House Speaker Tim Moore
NC House panel advances controversial bill to dramatically expand school vouchers
The state’s House Committee on K-12 Education on Tuesday powered through a controversial expansion of North Carolina’s school voucher program that could forever change the state’s public education landscape. House Bill 823 was topic No. 1 ahead of Thursday’s crossover deadline. The Republican-backed legislation would open the state’s Opportunity Scholarship Program to all families regardless […]
Berger, Moore seek to defend state’s abortion pill laws in federal court
Republican legislators want to defend state laws in a federal suit that challenges the legality of North Carolina’s restrictions on prescribing the abortion pill. This comes after the Attorney General’s office said the objection to state restrictions the lawsuit raises is on point. To recap, an Ob/Gyn who practices in Orange County sued the state, […]
Hasty passage of “anti-riot” legislation tramples free speech in multiple ways
Of all the protections enshrined in the U.S. Constitution, none stands above the First Amendment’s guarantee of the right to speak freely and to dissent. It therefore stands to reason that any effort by elected officials to place curbs on these rights must be viewed with great skepticism and only approached with the utmost caution. […]
NC House staffer with history of extremist views resigns after just weeks on the job
Carlton Huffman had a long record of espousing controversial views about race, immigrants, and North Carolina history before he started a job with the General Assembly earlier this month. According to an online staff listing, Huffman was on the staff of the Joint Legislative Committee of Governmental Operations working for the House Republican majority. That […]
Veto showdowns and voter ID: Democracy will be on the defensive again at the legislature in 2023
The N.C. General Assembly gathered on Jan. 11 amid trappings of ceremony and good cheer to kick off its 2023 session. Then reality reared its head: At least in the state House, the majority party apparently intends to play rough. Democrats in the minority are left to wonder if their Republican counterparts see them not as duly elected colleagues with whom they may disagree over this bill or that, but as enemies to be muzzled and marginalized.
North Carolina House Republicans advance a new kind of bathroom bill
It’s been almost seven years since North Carolina Republican lawmakers and then-Gov. Pat McCrory hastily concocted and enacted House Bill 2 – the infamous “bathroom bill” that targeted transgender people for ignorant, mean-spirited, and altogether absurd discrimination, while simultaneously making the state the target of numerous boycotts and countless late-night TV one-liners. The bill was later repealed, of course, but its legacy – as an embarrassment to be forgotten as quickly as possible...
New NC House rules would ‘hold people hostage’ and erode transparency, Democratic leader says
North Carolina’s legislative session opened Wednesday with a controversy in the state House over a proposed rule change that would allow Republicans to call snap votes to override Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes. The House rules adopted as temporary on Wednesday no longer include the section requiring advanced notice of veto override votes. The legislature […]
In open letter to Spellings and Ross, veteran academic urges dramatic overhaul of UNC System governance
There are few signs that Republican legislative leaders have any interest in listening to — much less acting upon — any recommendations that may be forthcoming later this year from the new Commission on the Governance of Public Universities in North Carolina that Gov. Roy Cooper established this past November. After all, as Joe Killian […]
A holiday wish list for North Carolina pols and their pals
Well, the season of giving is upon us again, and while it’s clear that North Carolina ethics statutes prevent public servants and other “covered persons” from receiving any gifts that might influence their official actions, the law includes a number of – nudge-nudge, wink-wink – exceptions, so one hopes that perhaps there is a way to make the following list a reality. For Senator-elect Ted Budd: A collector’s edition set of official Donald Trump superhero trading cards.