Bill to rework key state boards, including one that sets electricity rates, on the move

A bill to remake some of the state’s most important appointed bodies — those that set electricity rates, lay out environmental rules for businesses, approve highway projects and deal with a wide range of other state policies — is moving again at the statehouse.

Senate Bill 512 deals with nine boards, and it generally shifts appointments, and thus influence, from the governor to the General Assembly’s majority party.

Among other things, the bill could ultimately rework the N.C. Utilities Commission, which approves electricity rates and is expected in the coming years to review large increase requests from Duke Energy.

The bill has support from top Republican leaders in the GOP-controlled legislature, and it could be on the House floor for a major vote before the week is over.

“This is an opportunity for the legislative branch to assert its constitutional mandate,” said Speaker of the House Tim Moore, who took the unusual step Tuesday of presenting the bill in committee.

The measure has moved forward on party-line votes, with Democrats against the proposal but unable to stop the Republican majority’s priority. The bill will likely become law this session, and it is expected to spur another lawsuit in the long-running fight over how far legislative and executive power extend in North Carolina.

Gov. Roy Cooper, a Democrat, has called this bill a “massive, unconstitutional power grab.”

Bill supporters say they believe the bill can withstand legal challenges, though past precedent in the courts seems to go against them. Former Gov. Pat McCrory, a Republican, sued lawmakers over a similar issue in 2014 and ultimately won out in a precedent-setting case called McCrory v. Berger.

Given that precedent, and the precedent set in another case, Wallace v. Bone, this latest bill “may pose constitutional concerns,” according to analysis from legislative staff, which was among the information distributed to lawmakers Tuesday on the bill.

But the state Supreme Court, which flipped from a Democratic majority to a Republican one in November, has shown a willingness this year to revisit and overturn recent precedent. And Chief Justice Paul Newby filed the only dissent in McCrory v. Berger, though he concurred with the majority in part.

Senate Bill 512 cleared the state Senate in early April and started its House journey Tuesday, passing the chamber’s State Government Committee. House members deleted the bill’s language altering the N.C. Utilities Commission but Moore, R-Cleveland, said the House also wants to tinker with the utilities commission’s makeup and that new language would soon be added to the bill.

The House version also would expand the UNC System’s Board of Governors from 24 members to 28. Senate Republican Leader Phil Berger, R-Rockingham, said Tuesday that he doesn’t support that change.

Once the House passes its version of the bill, which could happen as soon as this week, the two chambers will negotiate a final version.