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Governance
The state legislative session drew to a close this week with no new budget approved. After the NC House approved its own budget plan the previous Thursday, the NC Senate approved a separate budget plan on Monday that does not include the funding earmarked in the House’s proposal for additional teacher and state employee raises and state government retiree bonuses. The lack of a budget means that proposals Republicans in the two chambers agreed on, such as a significant funding increase for the state’s private school voucher program, will not be put in place for now. Budget talks may begin again later in the summer or in the fall when legislators return.
This week the NCGA overturned three of Governor Cooper’s recent vetoes. The bills that will now become law over Cooper’s objections include a bill that limits public wearing of masks, creates a significant loophole in election finance regulations, and mandates harsher penalties for certain protest activities; a bill that will move more 16- and 17-year-old defendants to adult court; and a bill that allows for more tree cutting near billboards.
On Friday, Governor Cooper signed five bills into law:
SB 790, which gives additional protections to lawyers being investigated by the State Bar;
HB 223, which makes several changes to the state Human Resources Act;
HB 495, which increases criminal penalties for money laundering and revises selected larceny laws to address retail theft;
HB 912, which gives permission to several UNC-system campuses to finance certain capital improvements without state appropriations; and
HB 971, which attempts to address human trafficking through adjustments to existing trafficking and solicitation laws and requiring training on the topic for hotels and other lodging establishments.
Voting Rights
On Wednesday the NC House passed a constitutional amendment ballot initiative that would slightly change the language in the N.C. constitution banning noncitizen voting. The amendment, HB 1074, would change the current language about who is allowed to vote in North Carolina (“Every person born in the United States and every person who has been naturalized”) to “Only a citizen of the United States.” Proposed constitutional amendments require a 60% supermajority vote to be placed on the ballot, and this proposal passed 104-12. Both the NC Senate and NC House had considered other constitutional amendment proposals during this session, including an amendment that would have enshrined voter ID requirements for mail-in ballots in the constitution, but HB 1074 was the only one that passed.
On Thursday the NC House approved a bill that would require the State Board of Elections to investigate data provided by “election integrity” organizations. HB 1071 would require the SBoE to receive and evaluate claims of voter roll errors from third parties that define themselves as election integrity organizations, though critics pointed out that there is no clear definition for such an organization and that evaluating their adherence to the uniform, nondiscriminatory practices of voter roll maintenance required by law would be difficult. The bill now goes to the Senate for consideration.
On Wednesday the State Board of Elections voted along party lines not to recognize Justice for All, We the People, and the Constitution Party as political parties. Democrats voted against allowing these parties’ candidates (including Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) on the ballot for now, in part because efforts to include them have been pushed by Trump supporters to reduce Biden’s vote share. Democrats called for these groups’ petitions to be investigated by elections administrators.
On Tuesday the NC Senate passed a bill along party lines that would change multiple elections regulations. SB 88 would give the NCGA more control over municipal and county elections, require signature matching for mail-in ballots, and mandate that political ads disclose any use of AI. Democrats objected to the bill, particularly the provision about local elections, as a “power grab” by the NCGA. The bill now goes to the House for consideration.
Economic Policy
Following outcry over a proposal to weaken protections of archaeological sites uncovered by developers, on Tuesday the NC Senate Judiciary Committee approved a modified version of a bill governing land purchasing and development rules. HB 385 would no longer allow developers to proceed with construction even if they find an archaeological site, and it would require state officials to warn developers of the possibility that their prospective land purchase might contain an archeological site. On the weekend before the committee made this change, a confrontation between neighborhood residents in a new development and protestors from the Tuscarora Nation over this issue turned violent.
After budget negotiations failed, on Thursday the NCGA passed a stopgap funding measure for child care to avert the closure of multiple child care centers. SB 357 allocates $67.5 million for child care subsidies, which only covers a small portion of the federal COVID-era child care subsidies ending on July 1 and therefore only buys a few months before more funding is needed.
Environmental Policy
On Thursday the NC Senate passed a bill that would provide financing for clean energy upgrades for businesses. SB 802 would create a Commercial Property Assessed Clean Energy (CPACE) program that would allow businesses to borrow money for upgrades such as rooftop solar panels, LED lighting, and energy-efficient HVAC systems that could be paid back with ongoing small increases to their property taxes. Similar programs exist in over 38 states. State Treasurer Dale Folwell has opposed CPACE programs in North Carolina, while clean energy organizations have advocated for them.
Health Care Policy
On Monday the NC Senate passed a bill legalizing medical marijuana by a vote of 36-10. HB 563 originally only included regulations of hemp-derived consumables, but the Senate added in a provision legalizing the use of marijuana when prescribed by a physician. The final version approved by the Senate also included a provision specifying that recreational use of marijuana would need to be approved by the NCGA in the event that it is rescheduled federally or removed from the federal list of controlled substances. The bill now heads to the House, which has previously quashed medical marijuana legislation.
Reproductive Rights
On Wednesday the NC House Judiciary Committee approved a bill that would criminalize the use of drugs and alcohol during pregnancy and shorten the time period for terminating parental rights. SB 625 would add the use of alcohol and illegal substances during pregnancy to the legal definition of child neglect, shorten the period of time required to terminate parental rights from one year to nine months, and end a medical evaluation program for suspected abuse cases. Democrats on the committee objected to the bill as “punitive” and pointed out the risks that someone suffering from addiction might avoid prenatal care or addiction treatment during pregnancy. The bill did not receive a second hearing before the legislative session adjourned, but it may be taken up again in the fall.
On Monday, the anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s Dobbs ruling overturning abortion rights, Democrats in the NCGA held a press conference advocating for legislation that would protect contraception rights. SB 808 would protect the right to contraception, including IUDs, against conservative efforts to restrict contraception access. Democrats attempted to get the bill a hearing using a discharge petition, but no Republicans signed it.
Justice
On Wednesday the NCGA passed a bill that would define antisemitism in North Carolina law. HB 942, the “Shalom Act,” would adopt the “Working Definition of Antisemitism adopted by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance on May 26, 2016” as the official definition of antisemitism in state law. Critics say some of what this definition targets is “political speech” rather than antisemitism. The bill passed the Senate 47-2, and the House approved the Senate committee substitute 105-3, so it now goes to Governor Cooper for his signature.
On Tuesday a federal judge dismissed a lawsuit filed by the ACLU of North Carolina over an anti-rioting law passed last year. U.S. District Judge Loretta Biggs ruled that the law did not criminalize free speech and peaceful protesting, given that rioting as defined in North Carolina law excludes peaceful protest and that merely being present at an event where rioting occurs is exempted from criminal conviction. The ACLU had argued that the definition of rioting was too broad and could lead to those engaging in protected speech being prosecuted for that activity.