Weekly Recap: Republicans override Cooper vetoes, Democrats file lawsuits and public records law outrage
North Carolina lawmakers this week enacted five laws over the objections of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper. Some proposals are being met with lawsuits.
Let’s take a look back at the week that was in North Carolina politics…
🤫Will we see changes to new public records provisions in the state budget?
A newly enacted budget allows current and former state lawmakers to sell and destroy their own communications and unilaterally decide what, if anything, they want to disclose in response to public records requests. The budget also repeals a state law that provided public access to legislative records and communications related to redistricting.
Will we see a rollback to the new language? According to state Sen. Natalie Murdock, Democrats may pursue changes as part of a technical corrections process next year. But Republicans appear unlikely to make adjustments on their own.
“I don’t see us making any changes to it,” House Speaker Tim Moore told me this week. “Really, I think a lot more noise has been made about this really than is warranted.”
If lawmakers don’t change the provisions on their own, North Carolina’s next governor could determine whether any adjustments are made by working with lawmakers behind the scenes for change. I asked all gubernatorial candidates for their thoughts on the issue.
Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, the GOP gubernatorial frontrunner who administratively presides over the state Senate, declined to comment. Attorney General Josh Stein, the Democratic frontrunner, and Libertarian Mike Ross didn’t respond to requests for comment.
Former Democratic North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Mike Morgan, former Republican U.S. Rep. Mark Walker, Republican State Treasurer Dale Folwell, former Republican state Sen. Andy Wells, Libertarian Shannon Bray and Republican retired health executive Jesse Thomas, said they’d want greater transparency and pushed back against the new limitations to public records access.
You can read more about all their reactions here.
🙅5 overrides
North Carolina’s Republican-led legislature on Tuesday voted to override five bills that had been vetoed by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
House Bill 600
House Bill 600 is the state’s annual wide-ranging regulatory reform bill. The 46-page bill includes a number of changes to the way agencies oversee business activities.
Cooper objected to various provisions of the bill, including expedited environmental permits for projects, such as the Mountain Valley natural gas pipeline and an overhaul of Department of Administration regulations aimed at giving greater access to state contracts to minority-owned businesses.
Senate Bill 512
Under Senate Bill 512, Cooper loses his ability to appoint various members onto important state boards and commissions.
Cooper swiftly filed a state-level lawsuit challenging the law, calling the new law “a blatantly unconstitutional legislative power grab.’
Senate Bill 678
Senate Bill 678 encourages more use of nuclear power use to reach carbon reduction targets. It does so by relabeling “renewable energy resources" to “clean energy resources.
The bill ensures that the nuclear energy is counted toward the percentages of electricity that utility companies like Duke Energy need to generate generate from renewable sources.
Senate Bill 747
Senate Bill 747 will do the following:
Eliminate the three-day window after the election where mail-in ballots could be counted and instead require ballots to arrive at county elections offices by 7:30 p.m. on Election Day. Military and overseas voters could have their ballots counted if they are received the business day before the day of canvass
Allow partisan poll observers to take photos and videos of certain activities at voting sites, so long as they do not record any voter’s marked ballot, and move around precincts more freely
Prohibit the use of private money in election administration
Create a mail-in ballot signature verification pilot program for the 2024 primary election in 10 counties chosen by the State Board of Elections
Require the State Board of Elections (and each county elections board) to include a prominent notice on its website regarding the requirement to show photo ID to vote in person
A person who registers and votes on the same day must have a “retrievable ballot” that county elections officials could throw out if an address cannot be verified
Marc Elias, a Democratic attorney who has successfully challenged GOP voting maps in a number of states (including North Carolina), filed a federal lawsuit contesting a portion of the new law dealing with same-day voting and authenticating voter addresses. Elias worries the new law will cause legally cast ballots to be thrown out and disproportionately impact communities of color.
The North Carolina Democratic Party and the Democratic National Committee filed a separate federal lawsuit over additional provisions in the bill.
The NCDP and DNC’s lawsuit challenges the law more broadly, including portions that allow a voter’s registration to be cancelled and ballot will not be counted if a single confirming a voter’s address is returned to the U.S. Postal Service as undeliverable. The lawsuit also contests other changes to early voting, such as the elimination of the state’s three-day grace period for accepting mail-in ballots and a allowing freer movement of partisan poll observers at voting sites, which the Democratic groups argue will “intimidate, threaten, or coerce or to attempt to intimidate, threaten, or coerce voters.”
Senate Bill 749
Senate Bill 749 increases the size of the North Carolina State Board of Elections from five members to eight, altering the current 3-2 Democratic majority to an even 4-4 split chosen by the majority and minority parties in the legislature.
Additionally, all 100 county boards of elections will lose a member, dropping from five officeholders to four, creating 2-2 splits chosen by the majority and minority parties in the legislature.
The bill also moves the State Board of Elections from the Department of Administration to the Secretary of State’s Office—an idea current Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall strongly opposes.
Acting Governor Mark Robinson
North Carolina Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson on Thursday held a news conference to make an announcement while Cooper was out of the state as part of a summit to Japan.
The acting governor issued a proclamation for a week of solidarity with Israel through Oct. 19 and a day of prayer from sunset on Friday to sunset on Saturday. The move came as a response to Hamas terrorist attacks, but had the feeling of a campaign reset for the man who had long made critical comments about Jewish people before entering office.
The lieutenant governor (now acting governor) invited all Council of State members, including five fellow Republicans and four Democrats, to attend his news conference. None of them did. Instead, Democrats and Republicans alike (including 2024 gubernatorial rivals) pushed back on what they considered a political effort to make amends with the Jewish community.
Stein rally
About nine months into his gubernatorial campaign, Attorney General Josh Stein on Tuesday launched a statewide tour with a rally at Shaw University in Raleigh. About 60 people attended the event, and Stein wasn’t made available to reporters for questions.
👀What to watch for
Lawmakers aren’t expected to hold floor votes this week, but could unveil new voting maps on Friday, according to Moore.
They hope to wrap up the legislative session by Thursday, Oct. 26. Whatever maps Republicans unveil are likely to face legal challenges. With a new 5-2 conservative state Supreme Court, Democrats and voting access groups may see greater prospects of overturning maps in federal court.