REP. TODD CARVER

Last week I had said I hoped to override four of Gov. Josh Stein’s vetoes during the week. Instead the N.C. General Assembly completed overrides on eight bills directly and effectively did the same for one more, which I will explain in this article.

It is important for people to understand that none of these overrides would have been possible without at least one member of the Democratic Party voting with the Republican majority in support of these bills. The N.C. House of Representatives has 71 Republican and 49 Democrat members, making it impossible to complete an override without bipartisan support. A few of the bills had one to three Democrat members supporting them. I believe it is always better when an idea rises to the level of bi-partisan support, no matter how small.

I will just briefly summarize each of the eight bills and the one special circumstance:

♦ HB 193 – Firearms Law Revisions: This law allows private schools to establish an armed school safety team under the guidance and permission of the school’s leader/principal. Many private schools do not have the resources to have a dedicated School Resource Officer. This change in law will allow those private schools to make choices which fit the needs of their individual school most appropriately.

♦ HB 318 – The Criminal Illegal Alien Act: This bill requires law enforcement to cooperate with the Immigrations and Customs Enforcement agents if a federal detainer has been issued on a person in custody and that person is about to be released. This is a commonsense way of keeping all of our communities safer.

♦ HB 402 – Limit Rules with Substantial Financial Cost: This bill will limit the rule-making authority of boards and commissions to pass regulations with a substantial financial price tag without legislative approval. This will require legislative approval for rules with more than $1 million, $10 million or $20 million impacts, depending on their time frame for implementation.

♦ HB 549 – Clarify Powers of the State Auditor: This law will give the State Auditor expanded authority to investigate not just state agencies, but those who contract with a state agency. This is another one of those things which makes perfect sense. The Auditor has had the authority to investigate the NCDOT, for example. This provision will allow for the examination of those who have contracts with the DOT, where most of the state’s revenues are being spent. It is crazy to think this has not been done before now.

♦ HB 805 – Prevent the Sexual Exploitation of Women and Minors: This law takes several steps to protect women on the internet and in sports competitions. The law also prohibits the N.C. Department of Corrections from using taxpayers’ money to support gender affirming care. I don’t care what sex people want to be; just don’t ask me to pay for it or recognize it in athletic events.

♦ SB 254 – Charter School Changes: This law will make several changes in the management of Charter Schools in North Carolina. It will shift some responsibilities to the Charter School Review Board but will leave the final determination with the Superintendent of Schools or the State school Board, as required by the State Constitution.

♦ SB 266 – The Power Bill Reduction Act: This veto override will eliminate some of the previous carbon emissions goals for the state which were set to go into place by 2030. It keeps the carbon neutral goal for the state in 2050, simply allowing energy producers to continue working on clean, affordable, reliable energy sources.

♦ SB 466 – Personal Privacy Protection Act: This law makes the contributions to private interest groups private. The law is content neutral and applies to all private interest groups.

The final bill to get a do-over had to do with squatters on private property. There are some extreme horror stories out there on this issue. Imagine going on vacation and returning home to find out someone else has set up shop in your home — and no one wants to help you get them out. We passed a measure in the House, with overwhelming bi-partisan support, to create an expedited process for removing these people. When the bill was in the Senate it had a puppy provision added to it, which caused the governor to veto the bill. This week we put the squatters provisions for expedited removal in another bill and send it back to the Senate. Hopefully, it will make it back to the governor’s desk for a signature this time.

I will take a look at the remaining vetoes and a budget prediction next week. 

Rep. Todd Carver represents the 95th District in the N.C. House. Email him at todd.carver@ncleg.gov.