As expected, the Senate voted along party lines on Monday to override Governor Cooper's veto of S382, a putative Hurricane Helene relief bill.
Cooper outlined only a few of the bill's many flaws in his veto message. The measure makes a nominal allocation for Western North Carolina hurricane relief, but most of the earmarked funds would require additional legislative approval before they're spent – hardly the immediate support needed by the region's families, businesses, communities and environment.
The main portion of the bill, as we relayed in our last update, is a brazen partisan power grab that would make massive changes to our state government, purely to shift power away from duly elected incoming leaders. Lawmakers were given virtually no time to digest the bill's contents before they were obliged to vote on its passage.
That led GOP lawmakers Mike Clampitt, Karl Gillespie and Mark Pless, who represent WNC districts, to break from party ranks to vote against the bill's initial passage. If they stand fast again to vote no on the veto override, and all of the bill's original opponents do the same, the override will fail.
We expect the House to hold an override vote next week, likely Wednesday. We're asking Sierra Club members and supporters to contact House members and ask them to vote no on the override, with special emphasis on the three dissenters.
Take action:
Please join us in urging House members to vote against the override:
- You can contact Representatives Clampitt, Gillespie and Pless directly and ask them to again show integrity and respect for their constituents by voting against the override.
- If you live in other parts of North Carolina, contact your own state representative and encourage them to vote NO on the override.