OPINION: Let’s change how the legislature works

North Carolina House Speaker Destin Hall earned at least two rounds of bipartisan applause at the start of this year’s legislative session. One was for assuming his new leadership post. The other was for releasing a House calendar for the next six months, complete with specific deadlines and a pledge to “give you some certainty in your schedule.”

I like most of the policies enacted by the General Assembly over the past decade and a half. But I don’t like how long the sessions run, how hard that makes it to retain hard-working lawmakers, and how power and information flows through the building — or, more to the point, fails to do so.

I’m hardly alone. Other longtime participants and observers I know feel the same way. Some share my appreciation for the General Assembly’s policy achievements. Others disdain them. Where we agree is that, if North Carolina is to preserve a true citizen legislature, its ways and means will need to change.

My John Locke Foundation colleagues Andy Jackson and Jim Stirling have been thinking along similar lines. In a recent research paper, they offer these proposals to reform the legislative process:

• Set a firm end date of June 30 for each legislative session. Assuming fixed start dates, that would give North Carolina 90-day “long” sessions in odd-numbered years and 35-day “short” sessions in election years. Peer states such as Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee impose comparable or even shorter session limits. Their lawmakers produce at least as meritorious legislation as ours do but more efficiently — while making it easier for folks with time-consuming careers or young children to serve in office.
• Boost legislative pay. North Carolina’s base salary of $13,951 is one of the lowest in the country and hasn’t budged in decades, resulting in a sizable decline in inflation-adjusted terms. Granted, lawmakers receive other compensation: mileage reimbursements and $104 for expenses for every day in session. Still, the total is manifestly insufficient to compensate state lawmakers for their time.

As a fiscal conservative, I’d rather be pound-wise than penny-foolish here. Taxpayers are best served when taxes, budgets, and other public policies are crafted by experienced, principled lawmakers. At the very least, we ought to redirect to salary the money saved by shortening sessions, which would raise the base salary to $20,531.

• Make the General Assembly more transparent. Jackson and Stirling point out that while the North Carolina legislature fares well on some measures of openness and accessibility, a 2023 measure giving lawmakers more authority to withhold records from the public was a backward step.

They propose not just repealing that measure but placing a constitutional amendment on the statewide ballot to increase transparency across state government — in the legislative, executive, and judicial branches.

• Impose term limits on legislative leaders. While I don’t favor term limits on state lawmakers (I feel rather differently about Congress) it would be reasonable to limit service as speaker of the N.C. House or president pro tem of the N.C. Senate to a fixed number of years, as do 19 legislative chambers across the country. Jackson and Stirling suggest a lifetime cap of eight years each. My own preference would be six.

One need not question the service, dedication, or judgment of Senate leader Phil Berger and former House Speaker Tim Moore to argue that regular turnover in top jobs is a good idea. It would offer enterprising lawmakers more chances to earn their way to leadership roles in their chambers — not just the speaker and president pro tem offices but also majority leaders, whips, key committee chairs, and other posts that would also open up more frequently as members move up their respective organizational charts.

Rules matter. They’re not all  that matter, of course, and a well-crafted process won’t guarantee good outcomes if the people involved lack knowledge, virtue, and commitment. Still, if we want to attract strong lawmakers and get the best work out of them, the rules themselves must change.

John Hood is a John Locke Foundation board member. His books  "Mountain Folk," "Forest Folk," and  "Water Folk" combine epic fantasy with American history (FolkloreCycle.com).