N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a “Disaster Recovery” bill on Tuesday, which opponents said doesn’t allocate enough immediate relief to Western North Carolina counties devastated by Hurricane Helene.
“This legislation is a sham. It does not send money to Western North Carolina but merely shuffles money from one fund to another in Raleigh,” Cooper said in his veto.
The GOP-controlled North Carolina legislature passed the bill last week while Cooper was in Washington advocating for more federal disaster funding. Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson could have signed the bill while the governor was out of the state but he did not. The measure, which would strip the executive branch of several powers, passed the House 63-46 on Tuesday.
“This legislation was titled disaster relief but instead violates the constitution by taking appointments away from the next Governor for the Board of Elections, Utilities Commission and Commander of the NC Highway Patrol, letting political parties choose appellate judges and interfering with the Attorney General’s ability to advocate for lower electric bills for consumers,” Cooper said in a press release.
Three Western North Carolina Republicans in the House — Rep. Mark Pless (R-Haywood, Madison), Rep. Mike Clampitt (R-Swain) and Rep. Karl Gillespie (R-Macon) —sided with Democrats in opposing the bill.
Pless told BPR that there wasn’t time to read the bill before the House vote.
“I don't see it as whether we broke from the Republican party … We just decided that this is not good practice,” Pless said.
One of the details in the bill that was not related to the disaster is on page 22. Section 2D.5 removed Superior Court Judges in the 3rd(10E) and 4th district(31D) and reassigned voters from those counties to other judges in the same counties starting in January 2029. If enacted, the bill would grant the North Carolina General Assembly power to appoint these judicial positions.
Cooper says it “plays politics” with this decision as well as “taking away authority from the Lieutenant Governor and the Superintendent of Public Instruction and more.”
The legislature will return to the NCGA next week to potentially vote on overriding Cooper's veto.
