The top Democrat in the state House, Rep. Robert Reives, says he's frustrated with GOP lawmakers' inability to pass a budget or even a stopgap spending bill this year.
The legislature has now adjourned for a summer break, with plans to return later to finish its work. A flurry of bills passed in the final days, including proposed bans on diversity, equity and inclusion policies and a bill packed with controversial LGBTQ policies.
Reives, an attorney who represents Chatham County and part of Randolph County, spoke about his view of the 2025 session with Colin Campbell on the WUNC Politics Podcast.
This conversation has been lightly edited for brevity and clarity.
What do you see as the main themes of this legislative session, looking at the big picture of the last six months?
“The big picture theme, I would say, is getting nothing done. … All the stuff we get paid to do, we're not doing. All the stuff nobody's asked us to do, we're going full throttle on that. I think we're going to pass every single DEI bill that's been filed. We’ve had the usual bills on all kinds of hot topic cultural issues, and we've passed one bill for Helene recovery and no budget.”
From where you sit as a leader of the minority party here, where's the breakdown occurring? What about this is so different from past sessions where you've also had Republican majorities in both chambers?
“You've seen a different flow from the Senate. Candidly – and I'm not defending the House because I'm in the House – but the Senate was what you could usually depend on not to be diving deep into these hot-button cultural issues. Now it seems like that's the only thing they want to do.”
How has the House changed since Destin Hall took over as speaker from Tim Moore?
“He has done an amazing job of trying to make the place tolerable. I feel like if the dynamics in the House were emulated in the Senate, I think we’d have gotten a lot of stuff done this year.
“I go back to the type of bills he's done. He's done a Helene bill that was clean, didn't try to stick any kind of poison pills in there. He gave us a clean bill, because his thing is, this is more important than politics. When we did our budget, again, this is more important than politics.”
We've now had about three vetoes from Gov. Josh Stein so far (on gun permits and immigration), with maybe some more on the way. What do you think of the odds that your caucus will be able to sustain the vetoes over the coming months?
“Based on votes I've seen, I would think we sustain. Every member of my caucus has a right to do whatever they want, I support whatever decisions they make. But I think that these are issues that we've been pretty united on, and I think we'll stay united on these issues.
“I don't think it'll be an issue of trying to catch us off guard. It's just a matter of how we vote, and I feel good about how we're going to vote.”
