Welcome to my Policy Website!

After serving eight terms, I stepped away from my role as a member of North Carolina House of Representatives. I was first elected in 1989 and again in 2003. I served as the House Republican Leader (2007-2010), the House Majority Leader (2011-2012), and the House Speaker Pro Tem (2013-2016).

As a FORMER member of the North Carolina General Assembly, I hope THIS WEBSITE can take you into the world of public policy.  You can make this your first-stop portal to the internet.  The Articles section will introduce you to some of my thoughts on education, economic development, tax policy and many other issues.

2011-2016 was a historic period for North Carolina. In 2011 Republican legislative majorities were elected and, in 2013, for the first time in 144 years, an incoming Republican Governor met Republican majorities in the North Carolina House and Senate. We guided House Republicans through three historic session of legislative reforms that fulfilled our promises to the people.

We balanced the state budget while reforming our state tax code, lowering the income tax, moving us from 44^th to 11^th in national rankings of our tax climate.  We reduced sales tax rates resulting in $4 Billion Dollars of cumulative tax relief from 2011-2016.

Regulatory reform began in 2011 and has continued through 2022.  This helps to improve and stabilize our business environment and is a major factor in our improving employment picture.

Republicans improved legislation on public charter schools.  We expanded scholarships for parents of children with special needs.  We started and expanded opportunity scholarships for parents who want to try private education.  These initiatives will help parents choose the best education for their child.

After 42 years of work on pro-life legislation, we were able to produce significant advances for the protection of the unborn and their mothers.  We ended tax funded abortions and sex selection abortion.  We authorized regulations to protect the health and safety of women at clinics. The Woman’s Right to Know Act with its 72 hour waiting period is reducing abortion rates by about 25%. In 2023 we made a post-Dobbs start by protecting many unborn children after 12 weeks.

There is a lot more work to do.