Bill Faison

After redistricting, incumbent Republican State Representative Russell Capps decided to run in the newly redrawn North Carolina's 41st House District. Faison decided to run in the vacant 50th House District, and won unopposed in 2004.[1] He won re-election unopposed in 2006[2] and 2008.[3] In 2010, he won re-election to a fourth term defeating Republican nominee Rick Smith 56%-44%.[4]

Faison represents Caswell County and most of Orange County in the NC House. He is a staunch supporter and advocate for jobs, education and health care in the North Carolina General Assembly. With three children in college and one in high school, he understands how important it is to set good policy for the future.

Faison was identified as a potential candidate for governor in 2008. However, with the emergence of both State Treasurer Richard Moore and Lt. Governor Beverly Perdue as candidates, Faison declined to run. Lt. Governor Perdue eventually won the primary.

In a weekly column called Bill's Seat in The Caswell Messenger and The News of Orange, Faison updates his constituents about current legislation in the North Carolina General Assembly.

In the most recent legislative session, he spoke out on telecommunications legislation[5] in the NC House. Faison said, in an interview with North Carolina Public Radio, that the bill should be called "the Time Warner cable anti-competitive bill."

"It's a New York company bill, it's not even folks from around here's bill, to keep our municipalities from providing services to their citizens," Rep. Faison said.

Faison also spoke out on the E-Verify bill,[6] saying that the bill was so broadly written that if a city wanted to contract with a realtor to help sell a property, or had its accounts handled by a local bank, those entire companies would have to implement E-Verify for all future hires.

"Folks, I didn't come down here to impose greater regulation on business in this state," Faison told the Committee.

Faison explained that the bill was too broad and focused on illegal immigration.

"It's not focused on the common sense of how we go about getting services rendered within a community. There's such a target lock on who we're out trying to get that the collateral damage has been ignored," said Faison.

A list of bills Faison introduced and supported in the NC House are available at the NC General Assembly website.

On September 8, 2011, Representative Faison held a press conference to challenge the North Carolina Republican Party leadership in the North Carolina General Assembly to tackle the issues of high unemployment. Faison issued a three-step challenge calling on the leadership to address the issue of JOBS in the upcoming Special Session. Faison explained the challenge in an opinion editorial .

On September 13, 2011, Faison was Chairman of the House Democrats' Business Caucus.

Faison has served as Chairman of the House Democrats' Business Caucus, Chairman of the House Study Committee on Rural Highspeed Internet Access, Chairman of the Ways and Means/Broadband Connectivity Committee, Vice Chairman of Judiciary III Committee Vice Chairman of the Public Utilities Committee, Vice Chairman of the Agriculture and Energy Committee, Member of the Finance Committee, Member of the House Study Committee on 911 Funding Formula, Member of the House Study Committee on Coyote Nuisance Abatement, Member of the Insurance Committee, Member of the Joint Select Committee on Economic Recovery and Member of the National Conference of State Legislators.