This past month has certainly been March Madness at the North Carolina General Assembly. Our legislators have been busy introducing hundreds of new bills that, if signed into law, can have a huge impact on our region and state.  With Republicans just one vote shy of a supermajority in the House (71 to 48) and a supermajority in the Senate (30 to 20), Republicans will need to flip one Democrat vote or work with Governor Stein for their bills to become law. While this list doesn’t even scratch the surface, let’s take a look at some of the good, bad, and controversial bills that I’ve been following this past month. 

The headlines read like a line from Minority Report or The Manchurian Candidate. First, why is there a sudden interest in this pilot program that was proposed by the General Assembly in 2023, and second, why are there so many false claims against the proposed contractor? Is this apparent disinformation campaign launched out of a genuine concern for student data privacy or is there an ulterior agenda to create political subterfuge among the school board in advance of 2026?

Controlling water pollution and protecting our drinking sources should be a non-partisan issue, yet the state and federal government seems to skirt away from actually addressing the issues of setting toxic chemical discharge guidelines and making polluters pay to clean up their mess. When lawmakers were asked about PFAS and Gen X their response generally was, “There’s still a lot we don’t know about these chemicals.”

While only 214 delegates attended the New Hanover County Convention, it was no less electrifying. It was good to see friends and rivals alike, along with political enemies who became friends again. It was also promising to see new blood vying for local and county positions here in New Hanover and in Pender. Yet it was clear that the room was divided like a typical Sunday at a Southern Baptist Church just before the congregation splits to form a new church—an atmosphere indicative of the past several years.