North Carolina Rep. Laura Budd spoke Monday about safety on Charlotte’s transit system and political violence nationwide. In August, 23-year-old Iryana Zarutska was killed on the Blue Line light rail. Last week, commentator Charlie Kirk, who had frequently discussed the case, was shot and killed in Utah.
As lawmakers consider changes to North Carolina’s criminal laws, cashless bond policies and mental health systems, the General Assembly is set to return Monday, Budd said those changes will require coordination and investment.
"To execute this plan is going to require time and financial investment in the courts, public safety infrastructure, including our transit system," Budd said. "We need to upgrade and place officers on that transit system, have people pay for tickets. That alone may be a deterrent for some."
District 6 Charlotte City Council Democratic nominee Kimberly Owens also spoke, and called on lawmakers in Raleigh to have a grounded view.
"The biggest start of all is a conversation, a bipartisan conversation around what it means to be a healthy society with healthy society goals of embracing all of us and not demonizing the other," Owens said.
When the legislature returns next week, the new state budget will be a top item, alongside a planned crime bill.
