North Carolinians flooded the N.C. House over the past week in person, by email and over the phone, urging lawmakers to uphold Gov. Roy Cooper's veto of S382, the "Helene relief" legislation that actually focuses on stripping power from incoming elected leaders.
Despite the outcry, lawmakers voted 72-46 to provide the three-fifths majority needed to approve the override. Cooper and Attorney General (and governor-elect) Josh Stein promptly announced plans for a legal challenge on constitutional grounds.
Many citizens – and an N.C. Sierra Club action alert – focused their protests on three GOP lawmakers, Reps. Mike Clampitt, Karl Gillespie and Mark Pless. Thanks to all of you who used our action forms to contact these three lawmakers and your own state representatives.
The three, who represent WNC districts, voted against the bill's rushed passage last month. They had signaled that they would sustain the veto in the interest of their districts, but after hours of arm-twisting and a four-hour delay of the override's scheduled vote, the three fell into line with party leadership.
A select committee on Helene relief met earlier in the day, hearing testimony that the disaster will need close to $55 billion in public funding to support recovery. S382 allocates $227 million in spending (on top of $877 million already earmarked by the legislature) from the state's rainy day fund, which will require additional legislative action before being disbursed.
As we've previously described (in earlier updates on our Legislative Advocacy page), S382 is much more heavily focused on stripping power from incoming officeholders including the governor, attorney general and superintendent of public instruction – all Democrats.
OTHER ISSUES: The House approved a constitutional amendment on voter identification rules, to be put on ballots in the 2026 election (NC's governor can't veto constitutional amendments). An earlier voter ID requirement is already being challenged in court. A second constitutional amendment already approved by the Senate, which would have further lowered the state's maximum income tax rate, was abandoned.
The General Assembly adjourned "sine die," ending the 2023-24 session, meaning all pending legislation now expires. The newly elected 2025-26 General Assembly plans to hold an organizational session on Jan. 8 where office-holders will be sworn in and leadership elected, then adjourn until late January.
We'll have a full recap of the past year's legislative activity, and a look ahead at our expectations for the incoming session. Visit our website to read it, or to subscribe to our legislative update emails.