Stein’s State of the State calls for faster Helene relief, better pay for teachers, law enforcement

(Editor's note: This article was written by  Galen Bacharier, Lynn Bonner, and Brandon Kiingdollar)

North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein called on lawmakers to swiftly pass another round of Hurricane Helene aid and approve pay raises for teachers and law enforcement Wednesday, as he delivered his first State of the State address to the Republican-led General Assembly.

The speech by Stein, a Democrat, signaled that he would continue to pursue issues with bipartisan support in the opening months of his administration. He called for a ban on cell phones in classrooms, a new law enforcement unit to crack down on fentanyl, free community college for students in high-demand sectors, and new accountability in government spending.

“What we’ve been talking about tonight, they are not red issues or blue issues,” Stein said. “They are North Carolina issues. Of course, on some of them, we may differ about how best to get there. That’s fine. That’s the democratic process.”

But he also didn’t shy away from divisive topics — calling for Republicans to pump the brakes on income tax cuts and school vouchers, both programs they have led and continue to tout.

Stein painted an optimistic picture of North Carolina’s future, sketching out a growing state with new jobs in emerging industries. But as he previewed parts of his budget request, he warned of pitfalls both statewide and nationally — a potential future budget shortfall, ongoing federal funding cuts and continued cost of living worries.

“We must continue to grow our economy and ensure it works for everyone,” Stein said.

And he urged lawmakers not to follow in the footsteps of elected officials in the nation’s capital — instead pursuing a broadly popular agenda for North Carolina.

“If those of us who believe in the possibility of bipartisanship look to Washington, D.C., we will surely become discouraged,” Stein said.

“But we do not need to be pulled into those political games. We can create something better, something forward-looking, right here in North Carolina.”

House Speaker Destin Hall (R-Caldwell), also recently elevated to leadership, delivered the Republican response.

Hall connected efforts by the state GOP with President Donald Trump’s national agenda. 

He mentioned Trump several times in his address, and painted state GOP priorities as a reflection of Trump’s goals. 

“Everything President Trump has fought for, tax cuts, deregulation, protecting values and enforcing the law, North Carolina Republicans have delivered on,” Hall said. 

With Helene aid on his doorstep, Stein urges immediate passage

A new round of relief spending for Hurricane Helene is just a step away from landing on Stein’s desk. That spending package would send more than half a billion dollars to western North Carolina for agriculture, homebuilding and road and bridge repairs. Disagreements between the House and Senate have delayed its final passage.

Though the bill comes well short of what the governor requested earlier this year, he urged lawmakers Wednesday to pass it swiftly, and begin working on further aid.

“We need that money now,” Stein said. “Heck, we needed it yesterday.”

Republicans in the House said Tuesday that they anticipated final agreement on the bill in the coming days.

During the opening months of his tenure, Stein has sought to build bipartisan bridges on the issue of Helene aid. During his January inaugural address, he called on lawmakers to set aside partisan divides to prioritize aid. And he echoed that sentiment Wednesday.

“The people who have been aiding folks out west don’t care a whit about the politics of the people they are helping,” he said.

GOP lawmakers have remained open to those overtures — repeatedly saying they’re encouraged by the governor’s approach to relief in the mountains. When Stein declared that the state “cannot let” closed businesses “become our story,” he received a standing ovation from the entire chamber.

In his response, Hall said he looked forward to working with Stein on Helene recovery, while criticizing former Gov. Roy Cooper and former President Joe Biden for their response in the emergency. 

“We’re going to continue to support western North Carolina as long as it takes to rebuild, and together, we will rebuild stronger than before,” he said. 

“I look forward to partnering with Gov. Stein, who I know shares my desire to get people back in their homes as quickly as possible. 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. 

Still, there are signals of that goodwill running thin. Top Republicans expressed impatience at the current timeline for building homes in western North Carolina during a hearing last week. The House Majority Leader said it feels “like Groundhog Day” — a reference to struggles under former Gov. Roy Cooper’s hurricane recovery program for eastern North Carolina.

Stein has established a new team to distance his administration from those struggles, but Cooper’s program — ReBuild NC — remains in need of a final bundle of money.

Proposals to send that money are moving through the legislature. Stein urged them to send one to his desk.

“No matter where you live, you need to know that if disaster strikes, we will be there.”

Education: Cell phone ban, teacher raises and free community college

Stein threw his support Wednesday behind proposals to limit cell phones in K-12 classrooms.

And he repeated a call to significantly raise wages for teachers — to the “highest in the southeast.”

“Anna [the First Lady] and I know some parents of recent college graduates,” Stein said. “Those graduates wanted to live and teach in their home state, but they chose other states because our salaries simply aren’t competitive.”

“It’s an embarrassment,” he added. “We can and must do better.”

Members in both parties have backed proposals to increase teacher pay this session. A Republican-led bill would boost educators’ salaries depending on experience, up to a $12,000 annual increase.

Stein also continued to tout the importance of apprenticeship and workforce programs. And he called on lawmakers to further incentivize students pursuing fields like manufacturing, health care and IT, by providing them with free community college. (Republicans did not join Democrats in standing and applauding after the proposal.)

“Our goal is to set the national pace in growing the number of skilled workers,” Stein said.

Public safety: Police pay raises and a fentanyl unit

Stein said he was proposing that lawmakers increase the salaries of state law enforcement and corrections officers, as well as signing bonuses for new officers. He said he “regularly” hears about staffing challenges across departments.

And he urged the General Assembly to fund a “fentanyl control unit” made up of law enforcement and prosecutors “dedicated to getting it off the streets.” It represents the next step of one of his priorities during his previous stint as attorney general.

Budget: A trio of ‘working family’ tax cuts and an ‘Impact Center’

Stein renewed his request for a trio of tax cuts that he championed during his campaign for governor: one for families with young children, one for child care costs, and one for working families.

“We can afford them and still meet our critical education, health care and public safety needs,” he said.

Those proposals will be part of Stein’s budget request, which he will unveil in the coming weeks. And though Republicans are unlikely to follow it by the letter, it provides a blueprint for Democratic, and potentially bipartisan, priorities.

Among those priorities: a $4 billion public school bond, to make repairs to school facilities across the state. (The Department of Public Instruction has said $13 billion is needed to meet all school repair needs.)

He also called for lawmakers to work to lower housing costs and make child care affordable and accessible.

“Parents should always have the option to stay home with their children,” Stein said. “But it should be a choice. Parents shouldn’t be pushed out of the workforce. When they are, they suffer, and our economy suffers.”

And he said he was instructing his budget office to set up an “Impact Center” to track spending, as he warned of a potential budget shortfall in the coming years. But he said the state should exercise caution with state spending — “let’s use a scalpel, not a chainsaw,” he said.

Part of his proposal to stave off that shortfall — pausing income tax cuts and school voucher programs (suggestions that likely will not be acted upon by Republican leaders who helped pass them).

“We’re at a fork in the road when it comes to our budget,” Stein said.

Other reactions offer bipartisan optimism

Rep. Howard Penny (R-Harnett), a member of the House’s Helene Recovery committee, called the speech a “very excellent presentation” and expressed optimism for bipartisan efforts to bring assistance to the western part of the state.

“We are very impressed by the people he’s put in place to make sure the same thing that happened in Matthew and Florence does not happen in Western North Carolina,” Penny said. “We’re looking forward to working with our new governor.

Asked about the $500 million aid bill Stein pushed for in his address, Penny said he believes the House figure and the Governor’s figure for relief are not far apart. “We’re close enough that I think we’re going to get there.”

Chip Hawley, the director of the State Bureau of Investigation, said Stein “hit the nail on the head” in his pitch to improve pay for teachers and members of law enforcement. He praised the Governor for his “very passionate” words of support for recovery efforts in western North Carolina.

Rep. Marcia Morey (D-Orange) said Stein did a “magnificent job” in delivering a nonpartisan, optimistic speech for North Carolina. She singled out his focus on education and childcare as a highlight of the speech, crediting him for calling lawmakers to prioritize funding for public schools.

“That’s the critical need for the future of North Carolina — with only 1 in 5 kids having a slot for childcare, the data is there, we need to improve it,” Morey said. “And our teachers — we can’t be 48th in the country anymore.”

Rep. Abe Jones (D-Wake) said he was pleased that lawmakers on both sides of the aisle cheered many of Stein’s proposals, adding that it was now time to act on that bipartisan support.

“As my mom used to say — people clapped, so the proof of the pudding will be in the eating. We’ll just have to see how it turns out,” Jones said. “What are we going to spend on and how much money are we going to spend?”

He agreed with Stein’s call to balance the budget — adding that the price of large tax cuts is a lack of funding to schools and investment in the future. “If you’re gonna’ look after the children, look after the future, you have to raise taxes in a reasonable way.”

Sen. Graig Meyer (D-Orange) also said Stein’s comments on an impending fiscal cliff were a highlight of the speech, crediting him for using the “bully pulpit” to inform the people of North Carolina of the costs of the General Assembly’s current tax plan.

Meyer added that he didn’t know why Republicans had not yet reached an agreement on the next package of Helene aid and said Stein was “a little more kind to them” in his address than he would be. “I probably would have given them a deadline — so let’s get it done by the end of next week or something. But he’s trying to work with them,” Meyer said.