Senior North Carolina House budget writer Saine says he’ll leave legislature next month

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — A top budget writer and Republican leader in the North Carolina House said Monday that he will resign his legislative seat next month, further thinning out the GOP governance team next year when combined with the upcoming departure of Speaker Tim Moore.

Rep. Jason Saine of Lincoln County confirmed that he will step down from his 97th House District seat effective Aug. 12. He said he planned to file his formal resignation letter later Monday.

Saine, who joined the House in 2011, rose through the chamber’s ranks as the GOP tightened its electoral grip on the General Assembly. He became a chairman of the House Finance Committee, which considers tax policy, in 2015. Four years later he become a senior co-chair of the House Appropriations Committee, becoming heavily involved in budget negotiations with the Senate and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.

In recent years, he’s also been the House’s chief advocate for authorizing state-regulated sports gambling, which began in March after a law was enacted in 2023. A Saine news release also lists several awards for his legislative activity, including an early-career award for his efforts to regulate commercial dog breeders. And he was the 2018 national chair of the American Legislative Exchange Council, which is known for providing model legislation to conservative legislators on a variety of topics.

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