NORTH CAROLINA LEGISLATORS STYMIED BY GOVERNOR’S VETO

(Larry Hart is a Government Affairs Consultant for the American Conservative Union and brings 13 years of experience in the legislative and executive branches of government to ACU. In 1999, Hart left government service to form Hartco Strategies, a media relations and political consulting firm whose clients ranged from members of Congress and non-profits to political action committees.)

RALEIGH – Elections have consequences. That’s an old cliché that aptly describes the 2019 session of the North Carolina legislature. While Democrat Roy Cooper was elected as governor in 2016, it was the 2018 midterm elections that whittled down the Republican majority enough to allow Democrats to sustain any one of Gov. Cooper’s vetoes. (Unlike many states that require a two-thirds majority to override a veto, North Carolina only requires 60%).

The just-released legislative ratings published by the American Conservative Union Foundation reflect that election’s impact on two issues that are always on the priority list for conservatives: lower taxes and education reform.

One of the most onerous taxes that hurts small businesses’ bottom line is the franchise tax, a tax imposed just for the right to exist and operate a business. Legislation to reduce the tax by one-third easily passed the House and Senate but not by enough to override the Cooper veto pen. An attempt to better educate young children by giving them individualized reading plans passed overwhelmingly in the Senate, but could not attain that all-important 60% majority in the House. It too fell victim to the veto, and the “one-size-fits-all” approach to education embodied by the Read to Achieve program remained in place for children in kindergarten through third grade.

Regulatory reform is also near the top of the list for conservatives. In 2019, lawmakers advanced a bill to relax regulations on the placement of drinking fountains and give workers the opportunity to satisfy licensure requirements online. But they were once again done in by the governor’s veto. (How foolish that looks in the present circumstance.)

Shockingly, Cooper also wielded his veto pen against a bill that would penalize medical professionals who allow born–alive aborted children to die. The House could only muster 67 votes in an attempt to override, falling short of the required 60% majority.

Despite Cooper’s newfound power, there were some accomplishments all North Carolinians can celebrate. The building industry got a boost through a bill that prevented localities from passing a patchwork of zoning restrictions and regulatory burdens such as minimum square footage and underground power lines. Lowering the regulatory burdens placed on builders will give you the “affordable housing” everyone talks about.

In another bill that the governor allowed to become law without his signature, more small businesses will be able to avail themselves of association health plans which will substantially lower costs since they are exempt from some of the more onerous mandates under the current system. Also deserving praise is legislation that gives the state auditor more oversight over agency spending and tightens the rules on adhering to the intent of the legislature when they appropriate funds.

Unfortunately, both parties fell victim to a syndrome that is all too common, corporate subsidies, or as conservatives like to call it, cronyism. Lawmakers tried to use $15 million to entice Charlotte Pipe and Foundry to relocate out of Charlotte to a less populous county. Now that the state faces an economic blow as the result of the pandemic, they might like to rescind that offer.

But looming over everything is the Cooper veto. As ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp noted when the 2019 ratings were released:

“If North Carolinians still desire a government that works for them rather than the radical left, Governor Cooper must be stopped.”

North Carolina is in the minority of states that elect their governor in even-numbered years, so the opportunity is there.

(Larry Hart is a Government Affairs Consultant for the American Conservative Union and brings 13 years of experience in the legislative and executive branches of government to ACU. In 1999, Hart left government service to form Hartco Strategies, a media relations and political consulting firm whose clients ranged from members of Congress and non-profits to political action committees.)