News from Jones Street

Your weekly legislative updates from Jackson Cozort, RGEA Director of Government Relations

December 5, 2025
All remained quiet for yet another week down on Jones Street. The Legislature originally scheduled two joint oversite committee meetings, but it appears that those were cancelled and rescheduled for this upcoming week. As far as budget negotiations go, this passing week marks 150 days since a state budget was officially due. From everything we are hearing from the leadership in both the House and the Senate, the Legislature does not plan on doing any other comprehensive budget work until after the primary election in early 2026, and more realistically not until the short session officially cranks back up in May. Considering that we are already in December, it is all but certain that North Carolina will end the calendar year being the only state in the country to not pass a comprehensive budget.

Don’t miss our upcoming webinar on December 10—2025 State and Local Legislative Year-End Recap—where RGEA Executive Director Tim O’Connell and I will walk through the major developments from this year’s legislative session that affect both TSERS and LGERS. Among the issues we’ll highlight are:

The Lake Case
Cryptocurrency legislation
Budget timelines and negotiations
House Bill 506
Behind-the-scenes insights on local government issues and key research
State Health Plan updates*

Click here to register by December 7.

*For those interested in additional context, here is a link to the State Treasurer’s recent Open Access press conference, where he discusses 2025 legislation, the State Health Plan, and other key updates.

Jackson Cozort became the Director of Government Relations at RGEA after 12 years as a contract lobbyist. Besides representing our retirees, he also represented numerous municipalities and counties, non-profits, large corporations such as Dell computers, and even the Rockingham Speedway. Jackson’s favorite part about his new role here at RGEA is hearing the questions and concerns of the individual retiree. So, if you have any questions or concerns whether it be legislative, government, or otherwise, do not hesitate to reach out to him! A fun fact about Jackson, before he was a lobbyist he was a professional musician based out of Charlotte, NC.