A wide-ranging proposal to reshape North Carolina's electricity production landscape in the coming years quickly drew critics Thursday, including Gov. Roy Cooper.
Even before the bill had its first legislative hearing, Cooper told lawmakers to "go back to the drawing board." Environmentalists, consumer advocates and some major industrial users also blasted the plan, which supporters say will reduce greenhouse gas emissions, get rid of coal-fired power plants and help modernize the electrical grid.
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Meanwhile, three elections-related bills shifted to the House following final Senate approval. The most controversial would set an Election Day deadline for mailed absentee ballots to be received by elections officials in order to count.
House lawmakers once again are moving legislation that would remove the provision from the state constitutional that calls for people to pass a literacy test to vote. The U.S. Supreme Court declared it unconstitutional more than 50 years ago, but efforts to eliminate the language have repeatedly failed.
House members also advanced a proposed exemption from state income taxes for military retirement benefits for veterans who served at least 20 years or are disabled, as well as their survivors.
Finally, the House gave final approval to allowing charter buses to serve alcohol, an idea derided by at least one critic as "bars on wheels."