September has been predominately filled by redistricting hearings and budget negotiations. Despite this, there have been several notable legislative developments.
Following are a few highlights from Raleigh over the month of September in which I thought you might have the most interest.
To get legislative news closer to the time it's happening, be sure to follow me on Facebook or frequently visit my website.
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Chuck Edwards, Senator
NC District 48
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Senate Bill 360: Vetoed by Governor Cooper |
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Senate Bill 360, Prohibit Collusive Settlements by the Attorney General, would prohibit collusive lawsuits where no dispute exists by requiring approval from the legislature before the Attorney General may enter into a consent judgment that challenges a North Carolina statute or provision of the North Carolina Constitution, and in which either leader has intervened or been named a party on behalf of the General Assembly.
In short, S360 would prevent lawsuits involving the North Carolina General Assembly from being settled without joint approval - and thereby, joint knowledge of the agreement - by both chambers of the General Assembly, which would prevent elected officials from reaching secretive settlements.
Concerns for intervention became prominent following the start of the 2020 election when the North Carolina State Board of Elections and the Attorney General entered into a collusive settlement to change state election law, unknown to the State Legislature. Although the Legislature sued and won on 2 of 3 counts of the secretive settlement, it is critical that this nefarious behavior be prevented in the future.
Despite a State-wide push for legislation to prevent similar incidents from happening again, Governor Cooper vetoed S360, which all but affirms his support for judicial corruption. His reasoning for the veto? The legislation is "unconstitutional and unwise, and would prevent the Attorney General from doing his job". If Attorney General, Josh Stein's job is to undermine the General Assembly in lawsuits involving the NCGA, collaborate with opposing parties of a lawsuit to achieve joint benefit, disregard a lawyer's ethical code of conduct as found in the American Bar Association's 'Model Rules of Professional Conduct,' and use his position of power to further personal agendas, then sure - S360 might prevent him from doing his job. However, none of those tasks can be found in the job description of a State's Attorney General.
Revoking a modem for certifying the legitimacy of legal issues between the General Assembly and outside parties prior to settlement jeopardizes the credibility of State-involved legal proceedings. Governor Cooper's dismissal of such a prominent concern among citizens and representatives of the State is disappointing.
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Landlords Can Now Submit HOPE Applications: HB 110 |
HB 110, Landlord Submission of Hope Application, was formerly intended to increase building permit exemption thresholds; however, following an amendment I proposed, its purpose has shifted.
My changes to H110 will mitigate inadequacies in the provision of housing resources by allowing housing providers to file HOPE applications on behalf of their tenants. Currently, many housing providers are facing uncooperative tenants who find themselves behind on payments, but who continue to refuse State assistance to remedy this backlog of debt. Without having the opportunity to apply for State relief on their own, housing providers are left unable to collect arrears, which can result in a loss of thousands of dollars per tenant, and will inevitably result in evictions courts rapidly filling now that the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that President Biden's eviction moratorium is unconstitutional. This will only hurt housing providers and their tenants who are unable to pay their rent. This loss of rent funds can be detrimental to housing providers both big and small.
My changes to H110 address the severe gap in the current HOPE funding administration that has jeopardized the financial viability of a housing provider's propertyreal estate. With this bill, housing providers who've had difficult tenants unwilling to utilize State resources for financial assistance on missed payments will have an avenue to collect those arrears and save their businesses.
H110 does more than just benefit the housing provider. My provision expands HOPE funding from current policy to a more broad use of funds allowed under Federal requirements. New HOPE requirements would cover residents living in all temporary housing - such as lengthy hotel and motel stays, utility-only applications, and would eliminate the use of a formula-based rent, allowing residents to receive State support for their actual rent costs rather than a calculated cost. These changes to HOPE funding in H110 benefit both housing providers and tenants, as it expands resident qualifications, helps tenants meet payment requirements that will prevent their eviction, and ultimately takes sensible steps towards stabilizing temporary housing in NC.
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Automatic Renewal of Contracts: HB 103 |
I introduced H103, Automatic Renewal of Contracts, on the Senate floor, and it passed. This bill amends current requirements for automatically renewable consumer contracts. This includes increasing transparency of contract services and providing consumers with more robust protections against unknowingly entering into a costly, auto-renewing contract that is difficult to cancel.
To further guarantee consumer protections, I introduced an amendment to that has two key impacts on the current contract process in our State. First, consumers must acknowledge the auto-renewal status of a contract before signing it, reducing the risk of accidentally registering for an auto-renewable contract. Second, it eliminates all contract exceptions in current law, including contracts produced by licensed insurers, banks, and other financial, political, or communication-based institutions. My amendment unanimously passed on the Senate floor and alongside the rest of H103, will protect consumers from getting stuck in a cyclical, costly contract with no way out.
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Governor Veto of Bill on Rioting and Civil Disorder |
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House Bill 805, a bill intended to increase penalties as a means of preventing rioting and civil disorder, was vetoed by Governor Cooper. Approval of H805 would have provided additional protections for citizens and businesses who endured injury or destruction of property by individuals engaged in riots and protests.
An individual or business who experienced injury or destruction of property would have had the ability to sue the violator for three times the value of sustained damages. While Democrats may call this extreme, it establishes much-needed safeguards against protest-related crimes that have notably left small businesses and individuals grasping for community support to remedy the actions of those who take advantage of and violate their Constitutional right to peacefully protest by turning violent.
Governor Cooper justified the veto by stating, "People who commit crimes during riots and at other times should be prosecuted and our laws provide for that, but this legislation is unnecessary and is intended to intimidate and deter people from exercising their constitutional rights to peacefully protest". This is not the intent of the bill. H805 in no way intimidates or deters the exercise of an individual's First Amendment right to peacefully protest. Rather, the bill acts as a deterrent against violent fiends who infiltrate peaceful protests and utilize public camaraderie as a platform for hate-inspired destruction.
Under this bill, mere presence without an overt act is not sufficient to sustain a conviction; therefore, H805 does not impact those wishing to peacefully protest. Establishing harsher punishments for individuals whose actions directly result in significant property damage, serious bodily harm, or death during a protest safeguards the sanctity of First Amendment rights for all other North Carolinians and encourages a safer atmosphere for the exercise of those freedoms than currently exists. The veto of this bill is a loss for both businesses and law-abiding citizens alike in North Carolina.
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Expanded Access and Lowering Cost of Health Care |
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For the past four years, I have been working to bring affordable health care to small businesses in North Carolina. On September 10, that hard work finally paid off as Governor Cooper signed Senate Bill 228 into law.
S228 lowers health care costs for small business owners by allowing them to offer exclusive provider benefit plans - a flexible and affordable healthcare option previously only offered to big businesses in the State.
Under an EPO benefit plan, insured individuals receive covered services from health care providers who are under contract with the insurer. This program limits the scope of providers to cut costs, but permits continuity of care in instances where established physicians outside of the contract are providing ongoing critical health services to an individual. An EPO plan reduces employer costs substantially - with some reports citing savings of up to 20% - and helps small businesses afford high-quality insurance for their employees. S228 is a huge win for small businesses across the State, as it successfully reduces the persistent gap between small and big businesses in North Carolina.
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The Fight Against Critical Race Theory |
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In my most recent newsletter, I announced the push we see by many towards teaching Critical Race Theory in public schools remains a dominant issue among constituents and in the General Assembly.
House Bill 324 was sent to the Governor on September 1st and aimed to eliminate the threat posed by CRT through the prohibition of teaching discriminatory concepts on the isolating foundation of race, gender, or religion in public schools. On September 10, Governor Roy Cooper vetoed the bill, validating the indoctrination of our children and once again affirming democratic resistance to eliminating the risk of a racial divide among our youth.
While Governor Cooper vetoed H324 under the guise of preventing conspiracy-laden politics from entering our public schools, it leaves the door open to those exact issues. In no way does H324 attempt to prevent or shy away from the teaching of the United States' complicated history, including the nation's role in slavery, racial discrimination, and racism. If we are to understand, heal from, and prevent the recurrence of discrimination in our nation's past, our public education system must accurately teach that no race or sex is superior to another and that every individual - regardless of race, gender, or religion, has the ability to achieve anything they strive for. The introduction of Critical Race Theory in the public education system is a measure that works to prevent this.
The signing of H324 into law would have furthered anti-discrimination in public education without disregarding or avoiding the history of cruel discrimination in the United States. I am appalled at its' veto but know that efforts to eliminate the infiltration of minority discrimination as a teaching measure are more important now than ever.
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Wall Street Journal Denounces Sinister Conspiracy to Manipulate State Supreme Court |
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At the start of October, the Wall Street Journal released an article shaming North Carolina Democrats for "scorched-earth politics", a tactic traditionally used by the military that aims to destroy anything of use to the enemy, or in this case, to Republicans. This demonstration of detestable politics by Democrats comes as a result of their legislative and electoral losses experienced over the past 3 years. In 2018, the Republican Legislature successfully placed income tax and voter ID amendments on the ballot, both of which were approved by the citizens of North Carolina. Further, in 2020 the Democratic party lost seats on the State Supreme Court upon the election of conservative justices Tamara Barringer and Phil Berger Jr.
Members of the Democratic party are actively attempting to overturn these Republican wins. First, by entertaining efforts to reverse political outcomes by attempting to decertify election results. Liberal proponents argue that gerrymandered districts crafted in 2011 and redrawn in 2017 resulted in illegitimate elections. Under this premise, the amendments petitioned onto the ballot in 2018 were illegitimately done so by gerrymandered electorates - at which point, all legislative activity between 2012 and 2018 would have to be overturned. Second, by attempting to selectively remove conservative justices from the case despite the fact that recusals of State Supreme Court justices are at the sole discretion of the Justice, and both justices rightfully felt they did not need to recuse themselves.
Justice Barringer and Justice Berger's relationship to the case only exist to the extent of Justice Barringer's status as a member of the state Legislature when the constitutional amendments were passed and Justice Berger's kinship to current President Pro Tempore, Senator Phil Berger. The Justices believe they are far enough removed from the incident to impartially serve on the case, but Democratic desperation has become obvious as liberal justices investigate their potential authority to require the involuntary recusal of the conservative justices who do not believe that self-recusal is appropriate.
If the Supreme Court decides to pursue these unjustified and unprecedented efforts, they need to be willing to involuntarily recuse liberal justice, Anita Earls, who "litigated extensively against North Carolina's 2011 maps before she was elected to the Supreme Court in 2018", and who arguably has the most prominent relationship to the case at hand. "Yet Justice Earls’ removal is not sought because a liberal majority to overturn the two constitutional amendments would depend on her vote." Through these efforts, Democrats are further proving how tyrannical and hypocritical they are willing to be for the sake of their personal platforms.
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State Redistricting Has Begun |
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NC’s constitution requires that all state legislative and congressional district maps be redrawn after the U.S. Census every ten years. The process has been delayed this year because the census results were slow coming in due to the pandemic, but I am excited to announce that we have officially begun to draw maps.
This month, the Senate and House Redistricting Committees traveled to each of the 13 Congressional Districts to gather feedback from the public on the State’s redistricting criteria and process. Legislators listened as citizens shared their desires for fair and equitable voting districts, keeping counties whole, accessibility and transparency throughout the drawing process, among more. I want to ensure you we heard your concerns and are continuing to take them into consideration as maps are being drawn.
Additionally, we have provided an opportunity for citizens to listen to and review the map-drawing process through the following link: https://www.ncleg.gov/Documents/493, which provides access to audio and video recordings of all map drawing meetings. Citizens may also continue to provide feedback on the process through the General Assembly’s webpage, or the following link: https://www.ncleg.gov/requestforcomments/38.
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