After a month and a half, the N.C. General Assembly reconvened the week of Aug. 14 not for a budget vote, but for veto override and to consider a new election bill.
In total, six vetoes were overridden, with the votes mostly along Republican supermajority lines.
“I was proud to join my colleagues in successfully voting to override six of the governor’s vetoes last week,” said Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Macon). This legislation includes prohibiting men from competing in women’s sports, banning gender transition surgeries for minors, blocking costly new home building energy mandates, and affirming parental rights over their child’s education. The majority of these veto overrides passed with bipartisan support.”
• Senate Bill 49: The “Parents Bill of Rights,” which bans instruction on “gender identity, sexual activity or sexuality” from kindergarten through fourth grade, and mandates that a school notify parents if a child wishes to change their name or pronoun.
• House Bill 219: A charter school ombud bill, which would authorize counties to provide capital funds to charter schools and eliminated growth caps on “low performing” charter schools.
• House Bill 488: Reorganizing the building code council, prohibits energy conservation and efficiency amendment from state building codes until 2026. Cooper claims this bill “imperils” the state’s ability to qualify for FEMA funds and violates the constitution by “rigging the way rules are made” for residential building code standards.
• House Bill 574: Prohibits transgender students from competing in middle, high school or post-secondary sports teams of the gender they’re transitioning or transitioned to. The bill also gives a blueprint for injunctive relief if they were “deprived of an athletic opportunity” due to a violation of the act.
• House Bill 618: Shifting charter school oversight from the State Board of Education to the N.C. Charter Schools Review Board (formerly an advisory board). The SBOE is appointed by the governor while the N.C. Charter Schools Review Board is appointed by the legislature.
• House Bill 808: Prohibiting gender transition procedures for all minors and details civil and criminal proceedings against those who violate the ban.
Voting changes
The General Assembly also pushed forward Senate Bill 747, which would make voting changes starting in 2024, including eliminating the three-day grace period for mail-in ballots received after Election Day. This does not apply to the nine-day grace period for mail-in ballots coming from out of the country or from the military. The bill would also require signatures for absentee ballots, start a signature verification pilot program for 10 selected counties in 2024 and loosen restrictions on poll watchers.
Democratic critics say the bill could disenfranchise voters by specifically targeting methods of voting used by those who tend to vote Democrat.
State budget
The state’s biennium budget, which would implement state employee raises and fund the state’s Medicaid expansion, won’t be passed in August, according to state leaders. The budget has been in negotiations since the first week of July between N.C. House and N.C. Senate leadership.