tr?id=&ev=PageView&noscript=

Weeks before they lose their supermajority, NC Republicans vote to take power from Democrats who won in November

By Michael McElroy

November 19, 2024

The Republican-controlled General Assembly is using a hurricane relief bill as cover to propose several unrelated provisions that take power away from the governor, attorney general, and other offices Democrats won control of in this month’s elections. 

UPDATE: The NC Senate passed the bill on Wednesday afternoon on party lines, 30 to 19. The legislation now goes to Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, who is likely to veto it.

North Carolina Republicans lost more high-profile races in the 2024 elections than they won, and were swept in the largest contests, including for governor, attorney general, public schools superintendent,  lieutenant governor, and, barring a dramatic change in recounts, the open seat on the state supreme court.

Republicans also lost their supermajority in the NC House, restoring power to the governor’s veto.

But before their unchecked power weakens a little when this month’s winners take office in January, the Republican-controlled House passed a Hurricane relief bill on Tuesday containing several unrelated provisions that take power from the Democrats who beat them and give it instead to themselves instead.

Voters overwhelmingly voted for Josh Stein, a Democrat, to be the governor. And though the rest of the victorious Democrats won by somewhat smaller margins, the wins were decisive.

While the legislation includes $227 million in future relief for western North Carolina, which most legislators support, it also restricts the governor’s appointment powers, gives Republicans more sway over the State Board of Elections, limits the reach of the attorney general and other Democratic-led offices, and significantly expands Republican power over departments Democrats control, essentially holding the hurricane relief aid hostage for political gain.

Because their supermajority stands until January, Republicans likely have the votes to override the inevitable veto from Gov. Roy Cooper. 

The provisions were first reported by Axios based on a draft version of the proposal, and though the bill has still not publicly been released, legislators are expected to vote on it with little public scrutiny. 

Most of the House Democrats found out about the bill, and some of the things in it, from Axios’ tweet. The 131-page bill was not released to the public until the late afternoon, soon before the vote.

Republican leadership canceled the noon press conference they’d scheduled on Tuesday after news reports of the draft began to spread.

What would the bill do?

The North Carolina General Assembly is one of the most powerful elected bodies in the United States, in part because Republicans have consistently consolidated that power over the last several years. 

This bill is an acceleration, not a sharp turn. 

In addition to providing the next round of much needed Helene aid, the bill:

  • Takes away the governor’s power to appoint members of the bipartisan State Board of Elections (BOE) and gives it to the state auditor, one of the five statewide positions Republicans won this month.
  • Requires the attorney general to defend state laws in court, even if they are unconstitutional. 
  • Removes the Lieutenant Governor, an office that will be held by Democrat Rachel Hunt, from some state committees.
  • Limits the ability of the state superintendent of public instruction, an office won by Democrat Mo Green, to contest decisions made by the state board that monitors charter schools, removing a key check on its power. 
  • Takes several duties away from the superintendent and gives them to another agency.
  • Condenses the absentee-ballot and vote-counting process after an election so much that election officials say it may be impossible to actually count all legal votes.
  • Eliminates the judicial position of a judge who voted against the legislature on gerrymandering.
  • Creates new judgeships that the legislature will appoint, rather than voters.

“State Board staff were not consulted about this significant piece of legislation that transfers authority of the State Board of Elections and makes substantial administrative changes that may make it impossible for the county boards of elections to adequately ensure every eligible ballot cast is counted, especially in high turnout elections,” Karen Brinson Bell, the executive director told NC Newsline.

Many of these provisions would dilute power given to these positions by state law, so there will likely be lawsuits if the bill becomes law.

Last year, the legislature passed a separate attempt to take away the governor’s appointment power to the state board of elections, but a state court panel blocked parts of the law, calling it an infringement on the governor’s constitutional power.  

The bill also infringes on the voters, Democrats said as they debated the bill.

“I don’t know that anybody, when they were voting for the state auditor thought that the state auditor was going to oversee elections,” Rep. Marcia Morey of Durham Co. said.

“That’s likely unconstitutional, but I guess we’ll find out once it gets litigated,” she said.

‘North Carolinians have been begging us to do our jobs’

The legislation was billed as disaster relief, but only 13 of the 131 pages of the bill had anything to do with Helene, Democrats noted.

“This is a transparent power grab pushed through by a supermajority that’s not happy with the recent election results, and you’re calling it a ‘disaster relief bill,'” Rep. Lindsey Prather of Buncombe Co., who recently reelected this month despite Republican efforts to gerrymander her out of her district.

Her district, which only recently got their water back, needs urgent action, not half-measures wrapped around partisan gamesmanship, she said.

“This is the biggest abuse I have seen since I’ve been here, and that is saying a lot,” Rep. Robert Reives, the Democratic Minority Leader in the NC House, said on the House floor, moments before the vote.

“There is so much in this bill, it’s gonna be weeks before people figure out what’s in [it],” he said.

“I’m exhausted with showing up here at 9, 10 o’clock in the morning and getting some conference report at 6 o’clock at night, and [having Republican leadership] say ‘hey you guys got time to look at it, it’s only 131 pages of a bunch of words that changes everything that ever happened in the history of the world, but take your time,'” Reives said.

Reives, who has served in the legislature for a decade, urged his Republican colleagues to vote no, if only to preserve the ideals of process, trust and thoughtful consideration.

The bill passed on mostly party lines, 63-46, though three western NC Republicans voted against it.

Lawmaking in the dark

 Reives knew something like this was coming.

In an interview in his office last week, Reives told Cardinal & Pine he expected any hurricane aid to include poison bills. 

“I hope that the only thing that we do for the next couple of months is work on relief for the people out in western North Carolina in a more robust relief package, but my suspicion is that the reason that we’re coming back isn’t about relief,” Reives said.

“That’s the problem with drawing these bills up in the dark because nobody gets a chance to really go through them.”

He added: “I’m one of those people that if I’m passing good legislation, heck, I’m proud of it. I want everybody to see it and know about it … you ought to want to put it out there and scream it from the mountaintops and look at all this great legislation we’re passing.”

But while the calls for reason, decorum and process didn’t change the result, Democrats said that voters would not forget.

“We just had an election a few weeks ago and that election showed that the people of North Carolina supported divided government … but instead of letting those consequences play out over the next two or four years, [the Republican House] chops away at the things it doesn’t like, and it continues to vest more and more power within itself,” Rep. Terry Brown, Democrat of Mecklenburg Co., said.

“This body continues to be an axe,” he said, but “while the axe may forget, the tree remembers.”

He added: “The people of North Carolina are watching, the people of North Carolina are listening, and the people of North Carolina are going to remember.”

Author

  • Michael McElroy

    Michael McElroy is Cardinal & Pine's political correspondent. He is an adjunct instructor at UNC-Chapel Hill's Hussman School of Journalism and Media, and a former editor at The New York Times.

CATEGORIES: STATE LEGISLATURE

Support Our Cause

Thank you for taking the time to read our work. Before you go, we hope you'll consider supporting our values-driven journalism, which has always strived to make clear what's really at stake for North Carolinians and our future.

Since day one, our goal here at Cardinal & Pine has always been to empower people across the state with fact-based news and information. We believe that when people are armed with knowledge about what's happening in their local, state, and federal governments—including who is working on their behalf and who is actively trying to block efforts aimed at improving the daily lives of North Carolina families—they will be inspired to become civically engaged.

Billy Ball
Billy Ball, Senior Community Editor
Your support keeps us going
Help us continue delivering fact-based news to North Carolinians
Related Stories
Opinion: Mark Robinson wants to take away our rights and freedoms

Opinion: Mark Robinson wants to take away our rights and freedoms

A North Carolina woman says Mark Robinson's latest ad is trying to soften his stance on abortion rights, but she says he's an extremist who would support a total abortion ban. When I saw Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson’s new ad earlier this month, I had to do a...

Jeff Jackson on what he’d do as NC attorney general

Jeff Jackson on what he’d do as NC attorney general

The next attorney general will play a huge role in shaping the direction of North Carolina. In an interview, Democrat Jeff Jackson explains how his vision for the state differs from that of his opponent, Dan Bishop. Jeff Jackson’s done a lot of things in his life. He...

Share This