Gov. Josh Stein urges legislators to take action, fund public safety measures

RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) — Gov. Josh Stein is pushing lawmakers to better fund law enforcement agencies across North Carolina when they come back to Raleigh next week.

“I sent a letter to the leaders of the General Assembly urging them to fund three key investments immediately,” Stein said.

That first investment is a major one. The governor wants the General Assembly to fund his $195 million public safety package.

“It provides pay raises and recruitment and retention bonuses for state and local law enforcement officers, increases co responder teams, defends North Carolina’s communities from community and school based violence,” Stein said.

While he’s focusing heavily on public safety in light of the fatal stabbing of Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light rail train, Stein asserted the General Assembly needs to take action for North Carolina residents in other ways too, such as protecting access to Medicaid.

“Without additional funding, the Medicaid program will be forced to make painful cuts to the rates that it pays our healthcare professionals, because by law the system cannot spend money that it does not have,” he said.

The governor also wants lawmakers to fund substantial raises for public school teachers across the state, something leaders on the State Board of Education have argued is desperately needed.

“Increasing teacher pay will ensure we have the opportunity to recruit and retain the high quality professional teachers that your children, our children, deserve,” State Board of Education Chairman Eric Davis said.

Republican leaders in the General Assembly have said they won’t rush the budget process. They plan to introduce legislation to be tougher on crime and end cashless bail.