Cooper vetoes overridden Nine Times in Nine Months

RALEIGH – Gov. Roy Cooper was handed his ninth veto override by the Republican super-majorities in the N.C. General Assembly on Thursday. The latest reminder of just how weak Cooper’s position is came in the form of Senate Bill 16, the Business and Agency Regulatory Reform Act of 2017.

The legislation is part of a continued effort by House Republicans to eliminate and improve excessive, duplicative and onerous regulations that burden North Carolinians and the state’s economy.

“North Carolinians continue to reap the economic rewards of a government that works for the citizens it represents,” said House Speaker Tim Moore. “We’ve empowered the people of this state with a louder voice in government’s rulemaking process through regulatory reforms that enhance transparency and respond to public input.”

With this veto override, Republicans state lawmakers have now enacted two regulatory reform bills in the 2017 legislative session and more than a dozen pieces of regulatory reform legislation since commencing their majority status on Jones Street in 2011.

Most of the reforms appear mundane, but the general direction of removing burdensome regulations from businesses and entrepreneurs in North Carolina has likely contributed to the State’s economic outperformance over the last several years.

It will be interesting to see just how many veto overrides Cooper will suffer during his four year term, and just how many of those issues he will conveniently take credit for when they turn into successes favored by voters on the campaign road to 2020.