John Irwin Sauls II (born November 29, 1949) is a Republican member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. A pastor from Sanford, North Carolina and former Lee County Commissioner, he has represented the 51st district (including constituents in Lee and Harnett counties) since 2017. When Sauls returned to the NC House in 2017, he held the position of Republican Freshman Chair. He has been elected to the NC House a total of 5 times, most recently in 2022.

Personal life

Sauls' son, John Sauls III or "Pastor J3" took over Sauls position as lead pastor at Crossroads Ministries in 2016. Sauls is a Vietnam-era veteran.

Political career

Sauls claimed he was ready to run for commissioner when he was approached by Lee County GOP in 1997 because “God had prepared [him] for it.”

Political positions

Education

Sauls voted for the 2017 Republican budget and voted to override the governor’s veto. Starting teacher pay remains at $35,000 under the Republican budget. Many educators, including veterans of 25 years, will only see an increase of $30 a month, merely a tank of gas. The mandate for smaller class sizes will cost North Carolina school districts as much as $388 million more per year. His only criticism of the bill was the manner in which it was passed.

Alcohol consumption and gambling

Sauls voted “no” on H500, an alcoholic beverage control omnibus bill that would ease regulations on North Carolina’s numerous micro-breweries. Three weeks after it was introduced House Bill 500 was gutted despite support from the state’s more than 200 craft brewers. Sauls said he couldn’t support the bill “personally.” As a pastor, Sauls doesn't condemn alcohol drinkers but has "preached too many funerals that were alcohol related." Sauls opposed establishing a state-run education lottery and compared using a lottery to fund education to a “drug dealer who keep selling drugs instead of taking a job.”

Reproductive rights

Sauls voted for the 2017 Republican budget which allocated money to crisis pregnancy centers, clinics that “discourage women from getting abortions would receive a big boost in state financial support.” Sauls voted to table a budget amendment that would redirect money from the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship to the Department of Health and Human Services.

Environment

Sauls voted for H56, a bill that repealed the Outer Banks plastic bag ban and was called the “junk drawer of environmental laws.” Republican legislators tied funding to monitor GenX in the Cape Fear River to a repeal of the coastal ban on plastic bags. The bill directs $185K to the Cape Fear Public Utility Authority and $250K to the UNCW to monitor and study GenX despite Gov. Cooper asked for $2.6 million in funding. Sauls voted for H576, which would have allowed the spraying of "garbage juice" without a permit. H576 would allow landfill operators to “dispose” of landfill fluids by “spraying it into the air over their property” without a permit. Communities where over half the residents are people of color are 2.8 more likely to be near a solid waste facility, according to research published in Environmental Health Perspectives. Senate Bill 16 is a “16-page grab bag of deregulation provisions. It loosens water quality rules and imposes limitations on local governments power over landfill permits, changes that the Democratic governor called dangerous in his veto message.”

Voter ID

In a statement to the Sanford Herald, Sauls said he has “never understood the opposition” to voter ID requirements. Sauls said he doesn’t “see how a statewide election law can target African-Americans.”

Committee assignments

Source:

2023-2024 Session

  • Commerce Committee (Chair)
  • Education - Community Colleges Committee
  • Energy and Public Utilities Committee
  • Ethics Committee (Chair)
  • House Finance Committee

2021-2022 Session

  • Commerce (Chair)
  • Ethics (Chair)
  • Education - Community Colleges (Vice Chair)
  • Education - K-12
  • Energy and Public Utilities
  • Finance
  • Redistricting

2019-2020 Session

  • Appropriations (Vice Chair)
  • Appropriations - Education (Chair)
  • Ethics (Chair)
  • Education - Community Colleges (Chair)
  • Redistricting (Vice Chair)
  • Energy and Public Utilities
  • Judiciary

2017-2018 Session

  • Appropriations
  • Appropriations - Education
  • Appropriations - Health and Human Services
  • Education - Community Colleges (Chair)
  • Energy and Public Utilities
  • Judiciary II
  • Commerce and Job Development
  • State and Local Government II

Electoral history

2020

2018

2016

2004

2002

References

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