North Carolina advances flurry of conservative bills as GOP supermajority looms over Dem gov's veto threats

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North Carolina lawmaker abandons Democrat Party

North Carolina Speaker of the House Tim Moore (R) and State Rep. Tricia Cotham discuss her joining the Republican Party.

North Carolina lawmakers this week approved dozens of bills in a marathon legislative session as state Republicans continued riding a wave of momentum in the aftermath of a high-profile defection of a Democratic legislator.

The state Senate on Thursday passed legislation that would ban most abortions after 12 weeks of pregnancy, making exceptions for rape, incest, fetal abnormality, or danger to the life of the mother. North Carolina law currently allows abortion up to 20 weeks.

The vote came about 24 hours after the state House passed the abortion bill along with dozens of others in a marathon voting session that stretched into late Wednesday night. Lawmakers took up 56 bills to meet a deadline after which legislation not involving appropriations or revenue or not part of a legislative study isn't eligible to be passed by the other chamber for the remainder of the 2023-24 legislative session. For its part, the Senate acted on another dozen bills.

The abortion measure, which includes increased payments for foster care families and greater funding for childcare centers that aid low-income families, now goes to the desk of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who promised to veto it in a statement on Thursday.

North Carolina House Speaker Tim Moore, R-Cleveland, speaks to reporters on Feb. 24, 2023, at the Legislative Building in Raleigh, N.C. (AP Photo/Gary D. Robertson)

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"Don't let this so-called 12-week abortion ban fool you," said Cooper. "It will effectively ban access to reproductive freedom earlier and sometimes altogether for many women because of new restrictions and requirements. This is why Republicans are ramming it through with no chance to amend. I will veto this extreme ban and need everyone's help to hold it."

Cooper later tweeted out a video similarly slamming the bill and threatening to veto it.

However, Republicans now have a veto-proof supermajority in both chambers of the state legislature thanks to state Rep. Tricia Cotham, who announced last month that she was joining the Republican Party after serving her deep blue Charlotte-area district as a Democrat. While North Carolina Republicans already held strong majorities, Cotham's decision gave Republicans a supermajority in the House in what observers described as a "political earthquake."

The threat of a veto from Cooper, who has vetoed more than 75 measures since taking office in 2017, had prevented Republicans from implementing much of their agenda. But now the GOP has a clearer path to push a wide range of legislation — including on abortion.

Cotham's vote may prove critical in potentially overriding Cooper's expected veto. While the newly minted Republican previously promised to codify Roe v. Wade in her state and has taken more liberal positions on other social issues, she voted in favor of the abortion ban this week.

The state Senate also has a GOP supermajority.

Beyond abortion, Cotham has taken the lead in pushing Republican-backed measures to expand school choice and implement other conservative reforms to education.

North Carolina state Rep. Tricia Cotham announces she's leaving the Democratic Party and becoming a Republican at the North Carolina GOP headquarters in Raleigh, April 5, 2023. (Screenshot/WBTV)

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One such bill that passed the House this week is designed to provide equal funding for charter school students as well as those attending traditional public schools. It would change the current factors which determine per-pupil funding that public school districts must share with local charter schools, with proponents arguing money should follow the student if their family chooses to attend a charter school.

Another bill currently pending in both chambers that has full GOP support in the House would expand the state's school voucher program and existing Opportunity Scholarships — which are designed to allow low- and moderate-income families to attend the private school of their choice — to all students to attend private schools or cover educational expenses through a tiered system based on income.

"This is about putting kids first, about empowering families, and about changing education in North Carolina to benefit everyone across the state," Cotham said this week. "At the end of the day, it's about putting kids first — not adults, not systems, not bureaucrats, but children."

As chair of the Education K-12 House Standing Committee, Cotham is in a prime position to influence education reform bills that come out of the House. 

North Carolina state Rep. Jason Saine is the House GOP caucus leader. (Photo provided by Rep. Jason Saine)

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The House this week also passed a measure to create a Charter School Review Board to take over approvals from the State Board of Education, while the Senate approved measures to restructure oversight of high school sports and transfer much of the power of oversight for the state's community college system from the governor's appointments to legislative appointments.

Separately, both the House and Senate passed bills to ban environmental, social, and governance factors in state hiring, contracts, and pension decisions. So-called ESG factors are increasingly being used to measure an institution's advancement of policies designed to address climate change, increase demographic diversity, and support a progressive "social justice" agenda, among other initiatives.

The House also advanced a bill to prohibit gender transition procedures for minors after recently passed legislation that would prohibit biological males who identify as female from playing on girls' sports teams in middle school, high school and college.

The North Carolina state legislature building is seen in Raleigh, N.C. (Al Drago/CQ Roll Call)

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This week's flurry of votes came after the newly GOP-controlled North Carolina Supreme Court on Friday upheld a photo voter identification law and overturned a previous ruling against gerrymandered voting maps — a measure that could have profound political implications for the Tar Heel state.

"I believe the legislature will revisit the congressional and legislative maps and redraw these maps as has been speculated," Chris Sinclair, a political strategist in North Carolina, recently told Fox News Digital. "They don't need the governor for this, but believe they will draw a district for Cotham that is more competitive for an R than her current district, and she will support these new maps."

However, he added, the GOP's newfound supermajority may prove problematic if they don't deliver for North Carolinians.

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"What [Republicans] do with their new member and how far they go on issues will be critical — and they must be mindful of how far they go and will want to talk to their colleagues in Wisconsin and Kansas on how right they shift on key issues — especially on abortion," said Sinclair. "If they go too far, their newfound power could be short-lived after 2024, even with new maps."