NC House Republicans find a sneaky way to override the governor’s veto | Opinion
Despite falling one seat short of an outright supermajority in November’s election, North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore has insisted that “for all intents and purposes,” Republicans have veto-proof control of the chamber.
Perhaps that’s because GOP leaders have come up with a workaround.
New rules proposed by Republican leadership would make it easier for representatives to override Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes. One rule change would allow the House speaker to call a vote to override a veto without notice. Another rule change would allow the speaker to vary the order in which business is conducted once the House is gaveled in.
It’s a significant change to rules that have been in place for at least a decade. Previously, at least two days’ notice was required before a veto override vote, and any changes to the order of business had to have majority approval.
The rules were passed on a temporary basis without opportunity for debate on the House floor Wednesday, with the promise that a full, permanent rules package would be negotiated “in a few weeks.” The vote was strictly along party lines, and Moore told reporters Wednesday he expects these rules to become permanent.
Rep. Brandon Lofton, the new legislative chair for the Democrats, said he only saw the rules for the first time a day or two before they went up for a vote, at which point he informed Republican leaders of his “serious concerns and objections.” Lofton said he would have liked to simply adopt the previous session’s rules as the temporary rules while leaders negotiate more permanent ones, which has sometimes occurred in the past.
The margin of error is already thin for Democrats, who cannot afford to lose a single member on an override vote. Republicans have an outright supermajority in the Senate, so that one House seat is all that’s stopping them from pushing through legislation on abortion, voting rights and other critical issues.
These rules make attendance even more important. In the past, Democrats have been able to make plans based on whether or not a veto override has been placed on that day’s calendar. Now, they will no longer be extended that courtesy. It even makes it risky for Democrats who are present to step off of the House floor to take a phone call or use the bathroom.
The idea that lawmakers should show up to vote seems simple enough — after all, it is their job. But North Carolina’s legislature is only meant to be part-time, and the salary doesn’t even come close to paying the bills. Many members have day jobs or family obligations that may prevent them from making it to Raleigh on a certain day.
Plus, people get sick and emergencies happen, but the GOP’s past behavior indicates it doesn’t have a lot of compassion for that. In 2019, House Republicans rescheduled a veto override vote on a controversial abortion measure 10 times in hopes that eventually enough Democrats would be absent. Then-Rep. Sydney Batch, a Wake County Democrat, had breast cancer and was forced to return early after a mastectomy to prevent Republicans from capitalizing on her absence. Batch was reportedly in pain and visibly shaking on the House floor, and a colleague had to drive her to and from sessions because she was too weak to drive herself.
“We say that this is the People’s House, and it is, and I believe that people have a right to know what’s happening in their government,” Lofton said. “They have a right to know the decisions that are being made. And these rules make it more difficult for the public to know or to have input into those decisions.”
Never mind that voters denied House Republicans a supermajority last November. They’ll find a way to get one anyway, no matter how much deception and trickery it requires. They say democracy dies in darkness. But in North Carolina, it might also be threatened if you go to take a pee break.
