By Cassie Gavin
Senior Director of Government Relations
Welcome to the first of NC Sierra Club’s legislative updates for 2021. Thanks for your interest!
North Carolina’s 2021-22 legislative session officially began in late January but substantive committee work and bill-filing is just ramping up now. The N.C. General Assembly operates on a biennial schedule, with long sessions in odd years and short sessions in even years. Legislators are responsible for passing a state budget in the odd years like this one, though that didn’t happen in 2019 and many of the disagreements between parties over budget priorities remain unresolved. Whether or not there will be a budget passed this year is a big question.
The balance of power between the legislative and executive branches remains unchanged this year as Republicans retained their General Assembly majority in the 2020 election and Gov. Roy Cooper won reelection. Gov. Cooper continues to have veto power because there are enough legislators in the minority to uphold a veto when they all vote together. So far, Gov. Cooper’s vetoes have held, including on environmental bills.
COVID relief, economic issues and redistricting are top priorities for the legislature this year, but we are starting to see some environmental bills filed. When environmental bills start moving through committees and being scheduled for votes, we'll share updates and opportunities for you to take action.
The big state environmental news this week was that Gov. Cooper named Dionne Delli-Gatti as his choice for the new secretary of the N.C. Department of Environmental Quality. Delli-Gatti is currently the director of regulatory and legislative affairs for Southeast climate and energy at the Environmental Defense Fund. In that role, she participated in the stakeholder process to develop the N.C. Clean Energy Plan, part of Cooper's 2018 Executive Order 80 on climate change and clean energy. Delli-Gatti’s background in advancing clean energy makes her a strong choice. The N.C. Senate will need to approve the nomination. Check out this N.C. Health News article for more details.