May 29, 2015 Legislative Update
By Unknown
Vetoes
Within 24 hours, Governor McCrory has vetoed two bills sent
to his desk by the General Assembly. Both bills will now go back to the
legislature for each chamber to consider whether they will attempt to override
the veto. A veto override requires the support of three-fifths of the
members present and voting in both chambers.
- SB 2
– Magistrates Recusal for Civil Ceremonies – would allow
magistrates to refuse to perform marriages without fear of being fired by
citing a “sincerely held religious objection.” Once their objection
is submitted in writing, they would be barred from performing any
marriage for six months or until they removed their objection. The
bill also applies to registers of deeds who issue marriage
certificates. While the Senate has the support to override the veto,
the House passed the bill by a vote of 67-43, which is barely above the
three-fifths threshold; the veto override will start in the Senate.
Also a factor, ten House members were absent and didn’t vote. This
bill arose from magistrates being required to perform gay marriages.
- HB
405 – Property Protection Act – is commonly referred to
by opponents as the “ag-gag” bill because they believe the bill is
specifically intended to prevent undercover investigations of farms and
agriculture facilities. The bill allows employers to sue employees
who use their positions to gain access to documents or to secretly record
areas that aren’t open to the public. McCrory explained, “I am
concerned that subjecting these employees to potential civil penalties
will create an environment that discourages them from reporting illegal
activities.” The bill easily cleared the three-fifths threshold in
both the House and Senate when it was initially passed but a veto override
effort will begin in the House. The Governor’s office was flooded
with calls to veto this bill, and the First Lady has made puppy mill
legislation her top priority.
Retention Elections
HB 222
– Retention Elections/Supreme Court – was approved by the Senate
on Thursday. The bill calls for retention elections—where a “yes” or “no”
vote would be given instead of an election between opponents— for sitting
members of the NC Supreme Court, reasoning that it would cut down on the high
costs of judicial campaigns if sitting judges didn’t have to run against
opponents. It would also prevent sitting judges from having to raise
campaign money from individuals who might appear before them in court.
The original House version of the bill also applied to the state Court of
Appeals, but the Senate removed that provision.
Senate Democrats were suspicious of the timing for this
bill, noting that retention elections would begin in 2016 when only one member
of the Supreme Court, Justice Bob Edmunds, a Republican, faces
re-election. Senator Josh Stein called it “the Justice Bob Edmunds
Protection Act” since it would begin in 2016 when Edmunds is up. However,
Senate Republicans argued that having only one sitting judge up for re-election
makes for a great opportunity to test out the new type of election.
The bill will now go back to the concurrence in the Senate
changes.
Abortion Law
HB 465
– Women and Children’s Protection Act of 2015 – gained initial
approval in the Senate on Thursday and will receive a final vote on
Monday. The bill extends the waiting period for an abortion in NC from 24
hours to 72 hours and contains a new provision that requires doctors who
perform abortions during weeks 19 and 20 to send ultrasounds, measurements, and
other information to the NC Department of Health and Human Services so that the
state can ensure no abortions are being performed after 16 weeks. The
Senate also added in several bipartisan provisions aimed at the safety of women
and children, including two provisions that were introduced in bill-form
earlier this session by Senator Jeff Jackson which would strengthen laws for
statutory rape and sex offenders. This resulted in complaints from
Democrats and calls to divide the bill and vote separately on the issues.
However, the bill was voted on in its entirety by a vote of 31-15.
Once the bill receives its expected final Senate approval on
Monday, it will be sent back to the House for approval. We haven’t yet heard if
the House will accept the changes.
Senate Budget Underway
Senate appropriations subcommittees met all week to review
the House budget. Senators adopted a schedule for approving its version
of the budget on June 11. This would leave two full legislative weeks for
a conference committee to develop a compromise budget and for the compromise to
be approved by both chambers on June 30, which is the final day of the fiscal
year.
While the House budget increased spending by about 6%,
Senate leaders have said that they will limit any budget growth to 3%.
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