Emergency sessions were built for hurricanes, not politics
Perhaps most telling about the manufactured nature of this crisis is a simple fact: the North Carolina General Assembly is already in session.
Before Gov. Roy Cooper and his surrogates accuse the N.C. General Assembly of “thumbing its nose at the North Carolina Constitution and the U.S. Supreme Court,” the governor might want to reflect on his own actions in connection with legislative electoral redistricting. The best place to start involves a question: What is the North Carolina...
The three-judge federal panel reviewing North Carolina’s legislative districts wants to respond quickly to the U.S. Supreme Court, making a 2017 special legislative session possible. But it’s not clear if it will get the information it requires from the defendants in the General Assembly, the Executive Branch, and independent state election officials any time soon....
Gov. Roy Cooper may have run out of legal options to counter House and Senate action canceling his order to convene Thursday in a 14-day special session, a longtime General Assembly staff lawyer says.
One of the most far-reaching of the 21 bills filed by House members during the special legislative session that convened today is House Bill 17, sponsored by House Rules Committee Chairman David Lewis, R-Harnett, among others. The bill undertakes a serious reshuffling of state government in several departments, led by the Department of Public Instruction....
Senate Democrats on Wednesday walked out of the chamber moments before their GOP colleagues voted unanimously to adopt a state law reversing a newly passed Charlotte ordinance allowing transgender people to use whichever public bathroom they choose. Republican Gov. Pat McCrory signed the measure, which also established a statewide nondiscrimination law in public accommodations. The...
• Democratic Attorney General Roy Cooper, who’s running for governor against incumbent Pat McCrory, posts a video opposing the special legislative session dealing with (among other things) Charlotte’s so-called “bathroom ordinance.” Cooper supports the ordinance. • The McCrory campaign responded to Cooper’s video and announcement. • More candidates have filed for the June 7 primary!...
House Speaker Tim Moore on Thursday called for a special session of the General Assembly to reverse a city of Charlotte ordinance that would allow transgendered individuals to use either men’s or women’s bathrooms in the state’s largest city. At a press conference, Senate leaders left open the possibility of requesting a special session as...