Under the Dome: NC’s DEI vote set for today
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Good morning! ☀️ Here’s what you need to know in North Carolina politics today.
The UNC System Board of Governors today is voting on a policy that would rescind current diversity, equity and inclusion mandates, and the impact could be far-reaching for students, staff and faculty of diverse backgrounds.
As Korie Dean reports today, the board taking the vote lacks the diversity of the campuses that will be affected. According to UNC System enrollment for the current semester, 52% of all students are white, 21% are Black and 6% are Asian. About 59% are female. Read Korie’s story to see how the board stacks up.
The new policy emphasizes equality over the current focus of diversity and inclusion. The exact implications of today’s vote are unclear, but those affected could range from DEI employees who support veterans or students with disabilities to recruiters who seek out underrepresented student populations, according to campus reports on DEI spending.
– Stephanie Loder, correspondent
MOORE ON DEI
House Speaker Tim Moore told reporters on Wednesday that he fully supports “what the UNC Board of Governors is doing, and really getting rid of this wasteful spending for DEI.”
Universities spend, he said, “a staggering amount that can be put toward actually improving educational access to students, reducing cost, a lot of other things that are better uses of money.”
Moore said that if the Board of Governors acts, he doesn’t see a need for the General Assembly to pass legislation about it this session.
Moore said that lawmakers are looking at state agency DEI funding, too, but “that one’s a much broader one to try to deal with. The university is much easier to get a handle on. When it comes to what’s happening in state agencies, that has proved to be more nebulous, because things aren’t necessarily classified in that way. So that’s going to require some additional study and time.”
He doesn’t see there being time to get to that in the short session, but said it would be for the 2025 long session. Moore, a Kings Mountain Republican, is running for Congress, so he won’t be in the legislature after 2024.
– Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan
DEMOCRATS ON DEI
At a news conference Wednesday, Rep. Maria Cervania, a Cary Democrat, spoke out against the Board of Governors’ impending vote.
“North Carolina has been No. 1 for the last two years when it comes to business. And this is largely because of our talent pipeline and our human resources. We will not remain and maintain this title as we go further in divesting from important DEI programs,” Cervania said.
She was joined by Rep. Amos Quick, a Greensboro Democrat, who said he was speaking on behalf of the House Democratic caucus.
“North Carolina should focus on fully funding our university system and creating an inclusive environment where every student has the attention and opportunities they deserve,” Quick said, instead of “joining the culture wars.”
— Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi
Senate advances bill giving lawyers more privileges in disciplinary process
A bill granting more privileges to lawyers named in complaints to the NC State Bar advanced in a Senate committee on Wednesday.
Under the proposed law, Senate Bill 790, attorneys would get more access to complaints and supporting materials when they are accused of infractions and get a chance to address a disciplinary committee earlier in the process.
The bill also specifies who may file complaints against lawyers and directs the State Bar to create an expungement process for some disciplinary actions taken against lawyers.
The Senate Rules Committee advanced the bill without discussion.
The legislation is a product of a committee of lawyers and judges appointed by the legislature last year to recommend changes to the disciplinary process.
The bill, in its current form, does not specify what disciplinary actions against attorneys the State Bar would be allowed to expunge.
– Kyle Ingram
REPUBLICANS PROPOSE REPEAL OF EXPUNGEMENT LAW
GOP lawmakers have decided against moving forward with a bipartisan proposal to fix issues with the implementation of a state law that allowed certain arrest records to be automatically erased.
A legislative committee instead on Wednesday approved legislation to repeal the law that went into effect under the Second Chance Act and allows arrest records to be automatically expunged for dismissed cases and for people who were found not guilty.
The bill that would repeal the law advanced in the House Judiciary 2 Committee over objections by Democrats. Lawmakers introduced the bill as a substitute to the proposal allowing automatic expunctions to resume by Dec. 1.
Rep. Sarah Stevens, the Republican committee chair, presented the bill and said it was necessary to repeal the law for the time being because of several problems stemming from court records not being retained when cases were being automatically expunged.
It’s the latest major criminal justice measure under consideration. Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi reported on Tuesday on a proposal by state lawmakers to limit public access to autopsy reports.
Get the full story from Avi Bajpai here.
BILL MAY FELL TREES FOR BILLBOARDS
A bill that received final approval Wednesday from state lawmakers would allow billboard owners to cut down more trees – including currently protected redbuds – along North Carolina’s highways.
The bill would allow an expanded billboard view zone to allow owners to remove vegetation and trees up to 500 feet from the sign.
The billboard provisions are part of House Bill 198, which contains requests from the state Department of Transportation for changes. The billboard measure was not requested by NCDOT.
The N.C. Outdoor Advertising Association says the zone on highways is too small. Under state law, the view zone for billboards is limited to 380 feet.
Both the Sierra Club and Scenic North Carolina said the trees belong to the public and that the bill sacrifices the trees unnecessarily.
Get the full story from Richard Stradling here.
CAN BILL HELP NC NURSES ACHIEVE AUTONOMY?
A proposal tacked onto House Bill 681 would allow some nurse practitioners to practice without being supervised by a physician.
The proposal, which has failed more than once, moved forward Wednesday, even as some lawmakers expressed concerns about patient safety.
However, Democratic Sen. Gale Adcock, a nurse practitioner from Cary, said the proposal would “bring North Carolina into the mainstream of regulation of advanced practical nurses.”
Nurses would have to put in at least 4,000 hours working under the supervision of a physician or qualified nurse practitioner before being given autonomy.
Get the full story from Luciana Perez Uribe Guinassi here.
That’s all for today. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol news.
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Don’t forget to follow our tweets and listen to our Under the Dome podcast for more developments.
You can sign up to receive the Under the Dome newsletter at newsobserver.com/newsletters. Want your friends to get our email, too? Forward them this newsletter so they can sign up.
We want to know what you would like to see in the Under the Dome newsletter. Do you like highlights from the legislature? Political analysis? Do you have a question you’d like The News & Observer team to answer? Tell us here. You can also email us at dome@newsobserver.com
Don’t forget to follow our tweets and listen to our Under the Dome podcast for more developments.
