NC Republicans look to override Stein's vetoes in test of Democratic unity

The North Carolina legislature is expected to return to Raleigh next week with the goal of overriding vetoes by Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.

Stein, a democrat, has rejected 14 bills during his first seven months in office. Overrides require the support of three-fifths of both chambers. The votes are expected to test the power of Republicans in the legislature, where the GOP has veto-proof majority in the Senate but is one seat shy of a supermajority in the House of Representatives. That means Republicans would have to flip at least one Democrat in the House, provided all GOP lawmakers in the chamber vote to override the vetos.

Override votes start in the chamber in which the legislation originated. Senate leaders said this week that they planned to take up votes on Tuesday, highlighting at least seven vetoes they’ll try to override. Stein has also vetoed seven House bills. The bills span issues from immigration enforcement, diversity programs, executive power and gun rights, among other issues. Here are a few that could face override votes:

Immigration enforcement

Senate Bill 153 would require city, county and state government officials — not just law enforcement — to cooperate with federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials. The bill would help ICE expand its deportation efforts beyond people with criminal convictions by gaining easy access to a number of government agencies and buildings including public schools, social service offices and public universities. The measure would also order anyone in charge of taking applications for government benefits — for food, housing, education or other aid — with checking the immigration status of everyone who applies.

Supporters say it’ll ensure no immigrants are getting benefits they shouldn’t. Critics say it’ll delay help for eligible people who need it and scare immigrant parents from applying for benefits that their U.S.-citizen children qualify for. "At a time when our law enforcement is already stretched thin, this bill takes state law enforcement officers away from their existing state duties and forces them to act as federal immigration agents," Stein said when vetoing the bill.

House Bill 318 made adjustments to a previously passed law requiring sheriffs to work with ICE. Republicans said there were loopholes in that bill, passed last year, that needed to be fixed. The legislation rejected by Stein sets out in more detail the timeframes that sheriffs must follow in notifying ICE of a detainee's scheduled release and tightens up other language some sheriffs have been accused of interpreting too loosely.

"It would require sheriffs to unconstitutionally detain people for up to 48 hours after they would otherwise be released," Stein said when vetoing the bill. "The Fourth Circuit is clear that local law enforcement officers cannot keep people in custody solely based on a suspected immigration violation. But let me be clear: anyone who commits a serious crime in North Carolina must be prosecuted and held accountable regardless of their immigration status.”

Looser firearms laws

Senate Bill 50 would repeal the training rules and background checks currently required to get a concealed carry permit and lower the age for carrying a concealed pistol from 21 to 18.

Supporters say existing rules are too restrictive and that if more people are armed the state would be safer since police aren’t always immediately on the scene of robberies, mass shootings and other violent crimes. “Law-abiding North Carolinians shouldn't have to jump through hoops to effectively exercise their Second Amendment rights,” Senate leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, a co-sponsor of the legislation, said in a statement last month.

Stein vetoed the bill, saying it makes the state less safe. “Authorizing teenagers to carry a concealed weapon with no training whatsoever is dangerous,” Stein said in a statement when he vetoed the bill. “The bill would also make the job of a law enforcement officer more difficult and less safe. We can and should protect the right to bear arms without recklessly endangering law enforcement officers and our people.”

House Bill 193 would allow private school leaders to authorize teachers, parents or other volunteers to carry guns on campus during school hours, to act as security guards. Private schools are already allowed to hire professional security guards, but many either can't afford it or would rather spend their money on other issues. Supporters cited recent school shootings, including some at private schools, as motivating their push for this bill.

It passed with all Republicans, as well as a small number of Democrats, in favor. But Stein said it will create more safety risks, not fewer. “We cannot substitute the protection offered by well-trained law enforcement officers by asking teachers and school volunteers to step in and respond to crises while armed,” Stein said when rejecting the bill this month.

Diversity, equity and inclusion

Legislative Republicans have cited President Donald Trump's efforts to attack diversity, equity and inclusion programs in the federal government and say North Carolina similarly needs to eliminate DEI programs. Stein said they’re measures designed to “distract us by stoking culture wars that further divide us.”

Senate Bill 227 and Senate Bill 558 target any course curriculum, readings, homework or classroom discussion on DEI-related topics in public K-12 schools, community colleges and universities, as well as banning their employees from being given any DEI-related training courses. Democratic critics worry the rules would make it impossible for teachers to fully teach about things such as slavery and white supremacy. Republican lawmakers said that wasn't their intent with the bill, but Stein is unconvinced.

"Our diversity is our strength," Stein said earlier this month. "We should not whitewash history, ban books or treat our teachers with distrust and disdain. Rather than fearing different viewpoints and cracking down on free speech, we should ensure our students can learn from diverse perspectives and form their own opinions."

House Bill 171 says no state workers or agency leaders can make any decisions on hiring based on "race, sex, color, ethnicity, nationality, country of origin, or sexual orientation." It would also ban human resources training in state government that focus too heavily on diversity. People who are found in violation would be fired and subject to fines. The bill would also let people who think they didn't get a job or a promotion in state government to sue, if they thought DEI played a role.

The bill does almost nothing to define what it considers banned DEI topics to be, leaving it open to interpretation — and the possibility for selective or politically motivated complaints. Stein said that was one of his main concerns with the bill, saying it "is riddled with vague definitions yet imposes extreme penalties for unknowable violations."

Gender issues

House Bill 805 would officially define gender to exclude transgender people, ban state dollars from being used on transgender surgeries and make it easier for people who come to regret a sex-change surgery to sue their former doctors. It would also let parents block public schools from allowing their children to check out certain books from the library, and it would allow children to skip any classes or homework that the parents believe "would impose a substantial burden on the student's religious beliefs."

Stein's veto message focused mostly on the anti-transgender parts of the bill. "My faith teaches me that we are all children of God, no matter our differences, and it is wrong to target vulnerable people, as this bill does," Stein wrote when rejecting the bill. "I stand ready to work with the legislature when it gets serious about protecting people, instead of mean-spirited attempts to further divide us."

The North Carolina Republican Party responded that it's Stein who's not being serious about protecting people, adding that “Stein and his radical allies disrespect women across North Carolina in service of a far left-wing agenda voters time again have made clear they reject."

Other bills

Republican lawmakers may also seek override votes on a variety of other bills vetoed by Stein, including:

• Senate Bill 254, which would largely cut the state superintendent of public instruction and State Board of Education out of the oversight of the state's charter schools — shifting oversight away from elected officials to a board largely appointed by GOP state lawmakers.
• Senate Bill 266, which would exempt Duke Energy from needing to meet the carbon-reduction goals that it agreed to just four years ago and would allow the company to charge its North Carolina customers for power plants that have not yet been built.
• Senate Bill 416, which prohibits public agencies from collecting, disclosing or releasing personal information about members, volunteers, and financial and nonfinancial donors to certain nonprofit organizations.
• House Bill 96, which would ban cities and counties from passing any regulations related to pet stores — legislation that came after activists pressed Raleigh City Council to ban pet shops in downtown, citing some they claimed are associated with puppy mills.
• House Bill 402, which among other things would require state lawmakers to vote on any proposed regulation that might have as little as a $20 million cost spread over five years for businesses in the state's multi-trillion-dollar economy.
• House Bill 549, which seeks to clarify and expand the auditor’s existing abilities to investigate state agencies and entities that are publicly funded.