Roy Cooper in 2017 Governor's State of the State speeches

On Civil Rights: Repeal the "Bathroom Bill"; it's a dark cloud over NC

I call on the legislature once again to repeal House Bill 2 [the "Bathroom Bill" which requires transgendered people to use the bathroom of their birth gender]. The law has damaged our state. The legislature must erase this law from our books. Pass a clean repeal of HB2 and I will sign it the same day. Pass a compromise repeal that works to eliminate discrimination and brings back jobs, sports and entertainment and I will sign it--as long as it truly gets the job done.

I also raise this issue at the beginning because HB2 is the dark cloud hanging over our state of promise. It drains the energy from what should be our work for the people of this state. It's time to move on.

On Drugs: Eliminate stigma & encourage opioid addicts to get treatment

In my hometown of Nashville, North Carolina, Police Chief Tom Bashore is working to combat this addiction crisis. Last February, Chief Bashore and the Nashville Police Department launched the "Hope Initiative," the first program in North Carolina encouraging opioid addicts to walk into a police station seeking treatment without fear of arrest.

Recognizing that addiction is a disease, Chief Bashore has engaged with the community to eliminate the stigma surrounding opioid addiction and encourage addicts to seek treatment.

My budget directs mental health and law enforcement funding in a multi-pronged approach to combat the substance abuse crisis. This is an area where we must find common ground to help our friends and neighbors gripped by addiction.

On Education: 4,700 additional Pre-K slots for at-risk 4-year olds

I've laid out aggressive goals to make North Carolina a Top Ten Educated State by 2025--emphasizing early childhood education, increasing enrollment in pre-kindergarten, improving our high school graduation rate and increasing the percentage of adults with a higher education degree.

My budget creates nearly 4,700 additional Pre-Kindergarten slots to eliminate the wait-list of at-risk four year olds. Getting more kids in pre-K means they'll arrive at school ready to learn. It's the foundation for a lifetime of success, showing economic and health benefits well beyond their pre-K years. And it allows both parents to stay in the workforce, a necessity for many North Carolina families.

On Education: NC GROW: Getting Ready for Opportunities in the Workforce

To give people in the middle class more opportunity to afford higher education, let's pass a workforce program we call NC GROW- Getting Ready for Opportunities in the Workforce. It means free community college--a scholarship to cover last-dollar tuition and fees for recent high school graduates to attend a North Carolina community college.

To earn it, young people have to make good grades and apply for already-existing scholarships, loans and grant programs. It's an idea that Republican and Democratic governors alike have supported in other states. We can make it a bipartisan reality here in North Carolina.

On Jobs: Grow out Unemployment Trust Fund to more than $2 billion

The Governor and the legislature need to work together to get better-paying jobs for North Carolina.

On Principles & Values: Common Ground Solutions instead of either/or choices

I call this budget "Common Ground Solutions" because it contains many areas of agreement. In Raleigh, partisan battles, power struggles and lawsuits might grab the headlines, but we have to work together where we can. To look beyond ourselves to see what's right for the state, regardless of who's in power.

That's what the people of North Carolina want us to do, and what common sense demands us to do. So let's get to work. Job recruitment, raising teacher pay, fighting the opioid crisis, and boosting our infrastructure: these are areas where we already agree more than we disagree. These tasks don't come with a party label for a reason. They are priorities we all share.

On Technology: Rural high-speed broadband access, and technical training

• Workforce technical training that is more nimble & customized to what companies say they need.
• Encouraging more people to get into high-paying trades, like plumbing and electrical work, or medical research and high tech engineering.
• Incentives to bring the film industry back to NC. Initiatives to harness the innovation and entrepreneurship happening right now at our world-class universities and in our cities.
• Encouraging renewable energy which is already bringing good jobs to our state.
• Providing help for small business. And a focus on rural broadband access, which is a must for economic success in our rural communities. We cannot leave them behind.
• We must do more to help rural small businesses and family farms grow. High-speed broadband access is key to their success, in fact, a necessity, in a global marketplace.

On Welfare & Poverty: Create affordable, available housing for disaster recovery

In just the past couple of months, we've been able to repair and reopen more than 100 roads, and help hundreds of families return home or find other places to live. But nearly 600 households are still in need of permanent housing. We will not forget these families, and must keep working together to help them.

One thing that has become clear during the disaster recovery is the lack of affordable, available housing in eastern NC that has hindered relocation efforts. That's why I am asking you to work with me to restore allowing the use of federal money for housing so we can start to build our way out of this affordable housing shortage.