Senate was back Monday, House back next week

The state Senate met on Monday and voted along party lines, 30-19, to override Democratic Governor Roy Cooper’s veto of SB 382, passed by the legislature just before Thanksgiving.

While the legislation included over $200M in additional funds in relief for victims of Hurricane Helene, also contained in the bill are provisions to restructure such state Executive Branch functions as State Board of Elections and Utilities Commission.

Governor Cooper had called the bill ‘a sham,’ criticizing the legislature for doing too little to further aid North Carolinians impacted by the storm and claiming the legislation was primarily a ‘power grab’ by the Republican-controlled General Assembly before the loss of their supermajority numbers, and thus ability to override gubernatorial vetoes, beginning in 2025.

The veto override vote attracted protest by some in the public gallery during the Senate session, but all spectators were removed and the Senate continued on with its business.

The Senate also approved three other items, including two proposed amendments to the state constitution to appear on the ballot in the 2026 General Election:

Reduce from 7% to 5% the maximum state income tax rate;
Further refinement to the Voter ID requirements spelled out in a previous amendment passed by voters.

The other legislation calls for a US Constitutional Convention for the purpose of setting term limits for those serving in Congress.

The state House is schedule to return to Raleigh next week to take up a veto override and these additional bills.

Three House Republicans from the western part of the state, Representatives Mike Clampitt, Carl Gillespie and Mark Pless, voted NO on SB 382 when it was originally taken up, citing what they considered too little financial support in the bill for their constituents in storm-impact areas.

Support from all three is needed for the GOP to have the votes necessary to override Governor Cooper’s veto next week, but Republican House leaders expressed confidence this week that the three legislators could be counted on to support an override despite their previous concerns about relief funding.

The current adjournment resolution calls for the 2024 Session to end on Friday, December 13th – we’ll put out a Raleigh Report that day, and then return on January 24th with a preview of the 2025 Legislative Session, which start on January 29th.

Also this week:

Senate Democrats selected Senator Sydney Batch (D-Wake) as Minority Leader, a somewhat surprising outcome as incumbent Minority Leader Senator Dan Blue (D-Wake) had indicated his intention to serve in the role again. Blue withdrew his name from consideration when it became clear Batch had

secured support from a majority of state Senate Democrats.

In the other chamber, House Democrats retained Representative Robert Reives as Minority Leader. Other House and Senate Democratic caucus leadership positions will be set when the General Assembly returns in January.

In the one state Supreme Court race on the ballot this year, after an initial recount showed Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin trailed incumbent Democrat Allyson Riggs by just a few hundred votes out of 5.5M cast, Griffin called for second recount.

Griffin is also contesting the eligibility of 60,000 voters who cast ballots in the race, requiring county Boards of Elections to conduct reviews. Similar voter eligibility questions have been filed by losing Republican candidates in three state legislative races that Democrats won, including one state House race where a reversal of the election-night results would result in the Republicans maintaining super majority in that Chamber.

It's a month since Election Day, but we are getting close to getting all the results determined!

And finally …

Governor Cooper is commemorating the first anniversary of Medicaid expansion with events around the state. Cooper announced at a stop in Greenville this week that 590,331 more North Carolinians get health care through Medicaid now, nearly the 600,000 estimated when the expansion of benefits was approved last year in a bipartisan effort between the governor and GOP-led state legislature.

View in browser