NC House District 20
Dane Scalise, Republican incumbent
Career: Small business owner
Education: BA degree from UNCG; law degree from UNC
Q: What qualifies you to serve in the North Carolina legislature?
A: As county commissioner, I have kept taxes low, delivered record funding to first responders and teachers, protected green space from overdevelopment, and held polluters like Chemours accountable. In my professional life, I am a small business owner who works with regular people and small businesses in our community every day. On a personal level, my wife and I are raising our children here. This role isn’t a title or a hobby for me. I have skin in the game, and I am totally invested in delivering real results for families and working people.
Q. What is a bill you would like to sponsor or co-sponsor and what is a bill you want to repeal — or even amend? Why?
A: We need to dramatically improve the delivery and costs associated with medical care. To accomplish this, I would like to sponsor a bill overhauling Certificate of Need (the state permission process that restricts hospitals or providers from adding new services or equipment). That bill would include hard deadlines for approval, real limits on appeals that stall projects for years, and higher thresholds so routine equipment and smaller outpatient projects don’t get stuck in the process. Patients need results, not red tape. Simply put, CON must be faster, leaner, with far less bureaucracy standing between people and medical care. My legislative priorities will also focus on reducing home energy costs through modernization and greater competition in the energy sector, so consumers have more options and better pricing. For example, I would also like to offer a bill amendment that legalizes third-party solar purchase agreements, so people and businesses have more than one option for lowering their energy costs.
Q: What will you do to hold industry accountable for pollution of toxic chemicals, such as PFAS or 1,4 dioxane, in the water or air? Will you support enforcing additional maximum contaminant levels of PFAS compounds, aside from PFOA or PFOS; how, if so?
A: From my first days as commissioner, I have promised to fight Chemours and hold them accountable for poisoning our community over many decades. In my first year in office, that fight included defeating an attempt by Chemours to bring four million pounds of GenX-contaminated wastewater into North Carolina. Since then, I have been fighting in my roles as County Commissioner and CFPUA board member to advance lawsuits against bad actors to bring a measure of justice to our community. Recently I joined Attorney General Jeff Jackson to announce a 590-million-dollar settlement that addresses only part of what is owed to our community. The fight continues, however. CFPUA’s lawsuits against polluters, for instance, will not stop unless and until we are made whole for all the costs and other losses our citizens have suffered. I will carry this fight to Raleigh as Representative, including advocating for enforcing additional maximum contaminant levels of PFAS compounds and other efforts to protect our citizens and natural environment.
Q: Is the public school allotment formula sufficient or does the legislature need to change it? Explain what your plan is for this issue.
A: As commissioner, I have voted to increase local public-school funding to new record levels each year I’ve been in office. The most recent state budget did include meaningful increases to school funding, but I don’t think the current state formula fully accounts for the cost differences and challenges counties like ours face. So, no, I don’t think it is sufficient as written. My plan is to push for a formal legislative review of the current formula, with local superintendents, finance officers, and teachers at the table, so we can better identify what districts like ours actually need.
Q: State law allows law enforcement agencies, including the State Bureau of Investigation, to store data captured by license plate reading cameras (Flock cameras) for up to 90 days. Since the CEO of Flock cameras has now recommended agencies reduce the time camera data is stored down to seven days, would you make it a priority to change state law to follow this recommendation?
A: I recently made the motion to cancel Flock’s ALPR contract with New Hanover County. Law enforcement should be equipped with the resources and tools needed to keep us safe, but we can’t overlook or override fundamental constitutional protections. I support changing state law to reduce the time camera data is stored. I also support changing state laws to create more substantial guardrails around the use of this technology and enhancing the criminal penalties for those who abuse it. But those protective measures may still not be enough to address the serious concerns and questions I have about how this technology impacts our citizens’ civil liberties. Transparency is key, and as Representative I will continue to engage with the citizens of District 20 about what is most appropriate for our community.
Q: Do you support how the film grant program currently operates? Do you think the $31-million annual cap on award disbursements should be lifted? Do you think the General Assembly should allocate more money to the program?
A: The film industry is extremely important to our region and our state, and to me personally. I support the grant program as it currently operates, though I’d support modifications to make it simpler for productions to film here. I want North Carolina to attract and retain film, and to do that we have to be easy to do business with and provide certainty to the industry professionals who work and raise their families here. I do support allocating more money to the program because I believe the return on investment is real and meaningful. North Carolina is the number one state for business in the country, and there’s no reason why we can’t also be a top state for film.
Q: Would you support rolling back the sales and use tax exemption for data centers to build in North Carolina? Explain.
A: I completely agree with how Governor Stein recently framed the issue: “We need to embrace innovation, but we have to do it in a way that doesn’t harm North Carolinians. Data centers should bring their own clean power and pay for their own energy, not leave families paying higher electricity bills because of data centers’ energy demands.” We also must be careful about where these data centers go so that they don’t negatively impact existing neighborhoods. However, I will also note that I highly doubt that New Hanover County is a suitable county to build a hyperscale data center.
Q: The current gas-tax funding system for the NCDOT no longer seems to efficiently support necessary projects – including the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge replacement. Is tolling the answer; what other funding mechanisms would you support? Would you vote on legislation to allow the Turnpike Authority to toll the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge if it comes before you?
A: I do not support tolling the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge. Given the interests of the U.S. Coast Guard and U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in this bridge, I believe the federal government needs to play a larger role in funding its replacement, and I am working with our federal representatives now to make that case. At the state level, I haven’t seen a funding mechanism that gets this project done without unduly shifting the cost onto New Hanover County’s citizens. I am therefore focused on the federal path because I think it’s the one most likely to actually work.
Q: Would you vote to implement an independent commission to draw legislative and congressional lines? Why or why not?
A: I do not support taking fundamental questions of democracy like this from the people’s elected representatives and giving them to unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats. Redistricting decisions should stay with officials whom voters can hold accountable at the ballot box.
Q: In terms of economic development, North Carolina gets high marks for business, but middling and lower marks for worker satisfaction and quality of life. What would you do to improve these metrics for state residents?
A: The most impactful thing the government can do here is empower individual citizens by taking less money out of the pockets of workers and small business owners. When prices are high and the basics of life are unaffordable, taking more of your money to fund bigger government is bad policy. Government doesn’t create wealth or individual happiness, but it can diminish both by growing too large, too powerful and not being fully accountable to the people. That’s why I’m fighting for low taxes, clean water, a fair power bill, and a doctor’s appointment you don’t have to wait a year for. And I’ll keep fighting as a representative to improve the quality of life for everyone in meaningful, commonsense ways