NC Policy Update | neighborsoncall

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 3/21/22

Fair Representation

On Thursday Republicans in the NCGA announced they were petitioning the U.S. Supreme Court to review the state courts’ intervention in the process of drawing North Carolina’s congressional district map, arguing once more that the NC Supreme Court’s rejection of the state legislator-drawn map violated the U.S. Constitution. The U.S. Supreme Court already declined to weigh in on the map before the midterm elections, but they could take up the case in the fall, and any decision stemming from the case could have long-lasting impacts on the redistricting process in North Carolina and other states.

Economic and Housing Policy

On March 10 the NC House passed a resolution urging Congress to provide state pension plans with a legal pathway to recover Russian assets. The resolution, which was requested by State Treasurer Dale Folwell, has no legal effect, but rather represents a symbolic effort to encourage Congress to change an existing law. At least 19 other states have proposed or passed similar resolutions through legislation or executive order, but North Carolina’s is unique in not directly requiring divestment of the state’s pension funds.

LGBTQ Rights

On March 11 the North Carolina Supreme Court upheld a lower court ruling about domestic violence protection orders, affirming that such orders must apply in same-sex dating cases. The high court’s vote on the ruling was 4-3, with all three registered Republicans dissenting. Previously North Carolina had been the only state in the country that did not allow domestic violence protection orders for people in same-sex relationships who weren’t currently or formerly married or cohabitating.

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.