The General Assembly may come back into session in the coming days to write short summaries of the proposed constitutional amendments that will be before voters this November.
That's supposed to be the purview of a three-person commission, but House Rules Chairman David Lewis wrote House Speaker Tim Moore on Saturday with concerns about the commission's work. Lewis, R-Harnett, said in his letter that he's worried about "maneuverings" by unnamed outside political groups trying to sway the commission.
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"Politicized captions" with "long sentences or negative language" could hurt the amendments' chances for passage, Lewis wrote.
The General Assembly is controlled by Republican super-majorities. Two of the three commission members are Democrats: Secretary of State Elaine Marshall and Attorney General Josh Stein.
It takes written requests from three-fifths of House and Senate members to call the chambers back into session, and it's unclear how much support the proposal has. Members were being called Saturday, and Lewis' letter quickly became public.
WRAL News' attempts to reach multiple Republican legislators, including several in leadership posts, were not immediately successful Saturday. Neither were attempts to get spokespeople for Moore and for Senate President Pro Tem Phil Berger on the record about the plan.
Democrats generally voted against most of the proposed amendments, and they expressed particular concern over efforts to add a photo identification requirement to vote to the state constitution, as well as a pair of measures that would shift appointment powers from the governor to the legislature. A number of Democrats have also complained about the language that will appear on the ballots describing the amendments, saying it's intentionally vague or overly rosy in an effort to lull voters into passage.
Some have hoped the commission would balance that language with the captions it's slated to add and with layman's explanations it plans to produce, which won't be on the ballot but would be available to voters.
Lewis wrote Saturday that the commission may overstep and that the legislature should handle the captions itself. He also expressed concerns with timing, saying the commission's third member, General Assembly Legislative Services Officer Paul Coble, tried to arrange a commission meeting for two weeks.
The group announced its meeting earlier this week and said it would take public comment until Wednesday. It's slated to meet July 31, with the potential of two additional meeting days on Aug. 1-2, according to a news release. An earlier email from Marshall's office to other state officials indicated the last meeting date could be as late as Aug. 7.
This is all shortly before the State Board of Elections and Ethics Enforcement has said it needs to lock the final language and print ballots for the start of absentee voting.
"This timeline leaves little time for the General Assembly or the courts to stop the commission from acting lawlessly to politicize the process," Lewis wrote.
If the General Assembly takes this power from the commission, though, there there could be timing issues. If the General Assembly's work is subject to the governor's veto, Gov. Roy Cooper would have at least 10 days to consider the new language.
House Minority Leader Darren Jackson wondered on Twitter Saturday whether Republicans would be content just writing captions if they do in fact come back into session.
"Remember when we came back for hurricane relief and in addition took a bunch of power from the governor," Jackson, D-Wake, tweeted.
Cooper spokeswoman Sadie Weiner said Saturday that "legislative Republicans who work in secret are looking for new ways to shut the public out."
Rep. Graig Meyer, D-Orange, said the call back for session is "just more of the manipulative, cynical game playing that these Republicans specialize in.
"Unfortunately, it damages people’s faith in government," Meyer said in a text message. "Hopefully, it also adds to the momentum to defeat these bad amendments."
Whether the General Assembly comes back into session on the captions, it already plans to come back into session in late November to hash out implementation details of amendments that pass, including what sort of photo ID would be required at the polls.
This would be after the general election but before new legislators are seated. Democrats hope to break the GOP super-majority, but even if they do, it would still be in place for the lame-duck session.