As North Carolina gets ready to enter short session on April 21, it is time to confront a longstanding flaw in the North Carolina General Assembly. The legislators in 2026 make the exact same $13,951 as the legislators did in 1995.

North Carolina’s General Assembly is considered a hybrid state legislature by the National Conference of State Legislatures. This means that members spend about two thirds of a full-time job being legislators and usually need another source of income to live on. Among fellow hybrid states, North Carolina pays its legislators one of the lowest base salaries. This time commitment paired with a low salary limits the ideas and perspectives that are shared in the North Carolina General Assembly, since only the retired or wealthy can afford to make ends meet considering what’s provided. READ MORE