In his first State of the State address, Gov. Roy Cooper appealed to a joint session of North Carolina’s General Assembly to repeal House Bill 2 on Monday. He also shared points from his proposed budget, including better pay for teachers and free community college education for qualifying students.

From the beginning, Cooper launched right into the issue of repealing House Bill 2, legislation he believes is a “dark cloud” over North Carolina. He urged the General Assembly to pass a compromise bill that would repeal HB2.

“Pass a compromise repeal that works to eliminate discrimination and brings back jobs, sports and entertainment and I will sign it — as long as it truly gets the job done,” Cooper said.

District 16 Sen. Jay Chaudhuri agreed with Cooper’s approach of opening up with repealing HB2, and said that it was one of his top priorities as a newly elected state senator.

“It’s appropriate to open up with repealing House Bill 2,” Chaudhuri said. “We need to make [repealing HB2] the first priority here in the General Assembly.”

Chaudhuri praised some of the bills proposed by state senate and house democrats, including a full repeal bill and a bill he co-sponsored that expands nondiscrimination ordinances. He also criticized a bill that would allow for local referenda to be held that decide whether localities enforce key mandates of HB2.

“I am against that; I think that bill essentially allows for civil rights to be put on the ballot,” Chaudhuri said.

Another key measure Cooper mentioned was a proposal for free community college for qualifying North Carolina students.

“To earn it, young people have to make good grades and apply for already-existing scholarships, loans and grant programs,” Cooper said.

This directive is part of his proposed workforce program called NC GROW, which stands for “Getting Ready for Opportunities in the Workforce”.

Chaudhuri ran on the prospect of free community college in his state Senate campaign and praised the governor’s proposal. Cooper and Chaudhuri both emphasized that in other states, such proposals have gained bipartisan support.

Cooper also talked about the importance of improving teacher pay and highlighted some of his budget proposals to do so.

“My budget gives every single teacher a raise, valuing the experienced teachers as well as those new to the job,” Cooper said.

In addition, Cooper proposed a $150 bonus for teachers to cover the cost of buying classroom supplies.

Cooper recommended the creation of a scholarship that would incentivize good students to stay to teach in North Carolina for three to four years.

“My budget would create $10,000 Best and Brightest scholarships for students who commit to spending three to four years in the classroom,” Cooper said. “Let’s find common ground so we can get more of these great teachers.”

Before moving from education into economic matters, Cooper had one last message about the importance of valuing education.

“We cannot sacrifice education at the altar of even more corporate tax cuts or giveaways that are mostly for the wealthiest,” Cooper said. “Changes to our tax code need to focus on relief for working families — not corporations and millionaires.”

Cooper had a mixed tone toward the state of the economy, citing general growth but a stifled unemployment rate. In addressing economic matters, Cooper emphasized bringing broadband access to rural areas.

“We must do more to help rural businesses and family farms grow,” Cooper said. “High-speed broadband access is key to their success, in fact, it’s a necessity, in a global marketplace.”

Cooper said that despite the uncertainty in the national discourse about health care, the North Carolina government has a responsibility for improving coverage of North Carolinians.

“There’s a new health care landscape in our country, filled with uncertainty,” Cooper said. “We have to sit down and have serious discussions about improving access to care for people who don’t have it.”

Cooper also addressed what he called a crisis of opioid and substance abuse, citing the work of the town of Nashville’s work to combat addiction. Nashville, North Carolina Police Chief Tom Bashore, another one of Cooper’s special guests, assisted in launching a program for helping opioid addicts called “Hope Initiative.”

“The ‘Hope Initiative,’ [is] the first program in North Carolina encouraging opioid addicts to walk into a police station seeking treatment without fear of arrest,” Cooper said. “Recognizing that addiction is a disease, Chief Bashore has engaged with the community to eliminate the stigma surrounding opioid addiction and encourage addicts to seek treatment.”

Cooper encouraged compromise and finding common ground, citing his own experience in the General Assembly and finding compromise on various legislative initiatives, and urging for a change in focus of the government’s discourse.

“Let’s listen to North Carolinians urging us to set aside divisive social issues and political power struggles,” Cooper said. “Instead, let’s focus on teacher pay and jobs — the issues families face and talk about every day around their kitchen tables.”