The North Carolina Senate concluded its two-year legislative session focused on improving education and growing the economy. Key accomplishments included increasing education funding over $1 billion, raising teacher pay almost 20%, cutting taxes, expanding pre-K, and investing in infrastructure, economic development, and disaster relief. Senate Republicans worked to strengthen schools, make college more affordable, cut red tape for business, and prepare the state budget and policies.

1. Senate Concludes Two-Year Session Focused on
Improving Education, Growing Economy
Raleigh, N.C. – The North Carolina Senate adjourned its “short session”
Friday, completing the lion’s share of a productive 2017-2018 legislative
biennium.
Senate Leader Phil Berger (R-Rockingham) issued the following
statement:
“Eight years ago, legislative Republicans promised to chart a new
course for North Carolina, and ever since, we’ve worked tirelessly to
place our state on a path to better economic growth, greater
prosperity and a stronger public education system.
“During that time, North Carolina has experienced historic gains,
including more funding for public education than ever before,
average teacher pay raises of nearly 20 percent, comprehensive tax
reform and tax relief for millions of North Carolinians.
“This year, I am proud that the Senate continued to keep our
promises to the voters and implement policies that will improve
education and grow our economy, and I look forward to building on
those successes in our next session.”
Among other actions, Senate Republicans:
· Adopted balanced, fiscally responsible state budgets that invest in core
services, strengthen public education, save for the future and grow North
Carolina’s economy.
· Delivered major additional tax relief that will result in 99 percent of
taxpayers either paying less or paying no state personal income taxes at all.

2. · Continued the business tax reforms that have helped create more than half
a million new jobs since 2011 by further reducing corporate income tax rates and
simplifying and cutting the franchise tax on small businesses.
· Expanded tools to recruit new businesses to the state, including
‘transformative projects’ that are expected to secure thousands of new jobs and
billions in new investment to North Carolina.
· Increased funding for public education by more than $1 billion over two
years and continued major education reforms to reduce class sizes and ensure
students receive the tools they need to succeed.
· Kept their promise to continue raising teacher pay, providing teachers an
average raise of almost 10 percent over two years, which will bring the average
increase to teachers’ base pay to nearly 20 percent since the 2013-14 school year.
The Senate also provided substantial pay raises to school principals and assistant
principals.
· Provided additional performance-based bonuses to more public school
teachers and principals who help improve academic outcomes for their students.
· Made North Carolina schools safer, providing $35 million for school safety
initiatives, including new grant programs to support students in crisis, school
safety training, safety equipment and youth mental health personnel.
· Passed legislation that takes steps to reduce the testing burden on
students in North Carolina and helps provide additional learning opportunities to
thousands of children from low-income families across the state.
· Acted to make college far more affordable and accessible by fully funding
the N.C. Promise Program, which guarantees in-state undergraduate students at
three schools across the state pay just $500 per semester for tuition.
· Invested hundreds of millions of dollars in pay raises and bonuses for
hardworking state employees, including a new living wage minimum of $31,200,
as well as significant raises for State Highway Patrol troopers and correctional
officers.
· Improved prison safety, allocating $15 million in additional funding to
enhance prison safety and security and support “man-down technology.”

3. · Expanded the covered population for the line of duty death benefit, while
also doubling the benefit from $50,000 to $100,000 and ensuring all families of the
victims from recent prison attacks receive that benefit.
· Ensured access to clean, safe drinking water, setting aside more than $10
million to provide drinking water to those impacted by GenX contamination and to
fund the state’s efforts to address PFAs and their threat to safe drinking water.
· Expanded statewide access to broadband, establishing the Growing Rural
Economies with Access to Technology (GREAT) program to address broadband
needs in the state's rural areas.
· Ensured the state is well-prepared for the future by increasing the rainy
day fund to its highest total ever. The savings reserve is now at $2 billion, the
highest figure in state history. Lawmakers also increased the amount of state
funds automatically going into savings each year.
· Provided more than $160 million in needed disaster relief assistance to
families and communities devastated by Hurricane Matthew.
· Passed bills giving voters a choice on whether to amend the North
Carolina Constitution to keep income taxes low, preserve the right to hunt and
fish, strengthen victims’ rights, establish a system to fill judicial vacancies, ensure
a bipartisan Board of Elections and establish a Voter ID law.
· Passed additional reforms to the state’s burdensome regulatory
environment to cut through red tape that chokes off economic growth.
· Helped combat the opioid addiction crisis by passing the STOP Act to
ensure highly-addictive prescription drugs are responsibly administered and not
over-prescribed, and the HOPE Act to give law enforcement the tools they need to
battle the opioid crisis.
· Added thousands of slots to the state’s pre-K program and developed a
plan to eliminate 100 percent of the state’s waitlist for at-risk children by 2021.
· Funded the changes necessary to “raise the age” in North Carolina,
ensuring 16- and 17-year olds suspected of misdemeanor offenses and less
serious felonies will be tried as juveniles instead of adults by December 2019.
· Invested hundreds of millions of additional dollars for transportation,
including an increase to the Strategic Transportation Investments Program (STIP)

4. of more than $274 million, to allow more than 90 new highway projects to be built
over a ten-year period, improving mobility and safety, reducing congestion and
spurring economic development. In addition, hundreds of structurally deficient
bridges will be replaced and thousands of miles of roads resurfaced.
· Accelerated the construction of hundreds of road and bridge projects by
passing the Build N.C. Act which allows the state Department of Transportation
(DOT) to use a new financing tool to access up to $300 million each year over the
next ten years in order to complete smaller road projects that otherwise would be
constructed much later.
· Allocated more than $370 million in lottery funds to assist counties with
critical public school building needs.
· Protected North Carolina’s family farms, passing the N.C. Farm Act of
2018 which contains numerous provisions aimed at supporting the state’s largest
industry and ensuring that farmers have the intended legal protections in the
state’s right to farm law.
· Completed a thorough and transparent confirmation hearing process of
the governor’s cabinet secretaries, where senators evaluated their
qualifications, possible conflicts of interest and willingness to follow the law.
· Strengthened laws against human trafficking and laws to increase
awareness of the warning signs of trafficking.
· Funded much-needed additional positions in the state court system,
including dozens of new deputy clerks of court and assistant district attorneys.
· Overhauled North Carolina's social service system to address substantial
issues in North Carolina’s child welfare program to ensure the safety of kids.
· Created a new North Carolina Teaching Fellows program to attract and
retain new Science, Technology, Engineering, Math, and special education
teachers in North Carolina’s public schools.