Nov 21, 2024 - Politics
Some Assembly Required: Lame duck blitz
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North Carolina Republicans' days with a veto-proof supermajority in the state legislature are numbered. This week, they spent the last few days making a final push to pass some of their top priorities unfettered.
In case you haven't been keeping tabs on the ins and outs of a whirlwind week in the state legislature, here's what you may have missed:
Leadership elections
- House Republicans held leadership elections Tuesday, in which they all but finalized Rules Chairman Rep. Destin Hall's position as House Speaker for the next two years.
- Also notable: the House GOP ousted eight-term state Rep. Sarah Stevens from her position as Speaker Pro Tempore, installing in her place 13-term lawmaker Rep. Mitchell Setzer. Currently, House Republicans have three women in leadership. Next year, they'll only have one.
- Senate Republicans, meanwhile, re-elected Senate leader Phil Berger to lead the chamber. Currently, Senate Republicans have no women in leadership. Next year, they'll have one: Sen. Amy Galey, who will be one of two whips.
Veto override
- The legislature on Wednesday overrode Gov. Roy Cooper's veto on HB10, which allocates an additional $248 million to clear the state's private school voucher program waitlist this year. Most of the families on that list make more than $115,000, per WUNC.
- Also included in the legislation is a requirement that sheriffs cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement to comply with immigration detainers.
Disaster relief legislation — sort of
- The Senate passed Wednesday the 131-page so-called disaster relief bill Republicans unveiled Tuesday, mere hours before the House voted on it.
- The legislation will now go to outgoing Gov. Roy Cooper, who has already denounced the bill, which chips away at the power of the governor and other Democratic statewide elected officials.
- Lawmakers will return to Raleigh early next month, likely to override the governor's veto.
Yes, but: The GOP might not have the votes for an override, as a handful of Western North Carolina Republicans in the House voted against the legislation Tuesday.