Three Republicans from the Wake County delegation to the N.C. House are convinced Democratic Speaker Jim Black will leave the House’s top job soon.

Reps. Russell Capps, Nelson Dollar, and Paul Stam held a joint news conference this morning at the Legislative Building to outline reform ideas for the next speaker. “Every day it becomes more evident there will be a change in the Speakership by opening day of the General Assembly,” Dollar said. “Yet more important than changing the representative who holds the gavel is changing how the House operates.”

The three Republicans hope to lay the groundwork for a new leadership style in the House. They want:

*A three-term limit on all future speakers. (Black is midway through his record-tying fourth two-year term.)

*Each party to determine its membership on committees.

*Budgets limited to budget items. Legislation that deals with items other than appropriations and revenue would be considered separately.

*No additions to the budget bill that do not appear in the House or Senate versions of the budget.

*No “floating” members of House committees.

*No closed-door sessions of the budget’s negotiating “conference” committee.

*An independent redistricting commission.

*Revised House rules that would employ standard parliamentary procedures for House business.

“It doesn’t really matter who the speaker is as long as the rules are followed,” Capps said. “But when the rules are thrown into the trash can day by day and session by session, then there’s no representation for the people of North Carolina.”

Stam says he’s noticed a huge change in the concentration of House power. He served in the chamber for one term in 1989 and 1990, then returned after a 12-year absence. “When I left the House in 1990, it was a chaotic participatory democracy,” Stam said. “When I came back in 2003, it was a very ordered oligarchy.

“Power was so concentrated that I was really shocked,” he added, “and shocked — really — that members of the majority party were willing to give away all of their influence on opening day.”

The Republicans do not believe they will play a role in removing the speaker, since Democrats hold a 63-57 majority in the House. Still, they believe Black will leave the job soon. “I believe it’s much more than likely that that will happen,” Dollar said.