By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
This week was a rollercoaster at the N.C. General Assembly as legislators responded to court-ordered redistricting and the House voted to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s veto of the state budget.
New voting maps coming soon
A state court recently ordered that certain voting maps must be redrawn because they were illegally drawn to favor Republicans. Read more about the court decision here. Both chambers held committee meetings this week on the maps that will determine voting districts for about half of all state legislative races. On Monday at noon, there will be a public hearing on the proposed maps; the public is invited to comment in person or electronically.
Opportunity for action
Let the N.C. General Assembly know that fair voting maps are important for democracy and also for the environment. Gerrymandering affects every single environmental law in North Carolina because it lets politicians pick their voters instead of the other way around. If politicians don’t have to worry about running against an opponent or listening to their constituents, they don’t have any reason to protect fundamental rights like access to clean water, protections for our public lands, reducing our dependence on fossil fuels, and more. Comments may be submitted here.
House overrides veto of budget with surprise vote
The state budget bill (H 966) had been sitting on the House calendar for a potential veto override for over a month. Governor Cooper vetoed the budget on June 29; his veto message said, “We should be investing in public schools, teacher pay and health care instead of more tax breaks for corporations.” Since then, there have been budget negotiations but those stalled over Medicaid expansion.
The budget contains some helpful and some harmful environmental provisions. For example, it contains some funding for DEQ to address emerging contaminants like GenX but not nearly the $6 million requested by Governor Cooper. Additionally, it would delay for a year needed improvements in hog waste management that are supposed to go into effect this fall.
On Wednesday morning, the House voted to override Governor Cooper’s veto when many Republicans but few Democrats were present in the House chamber. The minority party members who were in the chamber objected to the vote being taken when their colleagues did not expect votes that morning. Read more about the 55-15 vote here. The budget will next go to the Senate for consideration. If the Senate votes to override the veto, then the bill will become law.
Farm Act, billboard bill and Duke Energy bill on hold
- There was no movement on the Farm Act (S 315) this week. It’s passed both chambers and awaits Senate approval of changes made by the House. The bill is sitting in the Rules Committee but could be taken up by the Senate any day if Senate leadership decides to agree to the changes. If not, the Senate could vote to not concur with changes and the bill would go into conference to be negotiated by a conference committee in private.
- We saw no move by legislators to try to override of Governor Cooper’s veto of the billboard bill (H 645).
- No compromise has yet emerged from the conference committee on the Duke Energy ratemaking bill, S 559, “Storm Securitization/Alt. Rates,” after the House turned the multi-year ratemaking part of the bill into a study in August.