Incoming North Carolina House Speaker Robert Reives says he'll change how the legislature operates to make it more inclusive.
Reives held his first news conference Tuesday since Democrats won a majority in the House for the first time since 2008. He says he'll take a more collaborative and transparent approach than Republicans have over the past 15 years.
Many of the legislature's big decisions have been made by a small number of House and Senate leaders. Reives says he plans to empower committees to develop legislation in public and include rank-and-file lawmakers throughout the process.
"I just think two or three people making the decision is the worst thing you can do," he said. "I don't care how smart you are and how good you are at this."
Reives called for changing the state's budget process to ensure the budget bill gets a full hearing and floor debate with amendments — rather than introduce the bill as a "conference report" that can't be changed after it's introduced to the public. He also said he wants to keep non-spending policy proposals out of the budget. Recent budget bills have included countless other pieces of legislation rolled into the budget for swift passage with less scrutiny.
Reives also wants legislators to have a more predictable part-time schedule to allow people with other jobs to serve.
"I think this should actually be a representative government," he said. "Right now, it's not a representative government. You've got to be lucky enough to either be wealthy, retired or you've got to own your own business and have the ability to be up here, and there are a lot of people who leave here simply because of economics."
Reives also addressed policy issues he wants to prioritize as speaker, though he stressed that because the new Democratic caucus hasn't met yet to discuss its plans, he's not yet able to get specific about bills that might pass.
A few examples:
Private school vouchers: Reives said he wants to roll back private school vouchers for wealthy families. Republicans have expanded the "Opportunity Scholarship" program to make the vouchers available to anyone, regardless of their income.
"I think one thing that Republicans and Democrats agree on is that it is ridiculous that somebody who is making millions of dollars gets a coupon from the state when we can't afford to pay for public education," he said. "There's got to be some oversight. There's got to be some accountability."
Local government control: Reives criticized the legislature's tendency to remove regulatory control from local governments, most recently a law that restricts "downzoning" of property to limit some types of development. He also wants to see local governments take the lead on regulating controversial data centers.
"I understand that the moratoriums that have been passed by some municipalities and counties are in contravention to the law," he said, noting that data centers are still unpopular among voters in both parties. "There are tons of municipalities and counties that would love to have a data center, so it's not about agreeing with data centers or not agreeing with data centers. The question is who should make that decision."
Marijuana: Marijuana legalization is among the issues that could unite House Democrats and Senate Republicans. Republicans in the Senate have in past sessions approved bills that would legalize medical marijuana on a limited basis, but GOP leaders in the House stopped the measures from becoming law.
Reives said Tuesday that marijuana policy could be an area for bipartisan agreement. "I think decriminalization of marijuana has been on top of everybody's minds," he said, adding that he personally supports allowing medical marijuana for veterans. But he was critical of past legislation that limited the number of businesses that could be involved in producing and selling marijuana.
"It is an industry just like any other industry, and so if we authorize it, it should be authorized in such a way that our farmers ... have an opportunity to make that decision to be involved," he said.
New Democrats headed to Raleigh
Reives noted that he'll be leading "the largest Democratic majority in the North Carolina House since 1992" when the new session begins in January.
But the exact number of Democrats in the House is still uncertain. Ballots are still being counted this week in a few close races, and some could be headed to a recount. In Ashe and Watauga counties, for example, Democrat Charlie Wallin leads incumbent Rep. Ray Pickett by just 228 votes.
Another candidate who appears to have won by a narrow margin is Ashley Headen — a candidate Democrats revoked their support for after social media posts surfaced in which, among other things, she called violence against Republicans.
Asked about Headen's apparent victory on Tuesday, Reives said he still disagrees with her posts but plans to include her in the Democratic caucus.
"Nobody spent more money than the House Republicans to make sure that everybody in that district knew what she said and did, and those voters voted her in, so she is a member of the caucus," he said.
Another wild card in next year's House will be April Montgomery, the unaffiliated candidate who won a Republican-held seat in Lee County. Democrats initially said they expected her to join their caucus, but Montgomery has since said she does not plan to join either caucus in the House.
"God bless her, she ran a great campaign," Reives said of Montgomery. "That was incredibly impressive to be able to win in that way, and we are here for her in any capacity that we can be of assistance."
