North Carolina voters would be asked to assert the state legislature's dominance over hundreds of state board appointments and to rework the state elections board again under legislation that cleared the House on Tuesday.
Republicans and Democrats sparred over just how different some of the bill language is from current law, but what's clear is that the amendment would put the legislature in control of "the powers, duties, responsibilities, appointments and terms of office" of state boards and commissions now appointed by the governor.
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Democratic lawmakers and Gov. Roy Cooper's office decried the language as a wholesale shift in the power to appoint the boards that set the nitty-gritty of state regulations. Republican leaders said the General Assembly has long had this authority as the clearly dominant branch of state government under North Carolina's constitution, but various separation-of-power lawsuits filed by Cooper's administration, and earlier by Gov. Pat McCrory, muddied those waters as the state Supreme Court interpreted the law.
Key House GOP leaders, including Appropriations Chairman Nelson Dollar, R-Wake, and Rules Chairman David Lewis, R-Harnett, said the broad boards and commissions language in House Bill 913 simply clarifies the law and that the Republican majority has no intention of taking away hundreds of appointments now made by the executive branch.
"If we were going to do that, we would have done that a long, long time ago," Dollar said.
The measure cleared the chamber 74-44, a largely party-line vote, and it heads to the Senate for more discussion as the General Assembly nears an expected Friday adjournment. This is one of six constitutional amendments the Republican majority hopes to put before voters this November, an election that will also decide control of the legislature.
Rep. Chuck McGrady, R-Henderson, voted against the bill, saying he was swayed by an argument John Locke Foundation lobbyist Becki Gray made Monday. "Would this still be a good idea," Gray asked, with a Republican in the governor's mansion and Democrats in the legislative majority?
"I think we've gone too far," McGrady said on the House floor. "At some point in time, we may not be in the majority."
McGrady said he likes the first section of the bill, which reworks the State Board of Ethics and Elections Enforcement. The board would have eight members, half appointed by General Assembly majority leaders, half appointed by minority leaders. The governor, who makes eight of nine appointments now but is constrained by recommendations from the state's Republican and Democratic parties, wouldn't have any appointments under the proposal.
Writing the changes into the state constitution would end long-running legal fights over control of the elections board and appointment powers in general. Voters must approve, though, before the constitution can be changed.
Rep. Graig Meyer, D-Orange, said the bill is one of the least clear pieces of legislation the General Assembly has considered this session.
"We don't really know what the intent is," he said.