By Cassie Gavin
Director of Government Relations
In this, the last week of the 2018 short session, the NC General Assembly focused on veto overrides, constitutional amendments (which are not subject to veto) and quashing gubernatorial appointments. The legislature completed nine overrides of Governor Cooper’s vetos, including two bills that the Sierra Club strongly opposed. And legislators passed six bills to add constitutional amendments to the November ballot. Check out this political cartoon and this editorial for one perspective on the constitutional amendments. Also this week, the General Assembly voted down several gubernatorial appointments to boards and commissions, part of a trend of unchecked partisanship.
The adjournment resolution typically would end the two year biennium (2017-2018), and the body would adjourn "sine die." This is from the Latin for "without day," or without assigning a day for a further gathering. Traditionally, the legislature adjourns the short session and does not return until the following year.
Instead, the adjournment resolution, House Joint Resolution 1101, calls for the General Assembly to reconvene November 27, 2018, after the November election, but before newly elected members take their seats. This gives the legislature the opportunity to thwart the voters' will in a range of ways before a new body is seated in January 2019.
Farm Act Becomes Law Despite Environmental Justice Concerns
The N.C. House on Wednesday voted 74-45 to override Governor Cooper's veto of Senate Bill 711, the Farm Act. The Senate voted on Tuesday to override the veto of the bill. S 711 diminishes the ability of people to seek redress in court when nearby farms or forestry activities - such as industrial-scale hog farms that spray animal waste on fields - cause them a loss in use or value of their property. While this bill was clearly meant to protect the hog industry from citizen suits, the General Assembly has opened the door wide for more industries to come ask for the same special treatment under the law.
Opportunity for action:
Thanking lawmakers when they vote for the environment is just as important as asking them to vote against bad environmental bills. Please click on the names below to email and thank Representatives Billy Richardson (D - Cumberland), John Blust (R - Guilford) and John Ager (D - Buncombe) who spoke passionately against the bill in the House debate. Richardson spoke about the fundamental importance of protecting citizen rights to due process in the courts. Ager, who is a small-scale hog farmer, said that waste management for hog farms should be modernized so that they can be good neighbors. And Blust spoke about how this bill will open up a crack in the bedrock of private property rights because more industries will ask for piecemeal changes to laws.
Legislative Power-Grab Constitutional Amendment to be on Ballot
Also this week the legislature passed House Bill 913, Bipartisan Ethics and Elections Enforcement, which would further strip gubernatorial powers via a constitutional amendment added to the ballot in November.
Until Monday, this bill was about health insurance ("Re-establish N.C. High Risk Pool”). But the original H 913 was scrapped by the House Rules Committee and turned into a measure that would maximize the legislature’s ability to control executive branch functions.
Sections 2 and 4 of H 913 would amend the N.C. Constitution in an attempt to give the legislature unlimited power to determine how members of boards and commissions are appointed, by classifying decisions about how appointments are made as a legislative power. The intent appears to be to counter the 2016 N.C. Supreme Court decision in McCrory v. Berger that held the legislature could not give itself the power to appoint a majority of the members of a board or commission that carries out state laws.
Currently, the legislature and the governor generally share appointments to more than 300 boards and commissions. These bodies are responsible for adopting regulations to enforce the laws passed by the General Assembly. For example, the Environmental Management Commission (EMC) is responsible for adopting rules to protect the state’s air and water resources. Appointments to the EMC are now divided between the governor, who appoints a majority of the members, and the legislature.
While the intent of H 913 seems clear, it's unclear how N.C. courts will interpret the proposed changes to the constitution since the amendment may conflict with the existing constitutional requirement that legislative, executive and judicial powers must be separate.
Opportunity for Action:
Please click on the links below to email the following Representatives and thank them for speaking up against H 913 in the House debate: Robert Reives (D - Chatham, Lee), Pricey Harrison (D - Guilford), Susan Fisher (D - Buncombe), Mickey Michaux (D - Durham), Verla Insko (D - Orange), Chuck McGrady (R - Henderson), Becky Carney (D - Mecklenburg) and Graig Meyer (D - Orange). Since this will be on the ballot in November, it’s now up to you and other voters to determine the outcome; please spread the word!