Neighbors on Call's Weekly Policy Update for 10/18/21

Education Policy

• Ahead of a Monday, October 18, deadline for NC legislators to clarify how they will fully fund the Leandro plan for equitable public education, House Democrats joined education advocates last week in calling on Republican legislative leaders to fully invest in the plan. The court-ordered plan calls for $427 million in new education funding this year, and the October 18 deadline was set by Superior Court Judge David Lee in response to legislative inaction in implementing the plan.

Update as of this writing: Keung Hui at The News and Observer reported on Twitter that Judge David Lee is giving Leandro plaintiffs until Nov. 1 to submit a proposed order for requiring the NC General Assembly to fund the plan.

Environmental Policy

• On Wednesday Governor Cooper signed into law HB 951, the energy bill that calls for electricity producers in North Carolina to cut carbon dioxide emissions 70% by 2030 and nearly 100% by 2050. The bill, which is the result of months of negotiation between Cooper and Republican leaders in the NC General Assembly, also allows for multi-year rate setting, a provision Duke Energy has long sought. Though the bill had broad support in the NCGA, some environmental groups expressed concerns that the carbon reduction provisions are written such that they may not be easily enforceable.

Health Care Policy

On Friday Governor Cooper signed into law SB 191, the “No Patient Left Alone Act.”The bill, written in response to early COVID-19 restrictions, will prevent health care facilities from banning patient visitors. Facilities affected by the law include hospitals, nursing homes, and hospice care facilities. The bill had previously unanimously passed the NC General Assembly.

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Fair Representation

• Lawmakers in the General Assembly began drawing new maps this week as part of the redistricting process. The first map drawn Wednesday, by Sen. Warren Daniel (R-Morganton), split each of the three most populous counties in the states into three districts, a plan that would create a heavy advantage for Republicans; other early maps also favored Republicans. Legislators will continue to draw potential maps for at least another week.

Voting Rights

• Members of the NC House’s right-wing “freedom caucus” announced Thursday that they want to inspect Durham County’s voting machines, part of a months-long campaign to investigate North Carolina election equipment despite no evidence of irregularities. Durham County Board of Elections director Derek Bowens responded to the announcement by citing state regulations that prohibit anyone beyond Board of Elections staff from accessing voting machines, echoing State Board of Elections executive director Karen Brinson Bell’s response to earlier requests. The House members claimed to have picked a county at random, though Durham County voted overwhelmingly for Biden in the 2020 election.

• On Wednesday the House Election Law and Campaign Finance Reform committee approved a bill that would link jury duty notifications to voter rolls. HB 259, which would also require all voting machines used in the state to be manufactured in the United States by a U.S.-headquartered company, would match names of North Carolinians who say they cannot serve on a jury due to non-citizen status to names on state voter rolls and remove matches from the rolls. This process can easily lead to erroneous removal of voters from the rolls, either due to false matches or because people’s citizenship status changes. Governor Cooper vetoed a bill in 2019 that would have linked jury duty notifications to voter rolls.

Economic and Housing Policy

• Negotiations over the state budget are underway between Republican leadership of the NC General Assembly and Governor Cooper. In comments to reporters on Tuesday, Cooper re-emphasized his priorities of expanding Medicaid, investing in education, and improving teacher pay. On Wednesday, NC Senate Leader Phil Berger told reporters that Governor Cooper had provided NCGA leadership a budget counteroffer and that they were working to respond with another counteroffer.

Environmental Policy

• On Thursday the NC General Assembly passed an energy bill that calls for the major power plants in the state to reduce their carbon emissions by 70% by 2030. HB 951, which also changes state regulations that control rate increases, passed the Senate 42-7 and the House 90-20. The bill is the result of months of negotiations between Governor Cooper and state legislative leaders, and Cooper is expected to sign the bill soon, despite concerns from some advocates about the burden of potential cost increases for poor families and from others about the flexible, non-binding nature of the carbon reduction requirements.

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Governance

• Gov. Cooper vetoed a bill that would have required the state’s attorney general to get approval from legislative leaders to settle lawsuits brought against the state. In his veto statement, the governor said, “The bill is unconstitutional and unwise, and would prevent the Attorney General from doing his job to protect the people of North Carolina.” SB 360 had passed the legislature with party-line votes.

Fair Representation

• The NC Supreme Court will examine the legal basis for recusal after two justices in a case currently before the court (Phil Berger, Jr., and Tamara Barringer) declined to voluntarily remove themselves because of conflict of interest when requested to do so by plaintiffs in the case. The court directed both parties to the case (NAACP v. Moore and Berger) to submit briefs addressing “the procedure the court should use in considering a recusal motion,” including whether the court has the authority to enforce involuntary recusal. NAACP v. Moore and Berger challenges the legality of two constitutional amendments approved in 2018, one capping the state income tax rate and the other requiring that voters show a photo ID. The NAACP sued NC House Speaker Tim Moore and NC Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger, Sr., alleging that the amendments were unconstitutional because they were approved and placed on the ballot by General Assembly members who were elected from legislative districts that were unlawfully gerrymandered..

Education Policy

• North Carolina school boards will have to continue to hold monthly public votes on their COVID-19 masking policies after NC House Republicans blocked Democratic efforts to repeal the public hearing requirement included in a recently passed state education bill. The North Carolina School Board Association had requested a change in the rule due to the increasing disruption of school board meetings by people opposed to the masking mandates.

• A NC Superior Court justice, ruling that the Lincoln County School Board had the legal right to continue a mask-optional policy for students in the district, declined to issue a temporary restraining order against the board’s recent decision to institute the policy. Parents of 13 children had requested the restraining order, citing concerns about the effect on children and families of lifting a mask mandate.
  

• In order to receive $7.9 million in funding for public schools, the Johnston County School Board has voted to comply with a County Board of Commissioners demand that teachers be disciplined or fired if they teach “that American historical figures weren’t heroes, undermine the U.S. Constitution in lessons or say that racism is a permanent part of American life.” April Lee, president of the Johnston County Association of Educators and an 8th-grade social studies teacher, referred to the Board of Commissioners’ action as “basically extortion,” saying, “They’re holding money hostage until they get a policy that is extreme enough for them to approve.”

Criminal Justice

• The NC House passed a bill that would allow repeat offenders for driving while impaired and those who have a breathalyzer level of 0.15 percent or above to get back on the road more quickly and safely for essential activities. Backed by Mothers Against Drunk Driving, the NC Sheriffs’ Association, and the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, SB 183 eliminates the 6-week waiting period for installing an ignition interlock device, making it immediately legal for offenders to drive to their jobs or other essential activities such as court-ordered treatment. It also provides some financial help to offset the cost of the device for low-income individuals. The device prevents a vehicle from being started until a breath-alcohol test is taken and measures clean. The bill will receive a final vote in the NC Senate before going to Gov. Cooper.