The N.C. Senate voted to override two of Gov. Roy Cooper’s remaining vetoes during a Wednesday evening session. With total debate time of less than 20 minutes and party-line votes of 30-9, both measures became law.
Cooper had objected to House Bill 140‘s expansion of permitted credit insurance. “It allows a person who is financing purchase of personal property — think about an [all-terrain vehicle] or a jet ski — the opportunity to purchase insurance on this equipment,” said Sen. Rick Gunn, R-Alamance. Gunn said the voluntary insurance would cost about $1 per every $1,000 of the property’s value.
Objections centered on the prospect that consumer finance companies would use the law to take advantage of consumers. “The working-class and the middle-class families who are often targeted by these consumer finance loans are put in a perpetual cycle of debt,” said Sen. Jay Chaudhuri, D-Wake.
Cooper’s objection to House Bill 770 focused on two provisions: One reduced his appointment power to the state Medical Board, while the other allowed a state employee to collect payments for his service on the state Property Tax Commission.
“Is this the one that allows a state employee to draw two salaries or to double dip, if you will?” asked Senate Minority Leader Dan Blue, D-Wake.
“If he’s on vacation, it does allow him to get his per diem,” responded Senate Majority Leader Harry Brown, R-Onslow, referring to the daily payment made to Property Tax Commission members. “It treats him just like any other individual.”
The House had voted last week to override vetoes of the same two bills. The General Assembly now has rejected seven of Cooper’s 11 vetoes in his first year in the executive mansion.
“These bills have the wrong priorities for our state,” Cooper said in a written statement. “House Bill 140 allows predatory and high-risk insurance policies that unfairly target low-income North Carolinians while House Bill 770 includes unconstitutional power grabs and a carve-out intended to financially benefit a single state employee. Working families expect their leaders to represent all North Carolinians, not just the well-connected.”
Three of the remaining vetoed bills remain in the House. The other sits in the Senate. No override votes have been taken on those measures.