Weekly Recap: Catch up on the news you missed from 5/14-5/20
North Carolina Republicans approved a bill greatly limiting abortion access, the Senate passed its budget plan and a former congressman entered the 2024 governor's race.
Been a busy week in North Carolina politics. Let’s dive in…
🏥Heightened abortion limits enacted
North Carolina Republicans voted along party lines on Tuesday to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of a bill banning abortion in most cases after 12 weeks.
The move came after a week-long pressure campaign by the governor to try to get four GOP lawmakers to sustain his veto.
Senate Bill 20 will largely take effect July 1.
The time allowed to get an abortion will be reduced in most cases from 20 weeks to 12 weeks, with stricter rules regulating where and how the medical procedure is administered. The bill makes exceptions for rape and incest up to 20 weeks of pregnancy, life-limiting fetal anomalies up to 24 weeks and the life of the mother at all stages of pregnancy.
Medical professionals worry the bill’s new licensing requirements will shutter clinics and prompt medical facilities to insert lawyers into healthcare decisions. They also criticize the measure’s provisions preventing women from getting abortion-inducing drugs after 10 weeks of pregnancy.
The bill also requires patients seeking abortion to make multiple in-person doctor’s office visits, one 72 hours before the procedure and another for either medication or surgical abortion. Doctors’ officers would then need to try to get a patient to come in for a follow-up visit 7-14 days after the abortion is performed. Doctors must further offer the same duty of care for a child who is born alive after an attempted abortion that they would for any other newborn baby.
Additionally, women won’t be allowed to seek an abortion based on the actual or presumed race of their unborn child or the actual or presumed presence of Down syndrome.
Proponents of the bill see it is a broader measure that promotes child-bearing and makes it easier for parents to raise a kid. SB20 includes provisions of up to eight weeks of paid maternity leave and four weeks of paid paternity leave for educators and state employees. It also provides more funding for child care, foster care, birth control and efforts to reduce infant and maternal mortality.
“This bill strikes a reasonable balance on the abortion issue and represents a middle ground that anyone not holding one of the two extremist positions can support,” Rep. Tricia Cotham, a Mecklenburg County Republican said in a statement after the bill’s passage.
Cooper chastised the bill’s passage, saying in a statement that "North Carolinians now understand that Republicans are unified in their assault on women’s reproductive freedom and we are energized to fight back on this and other critical issues facing our state.”
Senate passes budget plan
The North Carolina Senate this week passed a budget plan calling for smaller pay raises for teachers and state employees than what Cooper and the GOP-controlled House proposed. The Senate proposal, which also substantially cuts taxes for North Carolinians of all income levels, will next be rejected by the House. The two chambers will then spend the next several weeks working out their differences.
Cooper called for an average 18% pay raise for teachers and 8% salary increases for state workers over the next two years. The House wants a 10.2% teacher raise and 7.5% hike for state employees over the biennium. The Senate’s plan calls for an average 4.5% raise over two years for teachers and 5% for state employees.
The Senate budget instead prioritizes greater tax cuts.
The House plan leaves personal income tax rates largely unchanged from current law, with the only adjustment being a 0.1 percentage point tax rate drop for 2024. The Senate seeks to reduce personal income tax rates to 3.99% in 2025 and 2026, 3.5% in 2027, 3.25% in 2028, 2.99% in 2029 and 2.49% in 2030 and beyond.
Other highlights of the Senate budget include:
Pay for politicians: 22.52% raise for governor over biennium. The remaining Council of State members would get a 15% pay raise in the next two years
Raise the age of justices: NC Supreme Court justices and state Court of Appeals judges would be allowed to serve until they are 76. The state currently has a mandatory retirement age of 72 years. If enacted, Republicans could be in a better position to control the bench beyond 2028, especially as Chief Justice Paul Newby could serve out his full term.
Abortion: No state funds may be used to perform abortions, except in cases of rape, incest and life of the mother. Women can be provided medical care if they experience a spontaneous miscarriage.
COVID-19 vaccine mandates: Prohibition on Covid-19 vaccine requirements for state agencies, cities and counties.
Cleaning voter rolls: Prohibits North Carolina from becoming a member of the Electronic Registration Information Center (ERIC), which works to clean voter rolls.
Crisis pregnancy centers: Both budgets include funding for crisis pregnancy centers, which discourage abortion. Even so, the Senate’s proposal provides far less money. Unlike the House, the Senate budget doesn’t give any money to the Human Coalition, which says on its website that it employs marketing strategies to "end abortion city by city.” The House budget called for $10 million for the Human Coalition and $12.5 million for LifeLink Carolina, which does business as the Carolina Pregnancy Care Fellowship. The Senate budget gives $6 million to LifeLink Carolina, which is to be largely funneled to local crisis pregnancy centers.
🐘Mark Walker running for governor
Former North Carolina U.S. Rep. Mark Walker announced on Saturday that he is running for governor, setting up an uphill climb and contentious Republican primary with Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, a former friend and political ally of his.
For Walker, the upcoming governor’s race will center on a message of electability, arguing that he’s the most capable Republican of defeating Democratic frontrunner and Attorney General Josh Stein.
The GOP primary is also personal for Walker. In 2018, he helped give rise to the lieutenant governor by sharing a video of Robinson forcefully speaking out against an effort by members of the Greensboro City Council to prevent a gun show from taking place on the heels of a mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida.
While not the first to share footage of Robinson’s speech, Walker’s Facebook post circulated widely the day after the city council meeting and has since been viewed more than 4 million times. Walker helped coordinate Robinson’s Fox News television debut, and the two remained close friends up until 2022. Robinson often praised Walker last year while the former congressman ran for U.S. Senate.
In March 2022, Robinson all but endorsed Walker’s candidacy. At an event, Robinson told Walker from the stage, “What little bit I can do, I’m [going to] do for you.”
Robinson’s campaign swiftly clarified the remark, saying the lieutenant governor hadn’t made a formal endorsement. Weeks later, at an April 9, 2022, rally held by former President Donald Trump in Selma, North Carolina, Robinson threw his support behind then-Rep. Ted Budd.
He explained his decision by saying Walker was no longer a viable candidate and that he had come to view the race as a two-person contest between Budd and former North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory. Budd went on to handily win his party’s nomination and is now in the U.S. Senate.
Walker, a former pastor of 16 years, began his political career with an unexpected 2014 primary runoff victory against Phil Berger, Jr., a current state Supreme Court justice and son of longtime Republican Senate leader Phil Berger.
During his time representing the Greensboro area in the U.S. House from 2015 to 2021, Walker drew close to Trump and national Republicans but didn’t necessarily endear himself to state leaders with an outsize role in the redistricting process.
Walker enters the 2024 governor’s race with a sizable money disadvantage. He’s only run for federal office before, thus preventing him from transferring federal campaign funds to a state-level gubernatorial campaign.
Robinson, meanwhile, entered 2023 with $2.23 million in the bank, according to his campaign’s most recent filing. Walker will be effectively starting at $0, and State Treasurer Dale Folwell entered the year with less than $47,000 in available cash.
To make up the difference, Walker will likely need sizable outside spending from groups opposing Robinson’s candidacy.
For Walker, he remembers being the underdog in his 2014 congressional bid. Whether he can replicate that unexpected success remains to be seen.
🧑🏿⚖️NC Supreme Court Justice Michael Morgan won’t seek reelection
North Carolina Supreme Court Associate Justice Michael Morgan announced on Thursday that he would not seek reelection in 2024, creating an open seat for Democrats on the state’s high court.
One possible successor to Morgan appeared to signal a desire to run for his seat. Court of Appeals Judge Allison Riggs, a former voter access activist, suggested as much in a tweet shortly after Morgan’s announcement.
“Democratic appellate judicial candidates WILL sweep in 2024, just like in 2018,” Riggs wrote. “We will field fantastic candidates for every seat and talk to voters about taking back our courts for justice - and about our values! Take my word for it.”
Republican North Carolina Court of Appeals Judge Jefferson Griffin, has already announced he will run for Morgan’s seat.
Morgan was elected to the high court in 2016, earning help along the way with an endorsement from President Barack Obama.
Barring unforeseen departures, Morgan’s seat is the only Supreme Court race to be held in 2024. The earliest Democrats could retake control of the bench would be 2028, which is contingent on them not losing Morgan’s seat in 2024 or the seat of Democratic Justice Anita Earls in 2026.
🎒School voucher expansion advances in both chambers
A North Carolina bill to give all K-12 students an at least partially subsidized private schooling option starting in the 2024-2025 academic year cleared the House on Wednesday. It also passed as a provision in the Senate budget plan on Thursday.
The school choice bill led by Cotham, a Mecklenburg County Republican and former educator and principal, passed by a vote of 65 to 45, with the lone Democrat supporting House Bill 823 being state Rep. Shelly Willingham of Edgecombe County.
Under HB823, pupils living in households that qualify for the federal free or reduced-price lunch program (made $55,500 or less for a family of four) would get a scholarship amount up to 100% of North Carolina’s average per pupil spending for average daily membership, or about $7,400 this year.
Kids in households that made more than the free or reduced lunch limit but no more than 200% of that threshold ($55,501-$111,000 for a family of four) would get a scholarship of up to 90% of the state’s per pupil spending. Kids in households that earned between 200% and 450% of the amount required to qualify for free or reduced lunch ($111,001-$249,750) would get a scholarship up to 60% of the state’s per pupil spending. All other students would qualify for a scholarship up to 45% of the state’s per pupil spending.
According to budget estimates, the expansion would cost an extra $268 million over the next two years.
Proponents say it’ll empower parents to give their child the best quality education possible, while critics view it as an attack on public schools that would stand to lose millions in funding as students transfer to private schools.
GOP lawmaker faces pushback for ‘thinly veiled racial’ questioning of Democratic colleague
During a more than two-hour debate on the school choice bill on Wednesday , one Republican lawmaker made what appeared to be a racist remark toward a colleague, for which he apologized.
Rep. Jeff McNeely, an Iredell County Republican, took aim at Rep. Abe Jones' Harvard background, questioning the extent to which the Wake County Democrat’s public schooling helped him in college.
“Would you have been able to maybe achieve this if you were not an athlete or a minority or any of these things?" McNeely said. He was suspended from continuing to speak.
Jones replied, "I earned my place and I did well."
Later in the session, McNeely apologized.
“I want to deeply apologize to Rep. Jones and this entire body,” McNeely said. “I respect Rep. Jones. I think he’s a great legislator, I think he’s a great man. What I tried to ask or say did not come out right. That happens a lot, and I apologize. And I look forward to talking with Rep. Jones as soon as the session is over to express my deep, deep sincere apology, and I hope he accepts it.”
Jones told me in a text message after the floor vote that he accepted McNeely’s apology.
“The statement of Representative McNeely was shocking and caught me off guard,” Jones said. “He apologized to me on the open floor during session, and again afterwards. l have accepted his apology. That being said, the thinly-veiled racial aspect of the encounter is inexcusable.”
The comments from McNeely follow a pattern of divisive remarks.
During a May 8 Facebook livestream, the state lawmaker highlighted a provision in the House’s proposed budget seeking to make the state investigative agency an independent entity in light of concerns of potential political interference from the Governor’s Office.
In his remarks, McNeely compared State Bureau of Investigation management to Nazis.
"The SBI has always been kind of the tool, call them the Nazis if you want to, of the Attorney General/Governor," he said.
🗳️Photo ID now required in North Carolina, but there's a workaround
North Carolina residents will need to present a photo ID when they go to vote at the polls starting with this year’s municipal elections, but there is a workaround, according to the State Board of Elections.
Under guidance state elections officials released on Wednesday, “All voters will be allowed to vote with or without a photo ID.”
The board added, “If the voter does not show an acceptable ID, the voter may vote with an ID Exception Form and a provisional ballot, or vote with a provisional ballot and return to their county board of elections office with their photo ID by the day before county canvass.”
📖5 essential reads
Abortion Showdown in North Carolina May Hinge on a Single Vote (Kate Kelly // New York Times) - with contributed reporting from yours truly
"Minute by minute." Year after year. (Benjamin Schachtman // WHQR)
Now, Pactiv Evergreen wants a tax break (Cory Vaillancourt // Smoky Mountain News)
2 men killed in Charlotte construction fire called boss while trapped (Michael Gordon, Joe Marusak, Julia Coin, Kallie Cox and Mary Ramsey // Charlotte Observer)
Phil Berger Sr.’s Plan for N.C. Courts (Jeffrey Billman // The Assembly)
Positive update
Nearly four months ago, Tyré Nichols was killed in Memphis. I briefly crossed paths with him at a California DMV office in 2018. The video I shared took off. All proceeds from that video have now been distributed to charities. Out of transparency, I'm sharing where the money went:
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