Lawmakers override two more Cooper vetoes, address third through local bill

Legislators voted to override two of Gov. Roy Cooper’s vetoes Thursday. They addressed a key piece of a third vetoed bill through a local measure that avoids the governor’s scrutiny.

The N.C. General Assembly began the day’s action with votes to reject Cooper’s latest veto. With votes of 70-44 in the House and 30-9 in the Senate, lawmakers turned House Bill 56 into law. That measure provided funding for dealing with the GenX water controversy in the Cape Fear River. It also repealed a plastic-bag ban on the Outer Banks and addressed other environmental issues.

More than 10 hours later, the House finalized the override of Cooper’s veto of Senate Bill 16. Originally dubbed the Business Regulatory Reform Act of 2017, the measure had attracted Cooper’s attention because of his fears that it would roll back state measures to protect water quality. Senators rejected the governor’s argument with a 31-15 vote. The House followed suit, 70-42, shortly after 10 p.m.

Lawmakers have voted to override nine of Cooper’s 12 vetoes during his first year in office. In state history, only Beverly Perdue vetoed more measures, 16, in a single year.

Three other vetoed bills remain in the N.C. House. House Bill 576 addresses a controversial process of spraying landfill material into the air over landfill property. House Bill 511 deals with nonprofit groups that want to raise money through “casino night” events.

The House could vote on those measures at any time before the end of the 2018 legislative session. Meanwhile, lawmakers addressed a key piece of the third remaining vetoed bill in another way. House Bill 205 would have allowed local governments across the state to avoid buying advertisements in local newspapers to meet requirements for legal notices.

Rather than attempt to override Cooper’s veto of the measure, lawmakers instead limited the idea to a single county — Guilford — and thus converted it into a local bill, Senate Bill 181, which does not require the governor’s approval. After the new measure squeaked through the House, 58-57, the Senate finalized the bill with a 30-16 vote.