Weekly Recap: Catch up on the news you missed from 2/12-2/18
North Carolina lawmakers advanced gun bills, the House passed Medicaid expansion and new permanent rules will make it more difficult for Democrats to sustain vetoes from Gov. Roy Cooper.
Greetings from the lovely city of Raleigh, which hosted an outdoor NHL game on Saturday night. Please don’t unsubscribe, D.C. readers, but I must share the Hurricanes defeated the Capitals 4-1! The Canes remain my second favorite team, trailing my beleaguered San Jose Sharks.
Now let’s get back to the reason you’re really here. Here’s a look back at the week that was in North Carolina politics:
North Carolina House and Senate votes to loosen gun laws
Lawmakers this week advanced bills that would allow people with concealed handgun permits to carry their handguns into places of worship that are also located on school property and purchase or transfer a pistol without a permit from a local sheriff.
The House on Wednesday passed a narrowly tailored bill dealing with concealed carry in churches, while the Senate on Thursday passed a more sweeping measure that also would repeal pistol permits and create a statewide public awareness campaign promoting safe storage of firearms.
The House has two separate bills for safe storage awareness and a pistol permit repeal. The safe storage initiative must clear a committee and floor vote, while the pistol permit repeal needs a vote on the House floor.
Republican House Speaker Tim Moore is considering whether to pass the Senate’s more sweeping bill to have it go to Gov. Roy Cooper.
🏥House OK’s Medicaid expansion, but future uncertain in Senate
On Thursday, the North Carolina Republican-controlled House sent a Medicaid expansion bill to the Senate with a strong bipartisan vote.
Under House Bill 76, or “Access to Healthcare Options,” North Carolina adults aged 18-64 with incomes up to 133% of the federal poverty level would have access to Medicaid starting next year.
It also would provide increased Medicaid reimbursements to hospitals through the Healthcare Access and Stabilization Program, which offers federal assistance to hospitals experiencing financial losses.
But the Senate is unlikely to take up the bill, as GOP Senate leader Phil Berger views the House proposal as insufficient. He noted that the House’s proposal is conditional, as it wouldn’t become law until the state passed a new budget.
House approves new rules making it easier to override vetoes
North Carolina’s Republican-controlled House approved a permanent rules package on Wednesday that Democrats fear will make it easier for the GOP to create laws over the objection of the state’s Democratic governor.
The new rules passed with support from all Republicans and five Democrats.
In previous sessions, Republicans had to provide a day of advance notice before a veto override could be taken up. Now, overrides can be “taken up on the legislative day it is received in the House from the Senate or Governor or any other legislative day it is printed on the calendar.”
Assuming all Republicans are present, the GOP can override vetoes from Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper if one Democratic lawmaker crosses party lines or if two Democrats are absent when a vote is taken.
😳🍃 Where NC voters stand on key policy issues
On Monday, I broke down results from a new Meredith College poll. You can read the key takeaways here.
While there was substantial bipartisan support among North Carolina adults for Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization, voters were more divided on the issue of online sports betting and abortion.
Legalized weed for medicinal purposes was the most widely supported policy issue that Meredith College asked about, with 73% of respondents favoring legalization and 15% opposing.
There was perhaps no issue more divisive than abortion. Current state law allows women to legally have the medical procedure in the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. Most respondents wanted to either maintain that current 20-week limit or expand access beyond 20 weeks, with 31% favoring the existing law and 26% wanting to increase access.
But issue drew strong views based on party affiliation, with 79% of Democrats wanting to keep the existing 20-week limit or expand access and 59% of Republicans favoring heightened restrictions beyond the 20-week law.
📥A Q&A with the new head of the Democratic Party
North Carolina’s new Democratic Party Chair Anderson Clayton spoke with me about her vision for the state party, including the threats she sees with future voting maps from Republican lawmakers and her plans for Democrats to get out to more rural communities.
“We have really devalued rural North Carolina,” Clayton said. “In some other states, that may be an option, but for us, a majority of our population lives in rural North Carolina. We can’t be organizing the state that we’re looking at 10 years from now. We need to be organizing the state that we live in now. That means that we have got to be adapting and organizing in places that we have historically said are not worth our time and investment.”
But Clayton also made some remarks that drew the ire of conservatives when she discussed her views on what are expected to be more conservative legislative and congressional voting lines starting in 2024, especially with a new conservative state Supreme Court that should hold power through at least 2028.
“The only way that Republicans can stay in power is if they're rigging elections,” Clayton said. “That's what people in this state need to understand. We didn't give a supermajority to the Republicans, and they're taking advantage of it right now.”
Clayton’s victory was a reflection of frustration among party activists with the former leadership. The party now has four fresh faces in leadership, including three who ousted the top party leaders seeking reelection.
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