Racial Justice override off - for now

House Republican leaders sent Senate Bill 9 to the Judiciary I committee this evening after failing to muster the Democratic votes needed to override the governor's veto of the measure.  

Majority Leader Skip Stam pointed out that under the House rules, S9 or any veto could technically be taken up at any time, so the bill could re-emerge later tonight. But he indicated S9 probably would not.

House Speaker Thom Tillis also named a new committee to study possible changes to the Racial Justice Act.

The House Select Committee on Racial Discrimination in Capital Cases includes Chairman Tim Moore (R-Cleveland), Paul Stam (R-Wake), Justin Burr (R-Stanly) , Sarah Stevens (R-Surry), Shirley Randleman (R-Wilkes), John Faircloth (R-Guilford), Tim Spear (D-Washington), Larry Hall (D-Durham), Joe Hackney (D-Orange), and Earline Parmon (D-Forsyth).

The deal to send the issue to committee for further study was brokered by Reps. Jim Crawford (D-Granville) and Bill Brisson (D-Bladen).

"It's obvious we do have a problem" with the Racial Justice Act, said Brisson. But he said the fact that Tillis and his staff were willing to negotiate proves they value the concept behind the law.

"They didn't want to throw it in the trashcan," Brisson said. "They just want to get it right." 

Meantime, the Senate, which finished its business earlier, has been asked to stay, which wouldn't be necessary to adjourn, so it seems likely some other issue could yet come up - possibly an override of another veto, like S709, the drilling and fracking bill. 

The House comes back at 9:45pm. Stay tuned.