Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 10/23/23

Fair Representation

• Plans for new NC congressional districts would elect more Republicans to Congress: Proposals could also give the GOP a chance to expand its legislative supermajorities – Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline

• New NC election maps expected to pass [this] week over objections from Democrats: Newly proposed election maps are expected to tilt North Carolina's congressional delegation to the right and maintain GOP majorities in state legislative chambers. Republican lawmakers, who drew the maps in secret, went over them in public for the first time Thursday. – Travis Fain and Will Doran, WRAL News

Voting Rights

• Gov. Cooper sues over a new law that strips governors of state elections board appointments – Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline

• Cooper sues over new GOP-backed election rules he says will 'undermine fair elections' in NC: North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper sued Republican legislative leaders Tuesday, saying recent changes in elections law are unconstitutional. It's the latest in a string of lawsuits over the new rules, including another filed Tuesday by voter rights groups. – Travis Fain and Will Doran, WRAL News

• Third federal lawsuit filed over North Carolina’s new voting law – Lynn Bonner, NC Newsline

• Voter ID rollout going smoothly so far, NC elections officials say: North Carolina elections director Karen Brinson Bell says the state's new photo ID requirement for voting didn't cause problems in municipal elections in September and October. But the real test will be next year's presidential elections. – Laura Leslie, WRAL News

• No Labels, no primary vote. NC's election rules will shut voters out of the March primaries if they're not careful: Only people registered with a particular political party, or as unaffiliated, can vote in that party's primary in North Carolina, and voters with the state's newest political party won't have a primary. – Travis Fain, WRAL News

Education Policy

• NC is revising its sex education standards. LGBTQ+ advocates want them to be more inclusive: State leaders aren't planning to make fundamental changes as they revise sex ed standards. But some reproductive health education experts and LGBTQ+ advocates see room for more inclusiveness at a time when lawmakers are limiting discussion or acknowledgment of sexual orientation and gender in classrooms. – Emily Walkenhorst, WRAL News

Economic Policy

• US Supreme Court leaves in place a court victory for PETA over North Carolina's ag-gag law: The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday rejected North Carolina's appeal in a dispute with animal rights groups over a law aimed at preventing undercover employees at farms and other workplaces from taking documents or recording video. – AP, WRAL News

Health Care Policy

• NC lawmakers give authority over the state’s mental health care system to DHHS secretary and hope for better outcomes: Advocates and lawmakers have long complained about the behavioral health services available under the current organizations that manage the state’s spending for mental health. With the policy changes in the latest state budget, lawmakers hope to see improvements to how those services are delivered to patients. – Taylor Knopf, NC Health News

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 10/16/23

Governance

• On Tuesday the Republican-controlled NCGA voted to override Governor Cooper’s vetoes of bills that would increase voting restrictions (SB 747), change appointment powers for state and local boards of elections (SB 749) and other state boards (SB 512), and weaken environmental protections (HB 600). SB 747 limits when mail-in ballots can be counted and gives partisan election observers greater leeway to move around polling places, SB 749 takes election board appointment power from the governor and gives it to state legislators, and HB 600 rolls back hog and poultry industry regulations, among other provisions. Lawsuits were immediately filed to challenge two of the new laws, SB 512 and SB 747 (see below).

• On Tuesday Governor Cooper announced that he is suing Republican state legislators over a new law they passed, describing it as a “blatantly unconstitutional legislative power grab.” SB 512 takes away the governor’s appointment powers for many state boards, giving them instead to the state legislature.

Voting Rights

• Immediately after the NCGA voted Tuesday to override Governor Cooper’s veto and pass a new law restricting voting rights, prominent Democratic attorney Marc Elias and the National Democratic Party both independently sued North Carolina over the law in federal court. Elias is representing multiple voting rights groups in the suit over SB 747 (see update in Governance above for details), highlighting provisions of the law that will disenfranchise many voters trying to use same-day registration. The DNC, while also challenging multiple parts of the bill, noted that the law would encourage voter intimidation.

Health Care Policy

• On Friday the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services announced that the federal government has formally approved North Carolina’s Medicaid expansion plans. The approval means the program’s expansion is on schedule to begin on December 1, with roughly 300,000 people added on the first day and another 300,000 added soon after.

LGBTQ Rights

• On Wednesday families and doctors of transgender youth filed a federal lawsuit challenging North Carolina’s ban on gender-affirming care for transgender youth. The law bans gender-affirming treatment for patients under 18, even when their doctors recommend such treatment and they and their parents consent to the treatment. The lawsuit is being brought on behalf of a 9-year-old transgender boy who is afraid of going through a puberty that doesn’t match his gender identity.

Neighbors on Call’s NC Policy Update for 10/09/23

Governance

• On Monday Governor Cooper vetoed two environmental bills. HB 600, the annual regulatory reform bill, would allow farmers to compost dead chickens, stop efforts to support minority-owned businesses, and allow a new gas pipeline to move forward without scrutiny. SB 678 would change language in state laws from “renewable energy” to “clean energy,” incentivizing nuclear power over renewables. Republicans in the NCGA are expected to override Cooper’s vetoes of the bills this week, along with his recent vetoes of other bills.

Fair Representation

• On Thursday Republican leaders in the NCGA announced that they plan to approve new election district maps by the end of October. Republican lawmakers are drawing maps behind closed doors, and there are no options for public input after maps are drawn. Challenges to new districts are expected to be filed in federal court, given that the NC Supreme Court has made clear they will not strike down gerrymandered maps.

Voting Rights

• On Monday the North Carolina Alliance for Retired Americans filed suit in federal court challenging North Carolina’s 30-day residency requirement for voter eligibility. The group says that the requirement violates the U.S. Constitution and the Voting Rights Act, which allow for voter registration deadlines but do not allow for residency requirements beyond those deadlines. As of Tuesday morning, the State Board of Elections and Executive Director Karen Brinson Bell, named in the suit as defendants, had not been notified or served.

Education Policy

• On Wednesday the State Board of Education affirmed that it has no enforcement rights in parental hearings it is required to hold under the state’s new “Parents’ Bill of Rights.” The law, which requires teachers to report children’s name or gender changes to their parents, limits teaching about gender identity and sexuality, and allows parents to review curricula, allows parents to bring issues to the state board if their concerns are not addressed within 30 days by the local school district. The State Board of Education is expected to approve processes for these hearings next month.

Economic Policy

• The new state budget became law without Governor Cooper’s signature this week. In addition to many other provisions, the budget includes $3 billion in economic development, including $2 billion for water and sewer upgrades, $500 million for the private-public partnership NCInnovation, $350 million for an airfield and industrial site in Kinston, and $130 million for megasites to attract new factories.

Criminal Justice

• On Monday Governor Cooper signed HB 142 into law, increasing penalties for teachers who commit sex offenses against students and for school administrators who don’t report offenses. The law raises the felony level for both engaging in sexual activity with students and taking indecent liberties with students, and makes failure to report such an offense a Class I felony. Offending educators also risk losing their retirement benefits.