The North Carolina House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Carolina General Assembly. The House of Representatives consists of 120 members who serve a term of two years. Each member represents an average of 87,116 residents *, as of the 2020 Census . The presiding officer of the House of Representatives is the Speaker of the House, who holds powers similar to those of the Senate President pro-tem. The Speaker is elected by the members from their membership for a two-year term. The Speaker’s duties include maintaining order in the House and appointing members to the House standing committees.The North Carolina General Assembly, of which the House is a part, is to convene a new regular session every two years, and the dates for these sessions are set by law. The NC legislature makes decisions on the budget: taxes, tax credits, economic development, education funding, Pre-K, the courts, Medicaid, etc. It also passes laws that set environmental standards such as water and air quality, tax rates, tax credits, criminal justice. Legislators in both chambers serve two-year terms without term limits. Sessions begin at noon on the third Wednesday after the second Monday in January.* https://ballotpedia.org/Population_represented_by_state_legislators
Position/philosophy statement
As the NC House member representing the 113th House district I will focus on the affordability, safety and healthy well being of the citizens.
Current Occupation
Retired
Age (optional)
63
Campaign Phone
8287482378
I have served 6 years in the General Assembly, all in a leadership position. This legislature experience coupled with my time running a small business, raising a family, volunteering in the community (United Way, volunteer firefighter, Habitat board member) and an engineering education gives me a unique perspective that can only be obtained through the experiences I've shared. Because of those life lived experiences I am uniquely positioned to understand the issues that face the citizens of House District 113
Affordability issues, such as our most vulnerable seniors that are getting priced out of their homes, high electricity rates that have caused both our heating bills to rise almost 30% and all products we buy to increase in price. This energy spike in cost has been caused by bad legislation. Family issues, such as young families trying to afford a home and find quality education that will determine their children's future. Work issues, such as giving our law enforcement a 25 year retirement option, increase recruitment of volunteer 1st responders in our rural areas by providing some benefits, and leveling the playing field when it comes to recruiting teachers by leveling the playing field on teacher local supplement with tier 3 counties
Tier 1 & 2 counties suffer from recruiting teachers because of the higher tier 3 county local supplement, we must address the difference by adding state funds to tier 1 & 2 counties. State legislators should spend a good amount of time with teachers asking them what would improve education outcomes. I believe that if you want successful improvement, you should ask the experts and the teachers are the experts.
Tax policy changed dramatically in 2011. Since 2011 tax policy has gone from a progressive bracket system to a flat tax with a focus on more consumption fees, such as taxes on services that you pay only if you use those services. I believe this trend will continue. Lowering both the individual and corporate income tax has brought more people and business to the state. This increase in jobs has not been seen uniformly across the state and therefore the wealth gain has not been spread uniformly. Tax policy, whether a flat income tax, a consumption tax or a combination should be set to fund the needs of the state. But, the lack of uniformity drives the need to distribute those taxes outside of the areas where they were collected.
It's well known that smaller counties in WNC don't have the resources to put toward keeping the citizens' safe as larger counties do, but our law enforcement members do more with less. I believe more state funds should be made available for training, recruitment and equipment. I believe the state should fund all public schools to have a fulltime SRO (Resource Officer). Last, but most important, I believe the state should develop a robust mental health system with funding, staff and facilities across the state to house those that shouldn't be in our jails. The state must also develop better and faster processes to determine mental issues and get those patients out of the county's jail system and into a place where they can be helped.
Affordability issues for seniors, small business and working families are my top priority. In addition, being safe from crime in our communities and providing a 1st responder network that our citizens can rely on are priorities.
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