Becki Gray

Senior Vice President of Government Affairs and Outreach
Becki Gray is Senior Vice President of the John Locke Foundation. She provides information, consultation, and publications to elected officials, government staff and other decision makers involved in the state public-policy process.

Gray taps her experience in the legal field, at the North Carolina General Assembly and as a lobbyist in the private sector as well as the full resources and staff of JLF to fulfill requests for information and analysis from policymakers.

She offers commentary on television and radio shows across North Carolina and is a regular panelist on NCSpin. Gray writes a monthly column for Carolina Journal and her op-eds have been published in newspapers across the state. She frequently speaks to civic and political groups about public policy and legislative issues.

She earned an Art degree at Queens College in Charlotte, a Paralegal Certificate from Meredith College and has completed graduate work at UNC-Charlotte and UNC-Greensboro.

Gray is a member of the first class of the John Locke Foundation’s E.A. Morris Fellows, a statewide leadership program. She serves on the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Board of Trustees.

Posts by Becki Gray (page 1)

  • Testimony before NCGA Senate Committees on HB 951, Energy Solutions

    I testified on HB 951, Energy Solutions for North Carolina this week before both the Senate Ag/Energy/Enviro Committee and the Senate Rules Committee.  Here are my prepared remarks: Energy policy. This is confusing, complex and complicated stuff. Stakeholders, shareholders, special interests bargain for months.  Energy policy has deep implications…
    Becki Gray, October 5, 2021
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  • Significant Certificate-of-Need Reforms On The Way To The Governor’s Desk

    SB 462 which makes changes to NC’s outdated and draconian Certificate of Need (CON) laws is on its way to Governor Cooper’s desk. The John Locke Foundation has advocated for CON reform for decades. CON laws drive up costs, limit access and impede quality of health care.  Although…
    Becki Gray, August 25, 2021
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  • HB 951, Modernize Energy Generation: what’s it going to cost?

    How much will it cost? A proposed committee substitute for House Bill 951, Modernize Energy Generation was introduced and discussed in the NC House last week. It’s a 47 page complicated, dense proposal to modernize NC’s energy generation and  make substantive changes to generation, ratemaking and investments in energy…
    Becki Gray, June 21, 2021
    nuclear energy

  • SB 349, Increase Housing Opportunities is a good idea. Here’s what I had to say about it.

    I spoke in favor of SB 349, Increase Housing Opportunities this afternoon in the Senate Finance Committee. Here’s what I said: With the new census numbers in and as Apple’s recent announcement reminds us, North Carolina has been an attractive and affordable alternative for businesses and people to move.  You…
    Becki Gray, May 5, 2021
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  • SB 455, Decriminalize non-Statutory Offenses is a good idea

    North Carolina’s criminal code is a mess. The sheer number of criminal laws and regulations are inaccessible and haphazardly organized so as to make it virtually impossible for regular citizens to know, understand and comply without breaking the law as they go about their everyday life, jobs and businesses. Citizens…
    Becki Gray, May 5, 2021
    brown and white hardback law books stacked on top of each other. In the middle of the stack is a white book with the word

  • A special education savings account may be just the thing to address learning loss for NC students

    We know learning loss from months of remote learning is real. We don’t know how deep and how wide that loss is yet. We know many students are  suffering from failing grades and the despair and loss of confidence failing brings. The students we worry the most about in the…
    Becki Gray, April 16, 2021
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  • What I’m watching election night

    After months of anticipation, piles of money spent, endless TV commercials watched and too many visits from candidates to count, the 2020 election is finally here.  Several of my colleagues and I will be offering  election return coverage on North Carolina News Network and their flagship station WPTF…
    Becki Gray, November 2, 2020
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  • Candidate Question: Do you have education data on discipline, crime, teacher pay, benefits?

    Of course we do!  And it comes from the public school reports. We’ve simply complied it for you and will let the facts/data speak for themselves: According to the 2020 North Carolina Teacher Working Conditions Survey: 38% of teachers say that their students do not follow the rules of…
    Becki Gray, September 15, 2020