© 2024 Blue Ridge Public Radio
Blue Ridge Mountains banner background
Your source for information and inspiration in Western North Carolina.
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

NC House Introduces Bill Concerning Local Lawsuits

A bill dealing with a number of election matters also would clarify the Attorney General has standing to defend local laws.  The bill is not available online and WCQS has not been able to see it, but WRAL reports it reads as follows: 

"The State shall be a party whenever the validity or constitutionality of a local act of the General Assembly is the subject of an action in any court, and except as provided in G.S. 147-17, shall be represented by the Attorney General."
 
Republicans in the House elections committee offered a substitute for Senate Bill 667 and passed it by a vote of 20-9.  The committee chairman, Republican Representative Bert Jones of Reidsville introduced the measure, a number of changes to elections, except the following:

Rep. Bert Jones: "Section Two simply requires the Attorney General to defend state laws in court, just clarified that portion of his job."

Republican Representative Paul "Skip" Stam of Wake County clarified that the bill would give the Attorney General standing to defend local laws.  

Rep. Paul Stam: "As a further explanation of Section 2, this relates to local bills, and we've had a couple cases where local bills have been attacked, and no one had standing to defend who cared.  So this is saying at least the Attorney General will have standing to defend.  It's really unusual in court to disallow the people who care about something to have any representation, but that was what happened twice."

Democratic Representative Pricey Harrison of Guilford County asked Stam about Section 2 and said it looks like the bill "forces the Attorney General's office to defend what he or she might perceive to be unconstitutional."  

Rep. Stam: "That's a different question.  We already have a state statute requiring him to defend state laws that are attacked.  And not to get too political about it, but he's refused to do it.  What this relates to is local laws which the courts have agreed that if the state's not a party, then the Attorney General is not going to represent the state.  This happened in the Wake School Board redistricting case, where the only defense was by the Wake County Board of Elections whose only opinion was 'just tell us what the rule is and we'll go with it' and the people who cared had no standing.  So you don't get a very good result in an adversarial system when one side is represented and one side is not."

Stam is referring to two federal lawsuits over redrawn district maps, including Greensboro's City Council and redrawn Wake County School board maps.  After passage of the measure, the same committee made changes to Asheville City Council elections that some speculate could trigger a lawsuit.

Harrison said she had no problem with the other parts of the bill but reiterated she has a problem with the Attorney General being forced to defend laws he or she deems unconstitutional, and she would have to oppose the legislation at this time.  

The full audio of the debate is below:

Related Content