Current:Home > Contact-usNorth Carolina Republicans finalize legislation curbing appointment powers held by governor-Angel Dreamer Wealth Society D1 Reviews & Insights
North Carolina Republicans finalize legislation curbing appointment powers held by governor
View Date:2025-01-14 03:21:59
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Republican legislative leaders finalized on Wednesday their efforts to curb the appointment powers of the governor on several boards and commissions, extending a years-long struggle with Democrat Roy Cooper over who controls key panels within state government.
Compromise legislation worked out by House Speaker Tim Moore, Senate leader Phil Berger and others would take away from the governor the ability to pick many spots on panels that among others set electricity rates and environmental regulations and approve road-building projects.
The General Assembly, its leaders or other statewide elected officials would get to make many of those choices instead under the bill.
The GOP-dominated House and Senate approved separately their consensus measure on party-line votes, sending it to Cooper, who likely will veto it. Cooper and his allies have called versions of the bill earlier this year unconstitutional power grabs.
Republicans hold narrow veto-proof majorities in both chambers.
“I know that this is a bill that we’re all not going to agree on,” GOP Rep. Destin Hall of Caldwell County, one of the bill’s negotiators. He called the appointment shift “a better way to do it because of the diversity in this body and across the state.”
There are eight panels in the bill that are being changed in which currently Cooper’s picks or those of future governors compose all or a majority of the panel’s seats.
Only one of those eight — the Utilities Commission — would leave a majority of seats with the governor. But instead of picking all seven seats, the governor would over time get to choose just three seats for a reconstituted five-member commission.
And the legislature or its chamber leaders would have a majority of positions on the Board of Transportation and the Economic Investment Committee, which award monetary incentives to companies that agree to invest and create jobs in the state.
Republican legislative leaders argue a rebalance of power is necessary to ensure differing viewpoints beyond those preferred by the governor. Democrats cite state court rulings going back 40 years addressing the separation of powers as evidence that the bill would be unconstitutional.
“Consolidating power in this body is a bad, bad, bad idea,” said House Minority Leader Robert Reives of Chatham County said during debate. “We’ve got to support what government is supposed to be about. And I struggle to believe that continuing to consolidate power in this body is best for North Carolina.”
Hall argued the bill is lawful, but other Republican colleagues have previously acknowledged that more litigation may be ahead to hash out the issue.
The final measure omits a provision in the House’s version that would have increased the number of voting members the General Assembly elects to the University of North Carolina Board of Governors from 24 to 28.
But it does give the General Assembly two additional seats on the trustee boards of UNC-Chapel Hill and North Carolina State University. The General Assembly would now appoint six of 15 trustee positions for each campus, with eight others still picked by the Board of Governors. The fifteenth trustee is the campus student government president.
veryGood! (2)
Related
- College Football Playoff ranking release: Army, Georgia lead winners and losers
- Teyana Taylor and Iman Shumpert Break Up After 7 Years of Marriage
- British media report rape and emotional abuse allegations against Russell Brand
- U.S. border agents are separating migrant children from their parents to avoid overcrowding, inspector finds
- Tua Tagovailoa playing with confidence as Miami Dolphins hope MNF win can spark run
- Lee makes landfall in Canada with impacts felt in New England: Power outages, downed trees
- Joe Biden defends UAW strike; tells industry they must share record profits
- Rapper Flo Rida uses fortune, fame to boost Miami Gardens residents, area where he was raised
- Tom Brady Admits He Screwed Up as a Dad to Kids With Bridget Moynahan and Gisele Bündchen
- Landslide in northwest Congo kills at least 17 people after torrential rain
Ranking
- Cruise ship rescues 4 from disabled catamaran hundreds of miles off Bermuda, officials say
- Hundreds protest against the Malaysian government after deputy premier’s graft charges were dropped
- A Mississippi jury rules officers justified in fatal 2017 shooting after police went to wrong house
- Authorities investigate after 3 found dead in camper at Kansas race track
- Mike Tyson vs. Jake Paul referee handled one of YouTuber's biggest fights
- Texas AG Ken Paxton is back on job after acquittal but Republicans aren’t done attacking each other
- Minnesota man acquitted of killing 3 people, wounding 2 others in case that turned alibi defense
- Maui death toll from wildfires drops to at least 97; officials say 31 still missing
Recommendation
-
Satire publication The Onion acquires Alex Jones' Infowars at auction
-
Alabama Barker Shares What She Looks Forward to Most About Gaining a New Sibling
-
How dome homes can help protect against natural disasters
-
Forecasters cancel warnings as Lee begins to dissipate over Maritime Canada
-
Appeals Court Affirms Conviction of Everglades Scientist Accused of Stealing ‘Trade Secrets’
-
'Endless calls for help': Critics say Baltimore police mishandled mass shooting response
-
Family of man killed by police responding to wrong house in New Mexico files lawsuit
-
California Gov. Gavin Newsom says he will sign climate-focused transparency laws for big business