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The North Carolina General Assembly is heading back to Raleigh on Tuesday to take up emergency legislation dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. Blue Ridge Public Radio talked with one member of the Western North Carolina delegation:
Republican Kevin Corbin represents North Carolina's four westernmost counties in the state house. He’s a part of the state legislative COVID-19 taskforce. He had just gotten off another conference call when BPR spoke to him in Franklin.
“Of course, we meet online. We use a program called WebEx - where we can see and hear everybody else,” explains Corbin.
Corbin says there are three subcommittees of the taskforce: education, government operations and finance. He hopes that this week they will pass bills to help with COVID relief for each of these sectors.
“As we move forward, I think the negotiations will be good and they will be productive and there'll be a bipartisan,” says Corbin, who is on the education committee.
The biggest policy difference, he says, is when legislators want to re-open businesses in North Carolina.
“I think, some in my caucus - the Republican caucus - are probably wanting things to open up things quicker than some of our folks on the other side of the aisle. But that's not completely, across party lines,” says Corbin.
Corbin says he thinks that the current stay-at-home orders were the right thing to do but he believes that local businesses should be allowed to open up sooner rather than later.
“My advice to my fellow legislators and to the governor's office is: Let's move as quickly as we can to responsibly move back to open everything up. I think the virus is going to have to run its course eventually anyway,” says Corbin. He adds that it is also important to protect the most vulnerable right now.
Specifically, Corbin thinks that rural areas where there are fewer cases should be able to make their own decisions on when to reopen.
“There's virtually nothing in common between Macon County or Clay County and Mecklenburg County. It's just two different worlds,” says Corbin.
Protestors of the stay-at-home order call it a violation of constitutional rights. Corbin says he can see that logic and believes in self-determination.
“I think folks have the right to life, liberty and pursuit of happiness. And when people are kept from doing all these things, it's hard to say that we're getting the pursuit of happiness - the pursuit of loneliness, maybe,” says Corbin.
Legislators in Raleigh will follow social distancing guidelines while voting on COVID legislation.
