Paul Stam

In February 2013, Stam drew criticism from news media when he maneuvered the House Rules Committee into giving an "unfavorable report" on a bill to stop arresting medical patients who use marijuana, prohibiting consideration of any similar measure for two years. After spending a total of 20 minutes on the bill, Stam accused constituents of harassing him and other legislators by sending them emails and phone calls encouraging them to vote for the bill.[8][9] The nonprofit Marijuana Policy Project replied, "Despite what Rep. Stam said, elected officials need to hear from their constituents."[10]

In June 2014, in the course of a debate over a proposal to prohibit charter schools from discriminating in hiring or admissions on the grounds of "sexual orientation or gender identity," Stam passed out a handout describing pedophilia, necrophilia and bestiality as "sexual orientations" (the language was taken from an obsolete edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders). "Many, many sexual orientations are not ones you want to have teaching kids in school. You may think you know what you mean by this, but you don't," Stam said. He refused to further explain the list, which he had previously passed around when arguing against including sexual orientation in the state's statute against school bullying in 2010. Speaker Tillis' office later issued a statement characterizing Stam's remarks as "not helpful".[11]

In March, 2016 Stam co-sponsored Public Facilities Privacy & Security Act, commonly known as HB2.[12]