found support with Republican House and Senate leadership.
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The occasion was Stein's first statewide chance to lay out his priorities for the next two years, and the first opportunity for political observers to get a sense of how well the Democratic governor and Republican legislative leaders might work together.
The evening started out with a warm welcome for Stein, with one standing ovation after another and even a hug from Republican House Rules chairman John Bell, R-Wayne.
However, the official Republican response, delivered live after the speech by new state House Speaker Destin Hall, R-Caldwell, was decidedly frosty, focusing more on national political topics than on what Stein actually said.
Stein started with a status report on progress in western North Carolina and an outline of needs that remain unmet, illustrating his points with storm survivors from hard-hit counties.
“I urge you to pass the $500 million western North Carolina recovery bill,” Stein said in the prepared remarks. “We need that money now. Heck, we needed it yesterday.”
Stein also called for the scheduled cuts to the state’s corporate income tax to be replaced with a tax cut for middle-class workers. “We cannot afford to do both,” he said.
Stein also called for more investment in teacher pay and a $4 billion bond for school construction, while criticizing the recent expansion of and removal of the income cap for the state’s voucher program.
“We should not be taking money from our public school kids to pay for wealthy parents sending their kids to unaccountable private schools, to the tune of $7.5 billion over the next decade,” Stein said.
Taking a page from Elon Musk’s playbook, Stein said his office would set up a state government efficiency initiative, but Stein said it would “use a scalpel, not a chainsaw.”
Stein also urged Republican lawmakers to push back against any federal attempts to cut Medicaid. That would likely trigger the end of the expansion implemented in North Carolina in 2023 with bipartisan support.
“When we — Republicans and Democrats — come together, that’s when we make a real difference for our people,” Stein said. “We’ve made big things happen before, and we can do it again.”
Stein has emphasized bipartisanship ever since taking office. It was a topic he returned to over and over Wednesday night, touting his work on Helene relief with President Donald Trump and Republican congressmembers, and urging state lawmakers to avoid the harsh partisanship of Washington politics.
"We do not need to be pulled into those political games. We can create something better, something forward looking right here in North Carolina, and we can do it together," the governor told lawmakers.
Stein also mentioned other priorities for the next two years, including:
- Workforce development through community colleges and degree programs
- Increasing child care slots
- Increasing the housing supply
- Removing cell phones from classrooms
- Higher salaries and bonuses for law enforcement and correctional officers
Republican response
In his response, delivered ten minutes after Sten's speech concluded, Republican House Speaker Destin Hall struck a strongly partisan tone, criticizing congressional Democrats for failing to applaud Trump's recent address and moving quickly into issues that worked well for Republican candidates on the 2024 campaign trail.
"If North Carolina Democrats want to continue the same old failed policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, policies that left our borders open to criminal illegal aliens, sent inflation soaring and allowed grown men to compete in women's sports," Hall said, "we won't stand for it."
Hall made almost no reference to Stein's policy proposals, but said he looks forward to working with Stein to get Helene survivors back in their homes.
"He and I both recognize the long road ahead and the need for us all to rise to the moment, setting aside petty partisanship for the sake of our neighbors," Hall said of Stein.