Gov. Josh Stein on separation of powers and what surprised him in first 100 days
Two things surprised Gov. Josh Stein about his new job during his first 100 days as governor, he said in an interview with The News & Observer.
One is about the state budget. The other is related to gubernatorial powers.
Good morning. This is the governor edition of our Under the Dome newsletter. I’m Dawn Vaughan, The News & Observer’s Capitol bureau chief.
The North Carolina Senate budget is set to be released Monday evening. The legislation will show how the Republican-controlled upper chamber wants to spend more than $30 billion in taxpayer money over the next two years. And there will be policy in it, too.
Past budgets have taken away power from the governor, and there’s a chance that will happen again.
Senate Republicans, who hold a supermajority, plan to take final votes on the budget about three days after the several-hundred-page document is made public.
I asked Senate leader Phil Berger this past week if there will be policy in it, including policy that isn’t about spending money.
“There are things that will be in the budget that some people could argue are policy, but I think budgets are about policy,” Berger said.
Written completely by Republicans, who received Stein’s proposal in March, the budget has in past years been one of the battlegrounds between the governor and legislature.
Stein’s first 100 days
Stein has just reached a milestone in office: his first 100 days. I interviewed a long list of Republicans and Democrats about the job he’s done so far, and his relationships with lawmakers and President Donald Trump. You can read that in-depth story, which includes an interview with Stein.
Here are a few significant quotes from my story:
▪ N.C. Central University political science professor Jarvis Hall, on what could be Stein’s first test: If Stein vetoes a bill banning diversity, equity and inclusion in higher education, Stein “can become a voice to offer some resistance to what I see, as a college professor in a public institution, to be a threat to academic freedom.”
▪ Stein, House Speaker Destin Hall and Berger are the three most powerful politicians in North Carolina. Stein’s been “very impressed” by Hall, has a respectful relationship with Berger, and looks forward “to working with both of them, and both of their chambers on issues that can help North Carolinians have better lives.”
▪ Longtime Republican operative Dallas Woodhouse, on Stein’s approach: “When the legislature is of an opposite party, and they’re likely to have, at a minimum, a pretty healthy majority through his time ... If you want to beat up on the legislature, do a few liberal executive orders, veto a few things, and, (you’ll) basically accomplish very little to nothing.”
▪ Democratic Rep. Pricey Harrison, a member of the House Progressive Caucus: “I think that anybody who has to work with (Trump) is trying to be a little bit more diplomatic or trying to work with what we have, because it’s pretty bad ... So he’s probably just doing what he needs to do to survive in this environment, and I’m kind of proud of him for being able to stand it.”
In addition to what’s in that story, I asked Stein about what he’s learned in his first 100 days. His answer included the budget.
“(One of) two things that have taken up time as governor that I just didn’t appreciate because I hadn’t been in this role, was how much time it takes to put together the budget. To spend hours and hours and hours with the budget director and my senior team making the decisions you have to make when you have to choose: Do you spend money on this, or do you spend money on that?” Stein said.
That proposal is only that — what he hopes Republicans will fund, like starting teacher raises, and what they’ve already said is a non-starter — pausing tax cuts and a moratorium on private school vouchers.
Stein said “another surprise is the amount of time it takes to give proper consideration to appointments for judicial vacancies and the boards and commissions.”
Stein’s view on separation of powers
I asked him how he’ll handle it if the budget includes taking away more executive powers. The last major budget took away appointment power to some boards and commissions, giving them to lawmakers. That ended up in the courts over separation of powers issues.
“Creating a government is a complicated thing,” he said, “and what the wisdom of the founders of North Carolina and our country had was, you have to separate power among different branches of government. We have a legislative branch that’s focused on making laws and appropriating funds. We have a judicial branch that interprets laws, and we have the executive branch which carries laws out,” he said.
“And government works best when each branch respects the authority of the others. We have in recent years a legislative branch that is not satisfied with its own power, but wants to have greater control over the courts through their appointment authority and making them partisan elections, and wants to have greater control over the executive branch by taking authority away that it should not.”
“And so what I want is what’s best for North Carolina, which is a well-thought-out government that reflects the will and views of the people of North Carolina and doesn’t have so much power concentrated in so few people, because I think in the end, that’s unhealthy for the state, and in the long-term, unhealthy for our economy and people,” Stein said.
I also asked Stein what we can expect over the next few months from him, aside from Helene recovery.
“I’m just going to continue working on the issues that are important, like child care, safe schools, workforce development, public safety. We’re going to keep advancing policies and ideas and trying to make North Carolina safer, stronger and more prosperous with real opportunity for every person,” he said.
Delayed Inaugural Ball held in April
Stein’s Inaugural Ball, hosted by the Junior League of Raleigh, was postponed from the planned January date along with other inauguration weekend activities because of snow.
The rescheduled event was held April 5 at Marbles Kids Museum in downtown Raleigh.
Thanks for reading. Contact me at dvaughan@newsobserver.com. Not a newsletter subscriber? Sign up on our website to receive Under the Dome in your inbox daily. And listen to our Under the Dome podcast, which is published every Tuesday morning on all podcast platforms and is previewed in your Tuesday Under the Dome newsletter.
This story was originally published April 13, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Gov. Josh Stein on separation of powers and what surprised him in first 100 days."
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