Real Solutions for A Better Carolina

With some reforms in place, we can keep North Carolina one of the nation’s best places to live, work and raise a family.

Imagine a state
where...

Education

Parents are finding themselves more and more alienated when it comes to their children's education. Parental involvement is imperative to a child's success in school. It's time to overhaul how we do education in North Carolina to give parents and students more transparency and flexibility.

Here is how we can improve education in North Carolina:

  • Promote educational choice for all families
  • Codify the rights of parents and guardians to direct their children’s educational well-being
  • Ensure school accountability and transparency regarding curriculum and school operations. Doing so can give parents and guardians peace of mind that their children are receiving a quality education
  • Overhaul our system of nearly 80 different allotments with a “backpack funding” model where funding follows students and their needs.
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Budget and Taxes

North Carolina is work hard for their money, and they deserve a government that spends their tax dollars responsibly. Surpluses in recent years have proven that tax cuts can spur industry while allowing taxpayers to keep more of the money they earn. Our state should continue to defend taxpayer dollars through spending restraint.

Here is how legislators can be better stewards of taxpayer dollars:

  • Only fund core government services, pay down debt, continue building the Rainy Day Fund, and use non-recurring money for non-recurring expenses only
  • Repeal the franchise tax to encourage more business investment and job creation
  • Permanently restrain the growth of government through a constitutional amendment that would protect future generations of taxpayers
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Disaster Recovery

North Carolina was recently devastated by Hurricane Helene, and has had an overwhelming wildfire season. The fact that our state has never fully recovered from previous hurricanes means that our resources have been spread thin and backlogged. It is time to rethink how we approach disaster recovery.

Here's what North Carolina needs to do to get back on track with disaster recovery:

  • Complete the reconstruction of the remaining homes damaged by Hurricanes Matthew and Florence without further dela
  • Dissolve the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency (NCORR), also known as ReBuild NC
  • Ensure that the newly created Division of Community Revitalization (DCR) does not mimic NCORR’s organizational structure or action plans, and require annual audits of their activities
  • DCR should be a lean organization tasked primarily with contracting rebuilding efforts with private organizations that have proven track records in disaster recovery
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Public Safety

Crime can devastate a community. It can infiltrate schools, scare off business, and cause residents to fear for the safety of themselves and their possessions. In order for communities to thrive, crime must be kept low, and trust has to be built with law enforcement.

We can achieve all this by “intensive community policing,” which includes:

  • Hiring more police officers
  • Increasing police officer pay
  • Providing police officers with state-of-the-art training, direction, and support
  • Deploying police officers as “peacekeepers” in communities that suffer from high levels of crime and disorder
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Housing

North Carolina is experiencing a housing shortage. When supply is lacking, prices for housing become unaffordable. Addressing North Carolina's housing shortage will help bring prices into check.

North Carolina is experiencing a housing shortage. When supply is lacking, prices for housing become unaffordable. Here is how North Carolina can address this shortage will bring prices into check:

  • Ensure a balance between the rights of homeowners and the authority of local governments
  • Legalize middle housing, such as duplexes, triplexes, and Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) across the state
  • Limit the ability of municipalities to impose arbitrary minimums on lot sizes, home sizes, and parking
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Worker Freedom

North Carolina is the only state in the country whose constitution guarantees to its citizens the right to “the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor." It's time the state revisits on that promise and removes unnecessary barriers for hard-working North Carolinians.

North Carolina is the only state in the country whose constitution guarantees to its citizens the right to “the enjoyment of the fruits of their own labor." Here's how the state can fulfill that promise::

  • Reduce occupational licensing barriers to increase opportunities for North Carolina workers
  • Pass a “Right to Earn a Living” Act
  • Protect North Carolina’s “Right to Work” status by enshrining it in the Constitution
  • Promote licensure portability for out-of-state workers
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Energy

North Carolinians should be able to afford to heat their houses in the winter and cool their them in the summer. Rollings blackouts across the country should serve as a warning sign to regulators and utility companies. North Carolina must prioritize the stability of our grid and the reliability of the power sources that feed into it.

North Carolinians should be able to afford to heat their houses in the winter and cool their them in the summer. Rollings blackouts across the country should serve as a warning sign to regulators and utility companies. North Carolina must prioritize the stability of our grid and the reliability of the power sources that feed into it. Here's how we can ensure affordable, dependable energy:

  • Require any retiring source of baseload power generation to be replaced with an equal or greater amount of new baseload generation
  • Defend the rights of NC ratepayers by monitoring the implementation of the Carbon Plan (HB 951)
  • Pass the Only Pay for What You Get Act to align utility incentives with people’s need for least-cost and reliable electricity Currently, electric utilities are allowed to raise rates to recover all the costs plus a fair rate of return for building new power plants. Because they’re unreliable and intermittent, solar and wind facilities need a lot of redundancy — building six or seven facilities to approximate the output of one reliable power plant of the same size. Building more assets from which they can profit makes it harder to achieve least-cost and reliable electricity. An Only Pay for What You Get Act would let utilities profit only from the reliable portion (the capacity factor) of new power plants, thereby aligning utility incentives with keeping consumer costs down while maintaining reliable service.
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Rules Review Reform

Rules and regulations hold the power of a law, but they are not voted on by elected representatives. North Carolina has over 100,000 regulations. More regulations — particularly expensive ones — should receive greater scrutiny. Regulations should be narrowly tailored to accomplish their goal.

Rules and regulations hold the power of a law, but they are not voted on by elected representatives. North Carolina has over 100,000 regulations. More regulations — particularly expensive ones — should receive greater scrutiny. Regulations should be narrowly tailored to accomplish their goal. Here's how we can do that:

  • Reduce the sunset period for rules from 10 years to five
  • Constrain the Rules Review Commission’s ability to approve high-cost rules without authorization from the General Assembly
  • Prohibit executive agencies from implementing any policy, guideline, or interpretive statement without first adopting it as a rule
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Health Care

North Carolina has many primary care, dental, and mental health care deserts across the state. We need to focus on policies that improve the supply of healthcare professionals, facilities, diagnostic equipment, and treatment.

North Carolina has many primary care, dental, and mental health care deserts across the state. Here is how we can improve the supply of healthcare professionals, facilities, diagnostic equipment, and treatment:

  • Repeal Certificate of Need (CON) laws to increase access and competition of health care procedures and facilities
  • Unleash telehealth by allowing providers from other states, who are in good standing, to treat North Carolinians
  • Remove outdated supervisory requirements that limit the ability of advanced practice registered nurses to offer care
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Lawmaking is transparent and efficient

North Carolina was intended to have a transparent part-time legislature composed of normal working people from across the state. However, sessions have been getting longer and longer, legislators are not compensated adequately for such a demanding schedule, power is concentrated among the few, and transparency is waning.

North Carolina was intended to have a transparent part-time legislature composed of normal working people from across the state. However, sessions have been getting longer and longer, legislators are not compensated adequately for such a demanding schedule, power is concentrated among the few, and transparency is waning. Luckily, there are things we can do:

  • Limit legislative leaders to no more than four terms
  • Limit regular long sessions (in odd-numbered years) to 90 legislative days and short sessions to 35 legislative days
  • Increase state legislators’ compensation
  • Pass a transparency constitutional amendment
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Voters have faith in our elections

Trust in our electoral system is down. More than a quarter of North Carolinians do not believe the 2024 general election was “free and fair.” The success of a democratic republic depends on confidence of the electorate. North Carolina must take steps to improve voter confidence in our elections.

Trust in our electoral system is down. More than a quarter of North Carolinians do not believe the 2024 general election was “free and fair.” The success of a democratic republic depends on confidence of the electorate. North Carolina can take these steps to improve voter confidence in our elections:

  • Independent procedural post-election audits
  • Allow Multipartisan Assistance Teams to deliver completed and sealed ballots
  • Ban the use of data other than headcounts when redistricting
  • Defend the right to online political speech
  • Remove the Literacy Test from the North Carolina Constitution
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Legislative Agenda 2025