Weekly Recap: Catch up on the news you missed from 2/26-3/4
Republicans renewed bills previously vetoed by Gov. Roy Cooper, the Senate voted to legalize medical marijuana and GOP leaders struck a deal on Medicaid expansion.
Here’s a look back at the week that was in North Carolina politics:
🏥Medicaid expansion deal is reached
North Carolina Republican House Speaker Tim Moore and Senate leader Phil Berger on Thursday announced they had reached a deal on a measure that stands to expand Medicaid to 600,000 residents.
North Carolina is one of 11 states that hasn’t yet voted to expand the government-funded health care program. But that could change soon.
Under a framework outlined by Moore and Berger, expansion would take effect after the state passes a budget, a condition the House insisted on. Lawmakers say they are on track to pass a budget in June.
The Senate will use a bill that the House passed last month as its vehicle for expanding Medicaid. But the bill will also contain additional provisions requested by the Senate, including loosened “certificate of need” laws. Even so, the Senate’s goal to allow advanced-care nurses to treat patients without a doctor’s supervision was not included in the deal.
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper is glad to see the finish line in sight for what has been his biggest policy objective, but he also voiced preference for a clean Medicaid expansion bill that would take immediate effect.
“Since we all agree this is the right thing to do, we should make it effective now to make sure we leverage the money that will save our rural hospitals and invest in mental health,” Cooper said in a statement. “I look forward to reviewing the details of the bill."
Berger said final bill language is still being drafted but that “95% of what the final product is going to be” has been settled.
🌿Medical marijuana passes Senate
At exactly 4:20 p.m. on Tuesday and Wednesday, the Senate voted to legalize cannabis for medicinal purposes. The bill now goes to the House—a chamber that refused to take up a similar effort last year.
Under Senate Bill 3, or the “NC Compassionate Care Act,” an 11-member Medical Cannabis Production Commission would be formed to approve up to 10 medical cannabis supplier licenses. North Carolinians with any of 14 qualifying health conditions could ask a physician to prescribe medical cannabis through the approved suppliers. Suppliers could operate up to eight cannabis centers.
Déjà vu for the governor
North Carolina lawmakers have cleared through at least one chamber five bills similar to measures Cooper has previously vetoed.
The proposals include legislative appointments for oversight of deaf and blind schools, increased penalties for violent protesters, lack of tenancy rights for hotel guests in their first three months, allowance for concealed handguns in churches located on school property and repeal of a state law that has required sheriffs to issue pistol permits prior to someone obtaining the firearm.
On Monday, I highlighted the latter four measures and their likelihood of passing. On Wednesday, the deaf and blind schools oversight bill became the fifth measure to pass out of a chamber.
It’s possible Cooper will get his first bill sent to him this week if the House quickly moves through largely procedural votes on hotel tenancy rules. Senate Bill 53 will be heard in a House committee at 3 p.m. on Tuesday. If approved, it would then go to the Rules Committee, which would be followed by a floor vote. An identical bill already cleared the House with support from 17 Democrats. If Cooper decides to veto the bill, Republicans would need one House Democrat to cross party lines.
Four Democrats have already proven themselves unafraid to cross party lines—Reps. Tricia Cotham, Garland Pierce, Shelly Willingham and Michael Wray.
State worker shortage
On Friday, I highlighted key takeaways from a data request I made to examine the magnitude of the state’s challenges in filling positions.
According to data provided by the Office of State Human Resources, 19 of 31 North Carolina agencies now have fewer workers than they did a decade ago. As of November 2022, five agencies had vacancy rates in excess of 20%, meaning at least one in five positions were unfilled.
Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, North Carolina saw its vacancy rate increase by 9 percentage points.
At the start of the current fiscal year, North Carolina had 16,152 vacancies, nearly twice as many unfilled positions as a decade ago.
You can read the full story and see the underlying data here.
Redistricting news
On Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court ordered parties involved in an ongoing redistricting case to file briefs by March 20 outlining the effects of the North Carolina Supreme Court’s decision to rehear a partisan gerrymandering dispute.
The former 4-3 liberal majority on the North Carolina Supreme Court last year struck down congressional maps. A lower court then crafted an interim map of its own only to be used in the 2022 election.
The state high court in December ordered a revised state Senate map, but upheld the state House map. The order didn’t last very long.
Within weeks of a North Supreme Court takeover by Republicans, the new 5-2 conservative majority decided along ideological lines to order a new hearing scheduled for March 14.
While we know for sure that we’re getting a new congressional map to be used in 2024, we don’t yet know where things stand on legislative maps. The case could hinge on how the justices interpret the part of the state constitution that says state House and Senate maps “shall remain unaltered until the return of another decennial census of population.”
Meanwhile, the U.S. Supreme Court is tasked with deciding whether state courts can toss out voting maps passed by state lawmakers or whether that mapmaking authority is vested solely in state legislatures. Republican lawmakers have advanced the “independent state legislature theory,” while voter advocacy groups have maintained courts serve as a vital check against partisan gerrymandering.
The U.S. Supreme Court’s order on Thursday suggests it could throw out the case entirely on procedural grounds or offer a ruling that is far more narrowly tailored than North Carolina Republicans wanted.
BOTTOM LINE: There’s a lot that is up in the air when it comes to redistricting. And if you want a more detailed overview of where things stand, I highlight recommend you read this overview I provided last month.
NC Supreme Court halts transfer of education funds
On Friday, the North Carolina Supreme Court ordered a new hearing in the Leandro case, siding with the state controller who sought to prevent a forced transfer of hundreds of millions of dollars to agencies for education purposes.
In a 5-2 order, the conservative majority determined the controller “made a sufficient showing of substantial and irreparable harm” if an estimated $677 million were transferred.
Associate Justice Anita Earls wrote a harsh dissent, arguing that the court’s 4-3 liberal majority already decided the issue four months ago when it ruled that a trial judge was within his rights to compel the transfer of funds due to the state’s constitutional responsibility to provide public school students with access to a sound basic education.
“If our Court cannot or will not enforce state constitutional rights, those rights do not exist, the constitution is not worth the paper it is written on, and our oath as judicial officers to uphold the constitution is a meaningless charade,” Earls wrote in her dissent.
What to watch this week
MONDAY: At 7:01 p.m., Cooper is scheduled to deliver his State of the State Address. PBS North Carolina will have a livestream of Cooper’s speech, followed by the Republican response from Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson. You can also expect an alert to hit your inbox with some of my takeaways from each speech
Movement on Senate Bill 53, the bill loosening tenancy laws that hotel owners must abide by under current law. A committee will consider the measure on Tuesday. The House could hold a floor vote as early as Wednesday. Assuming no changes to the bill are made, Cooper would then have 10 days to veto the bill, sign it or let it become law without his signature
Mobile sports betting: Since the start of the legislative session in January, lawmakers have talked about increased momentum for legalized online sports gambling. Will this week finally be the one where a proposal is introduced? We shall wait and see.
📖5 essential reads
Here are five pieces that stood out to me this week:
North Carolina Supreme Court to revisit school funding (Gary Robertson // Associated Press)
Justices order new briefing in Moore v. Harper as N.C. court prepares to rehear underlying dispute (Amy Howe // SCOTUSblog)
Crippling health workforce shortages mean hospitals can’t admit mental health patients — even if beds are empty (Rose Hoban// North Carolina Health News)
How the Fall of Roe Turned North Carolina Into an Abortion Destination (Kate Kelly // New York Times)
'It's unfair': Change to UNC-Duke student ticket policy upsets unlucky seniors (Noah Monroe // Daily Tar Heel)
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