John R. Bell IV

John Richard Bell IV is an American politician and Republican member of the North Carolina House of Representatives. He represents the 10th district which includes Greene, Johnston and Wayne counties.[1]

John Bell
Majority Leader of the North Carolina House of Representatives
Incumbent
Assumed office August 30, 2016
Preceded by	Mike Hager
Member of the North Carolina House of Representatives from the 10th district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 1, 2013
Preceded by	Karen Kozel
Personal details
Born	May 18, 1979 Mount Olive, North Carolina, U.S.
Political party	Republican
Education	University of North Carolina, Wilmington (BA)

Early life and education

John Richard Bell, IV is the child of John R. "Ricky" Bell, III, and Cindy Ezzell Bell. He has one sister. His father was a highway maintenance engineer for the North Carolina Department of Transportation.[2] Bell graduated from the University of North Carolina, Wilmington, in 2001.[3]

Career

In 2016, Bell was a business development employee for North Carolina Community Federal Credit Union in Goldsboro, North Carolina.[4] He later joined Sentinel Risk Advisors as a client executive.[3]

In January 2016, Bell endorsed Senator Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican Party presidential primaries.[5]

Bell was elected by the state House Republican Caucus to the position of state House majority whip in 2014,[6] and to the position of majority leader in 2016.[4] Bell was also been chairman of the House Regulatory Reform Committee and the House Select Committee on Wildlife Resources.[4]

In the state House, Bell has been a supporter of restricting wind energy development, taking the position that wind farms are a threat to military bases in North Carolina because they could obstruct low-level military training flights.[7] Bell sponsored legislation in 2013 to increase wind-energy regulation,[7] and in 2019 helped negotiate a bill to require the state to consult military commanders as part of the state permitting process for wind farms.[8]

Bell and other General Assembly Republicans have opposed Democratic Governor Roy Cooper on the issue of expanding Medicaid. Cooper and other Democrats support the expansion of Medicaid, and Republicans oppose it.[9]

Bell introduced legislation in 2019 to allow the sale of beer and wine at North Carolina public universities during athletic games.[10] The bill passed later that year, and seven University of North Carolina System institutions took advantage of the law by opting to allow alcohol sales on game days.[11]

References

1. Representative John R. Bell, IV (REP), North Carolina General Assembly.
2. "John Richard "Ricky" Bell Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information". Tyndall Funeral Home. October 2018. Retrieved 10 July 2020.
3. Profiles: John Bell, University of North Carolina, Wilmington (July 18, 2018).
4. Patrick Gannon, NC House Republicans select new majority leader, News & Observer (August 30, 2016).
5. Colin Campbell, More NC legislators back Marco Rubio, News & Observer (January 8, 2016).
6. Lynn Bonner, Tim Moore is state House Republican nominee for speaker, News & Observer (November 23, 2014).
7. Jay Price, An Effort To Restrict Eastern N.C Wind Farms Appears Dead In the Legislature, WUNC (August 2, 2019).
8. Lynn Bonner, Wind power ban dropped from wind power legislation, News & Observer (June 26, 2019).
9. David Ranii & Lynn Bonner, Gov. Roy Cooper wants to expand Medicaid; Republicans vow to fight, News & Observer (January 5, 2017).
10. Lauren Horsch, Let NC's public universities sell beer and wine at games, state lawmakers say, Charlotte Observer (March 15, 2019).
11. Kate Murphy, NC State fans buy beer in the stadium to cool down at football season opener, Charlotte Observer (August 31, 2019).