Becki Gray

Senior Vice President
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)

  • House Budget – A Dozen Initial Take-Aways

    We’re still combing through last week’s committee reports, sorting out details from this morning’s Finance meeting and waiting for the full budget documents, but we’re starting to get a picture of what the House proposes in its budget. Here are a dozen things that struck me: 1. Spending is same…
    Becki Gray, May 30, 2017
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  • Certificate of Need phase out in the Senate budget

    Tax cuts, prudent spending, saving more for a rainy day are a few of the good things in the Senate budget.  Phasing out NC’s egregious Certificate of Need (CON) laws is another.  What we know is CON limits access, increases costs and compromises the quality of health care. A complete…
    Becki Gray, May 23, 2017
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  • Tort litigation abuse, nuisance remedies and protecting property rights: finding a balance. Let’s get it right.

    Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed House Bill 467, Agriculture and Forestry Nuisance Remedies, on Friday. In his veto message, he noted, “Special protection for one industry opens the door to weakening our nuisance laws in other areas which can allow real harm to homeowners, the environment, and everyday North Carolinians.” He…
    Becki Gray, May 10, 2017

  • Senate budget offers more tax relief, saves more, keeps N.C. spending growth in check

    The N.C. Senate’s $22.9 billion General Fund budget plan would allow taxpayers to keep more of their own money, while also showing greater restraint than the governor in dealing with state spending growth. The John Locke Foundation budget team offers that reaction to Senate budget highlights unveiled in a Tuesday…
    Becki Gray, May 9, 2017
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  • Debt, taxes, and gaming the feds. What could go wrong in Rocky Mount?

    My colleague Kari Travis has the latest update on the Rocky Mount event boondoggle, oops, center in today’s Carolina Journal. Read her report, but here’s a quick recap: $50M project in a community with 3.3% population decline where property values likely dropping 15% and possible property tax increase of…
    Becki Gray, January 3, 2017

  • Special Session V and where do we go from here?

    Special Session V and where do we go from here? The real barrier to repealing HB2 this week was trust.  Efforts at some kind of compromise had been going on for months, starting in April and ongoing through the fall. But the 2016 elections got in the way. Personalities, partisan…
    Becki Gray, December 22, 2016

  • Who should protest? It’s probably not who you think.

    You saw them on the front page of the newspaper. You heard them on the 6 o’clock news. You read their rants on social media. They disrupted the work of the General Assembly. Members of the N.C. House and Senate complained they could barely hear each other debate the special…
    Becki Gray, December 20, 2016

  • Random post-election thoughts, questions and musings

    Wow. Just wow. I spent last night watching, commenting, wondering, and asking really? And a good part of today, making notes and generally thinking through what does all this mean.  Sharing some random thoughts on the day after the 2016 Election….. Lucky Mike Night – unexpected wins for “Mike” Mike…
    Becki Gray, November 9, 2016