House demands bigger role in lawsuits targeting election, other laws

The North Carolina House approved legislation Thursday meant to ensure General Assembly leaders have more say in lawsuits targeting the laws the legislature writes.

House bill 606 says that, if the state's top lawmakers are part of a lawsuit, it can't be settled without their permission. The measure is a response to a settlement last fall that changed the state's absentee ballot rules, surprising Republican majority leaders in the General Assembly.

The legislature had considered some of the changes that the lawsuit ultimately wrought – a later deadline for absentee ballots to arrive and changes in ballot witness procedures – and rejected them. A judge put them in place after attorneys with connections to the Democratic Party sued and said the state's pandemic election rules weren't constitutional, a matter eventually settled in a lawsuit with the State Board of Elections.

That board has a Democratic majority, but the board's two Republican members voted to settle as well. They resigned soon after.

Attorneys for top Republican leaders in the state House and Senate had a chance to speak against the settlement before the court finalized it, but GOP lawmakers say they never should have been blindsided by the settlement and that like-minded attorneys of the same political party shouldn't be striking deals that change election rules.

The bill cleared the House with some bipartisan support. Two Democrats, Reps. Charles Graham, D-Robeson, and Michael Wray, D-Northampton, joined the Republican majority voting for the bill, which passed 62-45.

That's not a veto-proof majority, however, should Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper veto the measure.

The state Senate has already passed similar legislation on a straight party-line vote.

Republicans have repeatedly said last fall's settlement was "collusive," which state election officials and Attorney General Josh Stein have denied. The bills are both titled "Prohibit Collusive Settlements by the AG."

House Minority Leader Robert Reives, a defense attorney by trade, said every lawyer eventually has a client who accuses them of colluding with the other side. Most lawsuits end in settlement, he said, but that doesn't mean collusion, and a judge has to sign off on the deals each time.

This bill says, "we don’t like the outcome, has to be collusion," said Reives, D-Chatham.

House Speaker Tim Moore called on House members to pass the measure and "uphold the integrity and the relevance of the legislative branch."

Laws should "not just be something that can be invalidated through judicial fiat," said Moore, R-Cleveland.