Governance
On Wednesday the NC House approved a $31.7 billion budget bill that includes $500 million in additional funding for private school vouchers as well as pay increases for state employees and teachers. Most Democrats opposed the bill, criticizing the private school voucher funding, insufficient early childcare funding, and lack of emergency funding for the State Health Plan, though four Democrats joined Republicans in voting for the bill. The House budget also includes provisions unrelated to spending, such as a provision that would add administrative burdens to prosecutors wishing to dismiss charges against people arrested for protesting. Republican leaders in the NC Senate indicated that the House bill was unlikely to be approved by the Senate, as they have released a competing budget plan that includes less spending for state workers and retirees.
On Tuesday Republicans in the NC Senate passed a bill that would require Senate approval for DMV commissioner candidates. HB 309 would change the appointment process for DMV commissioner, removing the appointment power from the secretary of transportation and requiring the governor to nominate a candidate who would then be considered by the Senate.
On Friday Governor Cooper vetoed a bill that would create a loophole for dark money political donations, criticizing it for allowing wealthy out-of-state donors to fund campaigns and lobbyists to hide bribes in advance of votes. (For more on this loophole, listen to House Democratic Leader Rep. Robert Reives’s interview with NC Newsline.) HB 237 would also limit some public mask wearing for health reasons, and Cooper also expressed concerns about this provision. House Speaker Tim Moore said the House would vote to override Cooper’s veto soon.
Voting Rights
On Thursday Republicans in the NCGA advanced three constitutional amendment proposals for inclusion on ballots in this fall’s election. The proposed amendments are: 1) an amendment that would say noncitizens are not allowed to vote in NC elections (something that is already mandated by the constitution), 2) an amendment requiring mail-in voters to show a copy of their voter ID (a rule required by NC law but not currently in the constitution), and 3) an amendment lowering the highest allowed income tax rate to 5% from 7%. The second two amendments are versions of those passed in 2018 that are still moving through the courts, and passage of them in this election could render moot the case against the 2018 versions.
On Thursday the NC Senate Redistricting and Elections Committee advanced a bill that would change multiple elections regulations, including a provision that would give the state legislature broad powers over how local city and county governments are elected. The overhaul of SB 88 also includes provisions that would require the disclosure of AI use in political ads on radio and TV and require signature matching for mail-in ballots. Democrats objected strongly to the signature-matching provision and the “local government gerrymandering” power grab.
Health Care Policy
On Wednesday the NC Senate Judiciary Committee approved an amendment to a bipartisan hemp bill that would legalize medical marijuana. HB 563 originally was designed to regulate hemp products and allow them to be purchased by those 21 and older, but the committee decided to roll in a version of the Compassionate Care Act that had previously stalled in the House after passing the Senate, which would make marijuana legal for use if prescribed by a physician. On Thursday the bill was approved by the Senate Rules Committee and passed an initial floor vote 33-9. While the House has previously not been willing to consider medical marijuana legalization, it’s possible that the federal government’s plans to reclassify marijuana will change that.
On Tuesday Democrats in the NCGA joined with maternal health advocates in a press conference to push for passage of a bill that seeks to address rising rates of maternal mortality among Black women. SB 838, called the “MOMnibus” bill, would allocate $5 million towards perinatal education and implicit bias training for doctors. Neither the House nor the Senate budget proposals include funding for this proposal, despite requests from the bill’s sponsors during the press conference to add funding for it to the budget.
This week the NC Senate advanced a proposal that would regulate vape products. The proposal, which would require vapor products and other consumable nicotine products to be certified for sale in North Carolina, was added to SB 900, a bill about NC Leadership Academies. Though the proposal is being pushed by the tobacco industry, which has an interest in removing competition from vapor products, regulation of non-FDA-regulated vape products has bipartisan support.
Gun Violence Prevention
On Thursday a three-judge state appeals court panel ruled unanimously that if a firearm is stored unloaded, a gun owner can’t be held responsible for a child using it. Kimberly Cable had been found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and two misdemeanor counts of unsafe firearm storage when her teenage son and his friend had taken a gun and an ammo box that were stored on top of a gun safe and used them to play Russian roulette, leading to the friend’s death. The appeals court found that without being loaded, the gun was not stored “in a condition that the firearm [could] be discharged,” reversing the convictions on the misdemeanors and thus the manslaughter charge that depended on them.
Reproductive Rights
On Thursday Republican lawmakers filed an appeal over a federal judge’s decision that blocked state laws restricting the provision of abortion pills. Lawyers for NC House and Senate leadership appealed to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond to reconsider U.S. District Judge Catherine Eagles’s decision that the regulations are superseded by federal law.
Justice
This week it came to light that last fall the NC Supreme Court declined to pursue disciplinary action against two Republican judges who had admitted to violating NC’s judicial code of conduct. The Judicial Standards Commission had recommended public disciplinary action against both judges, one for jailing a witness with no justification, and the other for escalating an argument with a defendant in the courtroom that led to a police officer shooting the defendant to death. The Supreme Court’s decision not to follow the Judicial Standards Commission’s recommendation is highly unusual: this is the only time in the past decade that the court has not followed their disciplinary recommendation.
Comments