NC House Republicans scrap rule on veto override votes
Controversial North Carolina bills could be approved with little notice if the House of Representatives moves forward with new rules adopted by the GOP majority.
State legislators on Wednesday returned to Raleigh where, for the next two years, the GOP will have almost enough members to pass their agenda at-will and override vetoes by Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper.
Cooper, who has had to work with a Republican-controlled legislature since he was first elected in 2016, has vetoed more bills than any North Carolina governor. He has blocked bills seeking to expand access to guns, limit abortion rights, ban the teaching of critical race theory, and many other GOP pursuits.
In a party-line vote Wednesday, Republican state House members passed rules for their chamber allowing the speaker to call a vote on Cooper’s vetoes without notice. Under House rules approved for the previous legislative session, members couldn’t vote to override a gubernatorial veto “until the second legislative day following notice of its placement on the calendar.”
In the November elections, Republicans gained seats in the House and came one seat shy of gaining a supermajority in that chamber. So Democrats hold enough votes in the House to protect Cooper’s veto. But with the new rules in place, Democrats fear Republicans will call surprise votes to override Cooper if a couple of their members are absent.
Minority Leader Robert Reives, D-Chatham, told reporters Wednesday that the rule change “holds people hostage” and reflects poorly on the state.
Republican leaders are expected to push for legalized online sports betting and new abortion restrictions, in addition to other legislative goals. The rules passed Wednesday also give the House speaker more power to change the order of business while the House is in session.
State Rep. Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, who was chosen as speaker Wednesday for a fifth consecutive term, said “ambush” votes are “not something we’re looking at.”
WRAL News obtained a draft of the rules proposal late Tuesday and reported on it Wednesday before it was released publicly.
Republican state Rep. Destin Hall, the House rules committee chairman, suggested the new rules could be temporary. On the House floor, Hall said he had spoken with Reives about the GOP’s intent to pass a more permanent rules package in early February.
If Wednesday’s rules are made permanent, session attendance would be imperative for any Democrat hoping to defend Cooper’s vetoes. Democratic members would have to carefully monitor when they could step out of the chamber — even for practical matters, such as taking a phone call or using the bathroom — so they don’t leave an imbalance of legislators on the House floor.
“Say we’re in the middle of notices and announcements. People have started clearing out. They’re going home. They’re going to see their families, to have dinner, things of that sort. All of a sudden, that (veto override) can be called up,” Reives told reporters.
“When we do things like this, I do think it erodes public faith in institutions,” he said.
Hall and Reives agreed to postpone a floor debate on the rules until after new legislators get settled-in.
“A debate on our rules package will come potentially at some point. But today is not that day. Today is a day for celebration,” Hall said, referring to the swearing-in ceremonies for new members. Some lawmakers’ families sat with them on the House floor.
Reives agreed with Hall, saying he didn’t want to disrupt Wednesday’s “kumbaya” moment. “As much as I’d love to regale you with the opposition that I have, I won’t do that. But we do look forward to having that debate,” Reives said.
In the other legislative chamber, the state Senate on Wednesday voted to keep its rule requiring 24 hours notice of any vote seeking to override the governor.
Moore, who previously supported rules requiring advanced notice of veto override votes, told reporters he doesn’t think the change is a big deal.
“Why are we treating a veto override procedural vote different than the others?” he said.
He also dismissed concerns among Democrats that the rule change alone will be the reason the House overrides Cooper. With House Republicans only one vote short of a supermajority, Moore expressed confidence in the GOP’s ability to strike a deal with at least one Democrat when veto overrides are needed.
“Before we put an override vote on the floor, we’re gonna know we have the votes,” he said.
Wednesday evening, Cooper released a statement slamming the rule changes.
“Not letting the public know when veto override votes will occur slaps democracy in the face and deceives citizen legislators who have overlapping work, family and constituent responsibilities they could change if they have proper notice," Cooper's statement said.
"Critical issues like women's health, gun safety and voting rights are on the line, and Republican House leaders need to keep things above board and offer at least 24 hours notice before veto override votes as Senator Berger has done in the Senate," he said. "It’s a shame that House Republican leaders believe they can only override a veto through deception, surprise and trickery.”
Republicans, who have controlled the state legislature since 2011, haven’t held a legislative supermajority since 2018. But Democrats expect Republicans to seize any opportunity to override Cooper, as they have in the past.
In 2019, House Republicans were able to override Cooper’s veto of their budget plan one morning when Democrats were missing from the chamber. Many Democrats were absent because they said a GOP leader told them the morning would feature a non-voting session.
Ultimately, Cooper’s veto stood. Republicans weren’t able to override him in the state senate.
The North Carolina Democratic Party accused Republicans of resorting to "gotcha tactics" again.
“Despite Speaker Moore’s bad faith attempts to bend the rules to consolidate his own power, North Carolina Democrats are prepared to stand up to bad Republican bills and uphold Governor Cooper’s veto," former state Rep. Bobbie Richardson, the party’s state chairwoman, said in a statement.
With the exception of that 2019 vote, Moore said he and Democratic leaders have historically been on the same page about when override votes were taking place.
“Let me be very clear,” Moore said Wednesday, “... If I say there are not going to be votes, there will not be votes.”
