Who Is the NC Speaker of the House and What Do They Do?

The NC Speaker of the House is Representative Destin Hall of District 87, a Republican attorney in western North Carolina who took the gavel in 2025 after Tim Moore’s ten-year run in the office.¹ The Speaker presides over all 120 House members, appoints every committee and committee chair, signs every bill the House passes, and sits in the state’s line of succession to the governorship.

Who Holds the Office Now

Hall is in his fifth term representing District 87.¹ Representative Mitchell S. Setzer serves as Speaker Pro Tempore and steps into the chair whenever Hall is absent.² Tim Moore held the speakership from 2015 to 2025 before Hall replaced him.

How the Speaker Gets the Job

Article II, Section 15 of the North Carolina Constitution requires the House to elect its own Speaker.³ The vote happens every two years when a new General Assembly convenes, typically in January of odd-numbered years, and only a sitting House member can hold the office.⁴

The real decision usually happens before the public vote. The majority party meets in a private caucus and settles on a single candidate. When the House then convenes in open session, a roll-call vote formalizes the choice, and because the caucus has already unified behind one name, the floor result is rarely in doubt. The winner serves the full two-year term.

What the Speaker Does

Running the Floor

The most visible part of the job is presiding over House sessions. The Speaker recognizes members to speak, keeps debate inside the parliamentary rules, and rules on points of order when a dispute arises about how a rule applies.⁵ A ruling from the chair can end a debate or redirect the path of a bill, so the presiding role carries real weight beyond ceremony. When Hall is unavailable, the Speaker Pro Tempore handles these duties.

Appointing Committees

The Speaker’s deepest influence runs through committee assignments. The Speaker appoints members to every standing committee and picks each chair.⁴ Most bills live or die in committee before they ever reach the floor. A chair who declines to schedule a hearing can quietly end a bill, and the Speaker chose that chair. By placing allies in chair seats and stacking favorable members on key committees, the Speaker shapes which policies move and which stall.

Signing Bills

Every bill that passes the House needs the Speaker’s signature before it moves on. Article II, Section 22 of the state constitution requires every bill to be read three times in each chamber and signed by the presiding officer of each house before going to the Governor.³ The same rule applies to joint resolutions and constitutional amendments. The signature certifies that the House followed proper procedure; without it, a bill cannot be enrolled or sent to the Governor.

Pay

The Speaker earns substantially more than a rank-and-file member. Under General Statute 120-3, regular House members receive an annual salary of $13,951. The Speaker’s base salary is $38,151, plus a $25,000 annual supplement, bringing total pay to $63,151. The Speaker also receives a monthly expense allowance of $1,414.⁶ These figures are set by statute and change only when the General Assembly passes legislation to update them.

Administrative Role Between Sessions

The Speaker also sits on the Legislative Services Commission, which runs the General Assembly’s day-to-day operations when lawmakers are out of session. Under General Statute 120-31, the commission includes the Speaker (or a designated House member), four Representatives the Speaker appoints, the President Pro Tempore of the Senate (or a designated Senator), and four Senators appointed by the President Pro Tempore.⁷

The Speaker chairs the commission in even-numbered years, and the Senate’s President Pro Tempore chairs in odd-numbered years. The commission handles budgeting, staffing, upkeep of the legislative complex, and contract approvals. Certain actions that would normally need a full commission vote can instead be approved jointly by the Speaker and the President Pro Tempore, giving the two leaders considerable administrative control year-round.⁷

If the Speakership Becomes Vacant

If the office becomes vacant through resignation, death, or removal, the House reconvenes and holds a new election using the same constitutional process it used at the start of the session. During a temporary absence, the Speaker Pro Tempore handles presiding duties until the Speaker returns or a replacement is formally chosen.

The Legislative Services Commission has a separate contingency. If the speakership is vacant while the legislature is out of session, the four House members on the commission elect one of their own to perform the Speaker’s commission duties until the House elects a new Speaker.⁷

Place in the Line to Become Governor

The Speaker holds a spot in North Carolina’s executive succession plan. Under General Statute 147-11.1, if both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor are unable to serve, the President of the Senate becomes Governor. If the President of the Senate is also unavailable, the Speaker of the House is next in line.⁸

There is a condition worth knowing. To become Governor under this statute, the Speaker must resign both as Speaker and as a Representative, fully leaving the legislature for the executive branch. For temporary situations, where the Governor and Lieutenant Governor are merely absent or physically unable to serve rather than permanently gone, the Speaker can become Acting Governor without resigning, but only after the President of the Senate has been given the opportunity first.⁸

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North Carolina General Assembly. Representative Destin Hall (Rep)
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North Carolina General Assembly. House Leadership
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Constitution
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina House of Representatives
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nc.gov. Legislative Branch
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes 120-3 – Pay of Members and Officers of the General Assembly
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina General Statutes 120-31 – Legislative Services Commission Organization
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North Carolina General Assembly. North Carolina Code Chapter 147 – Article 3, Section 147-11.1