The way speaker of the House Thom Tillis sees it, his work in Raleigh has only just begun. Speaking to some 200 members of the business community at this week's SouthWest Chapter luncheon, Tillis touted Republicans accomplishments in 2011 and then laid out his expectations for the new year.

"In 83 legislative days we were able to take care of the budget. We have the most aggressive pro-business agenda we've seen in decades," he said. Chief among those wins:

• medical malpractice and tort reform
• allowing a 1-cent temporary tax to expire.

While Democrats complain cuts made to balance the budget were done to the detriment of education and social services programs, Tillis seems to take such criticism as a challenge. In 2013, he plans to focus on the three "R's" - regulatory reform, tax reform and education reform. "There is no clear correlation that spending more money necessarily improves the outcome."