NC Policy Update | neighborsoncall

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 3/14/22

COVID-19

On Wednesday NC Senate Republicans failed to win enough votes to override Governor Cooper’s veto of a bill that would have made masks optional in all North Carolina public schools. Though two Democrats in the NC Senate had joined the Republicans to vote for SB 173 (the “Free the Smiles Act”) during its initial passage, they declined to join the Republicans in voting to override the Governor’s veto. Earlier that day, a new study was published in the journal Pediatrics showing that schools with required masking reduced in-school COVID-19 transmission by 87% compared to schools with no such requirements.

Fair Representation

On Monday, in a 6-3 decision, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by Republican leaders in the NCGA to stop a North Carolina congressional district map drawn by a trial court from taking effect. The trial court had not accepted a congressional map redrawn by Republicans in the NCGA in response to the NC Supreme Court’s striking down their original maps, instead choosing to use a map drawn by “special masters” – independent experts appointed by the court. Republicans had argued that it was against the U.S. Constitution for state courts to intervene in the redistricting process in this way, an argument that filings by the groups who had originally sued over Republican-drawn maps stated was extreme and counter to precedent.

Fair Representation

Candidate filing for the May 17 primaries closed Friday in North Carolina after a delayed start due to legal battles over redistricting. The NC State Board of Elections provides a complete list of all candidates who filed here.

On Wednesday the NC Department of Justice, voter advocacy groups, and a group of voters asked the U.S. Supreme Court to reject Republican lawmakers’ request to intervene in the state’s congressional redistricting process. After their redrawn congressional map was rejected by the trial court panel tasked by the N.C. Supreme Court with deciding whether new maps passed state constitutional muster, Republicans in the NC General Assembly appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court to reject the state court’s decision, claiming that it was against the U.S. Constitution for the state Supreme Court to overrule the state legislature in redistricting. A recent article in Vox provides a detailed overview of what the U.S. Supreme Court might choose to do and the potentially high stakes of its choices.

Voting Rights

On Thursday the NC Supreme Court decided to take up a case about North Carolina’s voter ID law. The case, Holmes v. Moore, is one of several cases making their way through the courts that target the law, and by agreeing to hear the case in the summer, the NC Supreme Court is expediting the case by skipping the N.C. Court of Appeals. This case, brought by the Southern Coalition for Social Justice, doesn’t directly target the voter ID constitutional amendment; rather, it targets the law about enforcement of voter ID rules that was passed in a lame-duck session after passage of the constitutional amendment.

Health Care Policy

On Tuesday the NCGA’s joint committee to study Medicaid expansion met for the second time to hear from experts about the benefits and potential logistics of expanding Medicaid in North Carolina. The experts, both state and national, told lawmakers that Medicaid expansion would be very helpful for North Carolina, which they said is lagging behind other states in health care metrics. The committee will meet next on March 15.

COVID

On Thursday Governor Cooper vetoed a bill that would have made face masks optional in North Carolina public schools. SB 173, called the “Free the Smiles Act,” passed with primarily Republican support, but with enough Democratic votes that Republicans could sustain a veto override. Governor Cooper recently relaxed masking recommendations for schools, but he preferred to leave decisions about school mask mandates in the hands of local school boards.

Fair Representation

On Wednesday a three-judge trial court panel rejected the redrawn congressional district map and accepted redrawn state legislative district maps submitted by the NC General Assembly in response to an NC Supreme Court decision striking down their initial maps as unconstitutional partisan gerrymanders. Instead of the NCGA’s redrawn congressional district map, the trial court approved a congressional map created by special masters it had appointed. All parties in the case, both the plaintiffs and the NCGA Republican defendants, objected to one or more of the new maps and filed appeals to the NC Supreme Court. After the NC Supreme Court denied all requests to stay the trial court decision, Republicans in the NCGA appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, claiming the state court’s decision to replace their congressional map with a court-created map violated the U.S. Constitution. Candidate filing also resumed Thursday after the NC Supreme Court upheld the trial court’s decision.

View the maps on Dave’s Redistricting App:

(Pro tip: Under Colors, select Partisan Lean.)