As it currently stands, North Carolina is one of the many states that operates with a part-time (hybrid) state legislature.

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, North Carolina is one the these states:

Being a legislator in North Carolina also means that you must be present for two different sessions (long and short) that take up about 6-7 months a year, but the pay for being a legislator is rather bleak. According to WCNC.com:

“North Carolina House and Senate lawmakers only make a base salary that’s just under $14,000 per year.”

That figure makes being an NC legislator one of the lowest in the country for a state that is in the top ten in the country for population. To be a legislator means you have to make a living doing something else while being a lawmaker: be independently wealthy, retired, or gather so much political contributions to fulfill any monetary means.

Consequently, most of the people who serve in the North Carolina General Assembly are not people who work in jobs that struggle just to make a living wage.

Bios for each legislator on the official NC General Assembly page usually list the occupation of the lawmaker.

Here’s Tim Moore:

When not eating at Biscuitville or being Speaker of the House, he runs a law firm.

Earlier this year, the News & Observer published an article about the how the NCGA representative body compares to the rest of the state.

The video attached to the article is very informative.

The last couple of paragraphs are also worth noting.

Not everyone at the General Assembly has a job outside of the Legislative Building, even though lawmakers’ annual salary is less than $14,000 a year plus a daily per diem and mileage. Several lawmakers have jobs in real estate, business and ministry.

Many state lawmakers listed their occupation as retired, or as simply a legislator, or did not list an occupation. The largest group is retirees, with some listing what they did before retiring. The House ranks include four law-enforcement retirees, a retired judge and a retired fire captain.

And only one that I know of is an active teacher in the state.

Not very representative of the entire state as a whole. Why? Well. NC is an interesting state.

• 20 states currently have a minimum wage that matches the federally mandated minimum wage of $7.25/hour. North Carolina is one of them.

• 7 seven states currently outlaw collective bargaining for public employees. North Carolina is one of them.

• As of 2020, 14 states had not adopted Medicaid expansion. North Carolina was one of them.

We just finally got around to doing that. Well, maybe. Can’t seem to pass a budget to incliude it.

Now name the only state in the country with the lowest legal minimum wage, no collective bargaining rights, no Medicaid expansion for over a decade, and is a Right-To-Work / At Will state.

Now name a state that has a lower state corporate flat tax. None do.

And how many of the legislators have jobs that are at or are barely above minimum wage or who would benefit from Medicaid expansion?

Most every NCGA member is so far removed from the conditions that affect so many of their constituents, they cannot in good measure really totally internalize what North Carolinians really need. Yes, NC is ranked number one in business in the country, but is that the same ranking for working conditions and how well people feel about their employment?

And how many of those lawmakers really understand the need for a fully funded public school system? For many a lawmaker, it seems to be a simple business transaction or a matter of the bottom line.

More teachers and more citizens who truly represent the NC population could run for office in the NCGA if they were able to know that they could make a decent salary and feel that they could provide for families.

And I guarantee that having a full-time legislature would enable more candidates who understand the LEANDRO decision to run for office.