Amid protests, GOP lawmakers vote to strip power from incoming governor, other Democrats

The North Carolina Senate passed two bills Wednesday that have drawn criticism from Democrats who say the bills prove legislative Republicans are focused more on politically motivated power grabs and giving money to wealthy families for private school tuition, rather than on relief aid for victims of Hurricane Helene in western North Carolina.

Senate Bill 382 would set aside $227 million for Helene relief, in addition to enacting dozens of unrelated changes to strip power from the executive branch by targeting the governor, attorney general and other offices that Democrats won in the 2024 elections. It would also give the GOP control over state boards in charge of elections administration and utilities regulation.

The state Senate approved that measure with a 30-to-19 vote — a move that drew jeers and catcalls from several dozen protesters. The measure, which was approved by the GOP-led House on Tuesday, heads to Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper, who can sign it, veto it or let it pass without his signature. 

The Senate also voted Wednesday to override a veto of House Bill 10, which spends an additional $463.5 million on private-school tuition vouchers next year, beyond what was originally approved in the state budget, plus billions of dollars extra on vouchers over the next decade. The vote followed the House's override Tuesday. The Senate vote, which was along party lines, made it law.

Senate Bill 382 brought into focus key priorities of state Republicans, who say election reforms are needed. Control over the State Board of Elections is a goal state GOP leaders have been chasing for nearly a decade, only to be repeatedly thwarted by voters and state courts. Republican legislators previously tried taking elections control for themselves, only to have those plans shot down as unconstitutional. The new plan under SB 382 seeks to avoid a similar fate in court by keeping it in the executive branch — but under the control of a Republican official instead of Governor-elect Josh Stein, a Democrat.

That was one of dozens of changes taking power away from Stein and other incoming Democratic leaders in the 131-page bill, which was introduced on Tuesday and whizzed through both chambers. Stein criticized the proposal when it first became public, noting that he was on the ground in western North Carolina working on disaster relief efforts while it was happening.

"Many people and communities are hurting and need our help, but instead of stepping up, the Republicans in the General Assembly are grabbing power and exacting political retribution," Stein wrote in a statement. "How about they do their jobs so we can do ours? North Carolina deserves better."

During the House session Tuesday and the Senate session Wednesday, Democrats were strongly critical of the wide-ranging measure that had been advertised as a disaster relief bill. They complained that it spent nowhere near enough small business aid and housing aid.

The billions in extra voucher spending that lawmakers also approved Wednesday proved that the legislature could fund more Helene aid but chose not to, said Wake County Democratic Sen. Jay Chaudhuri.

"Nearly one in four people who will receive these taxpayer-funded vouchers make more than a quarter-million dollars a year," he said. "So I want to put in perspective what we're doing today. We are going to give money to a millionaire in Charlotte, who can afford to send his kids to private school, but short-change small business owners in Black Mountain who can't afford to meet payroll for employees after Helene."

Sen. Ralph Hise, a top-ranking GOP leader from one of the areas hardest hit by Helene, chastised Democrats for saying the legislature isn't doing enough for western North Carolina, arguing that they are. Regardless, he said, this is not the last chance for Helene aid to be approved.

"This is not a quick recovery for western North Carolina," said Hise, R-Mitchell. "This will be a years-long process."

Speaking with reporters after the votes, Republican Senate leader Phil Berger defended Wednesday's votes. He said while Helene wasn't something they planned on, voucher expansion was a main piece of what Republican lawmakers promised their supporters in recent years. "You're talking about two different situations," Berger said. "The voucher expansion itself is something that we had already planned on."

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The provisions in the Helene bill that target executive branch powers would eliminate many of the duties and powers of the N.C. Department of Justice, by banning the attorney general from intervening in any lawsuits — a common practice in North Carolina and the rest of the country — and banning the attorney general from taking any stances in lawsuits that legislative leaders disagree with, if they're also part of the case. It would also force Jackson to defend state laws he believes to be unconstitutional, something that has come up several times in the past decade.

And in addition to taking away the governor's control over the State Elections Board, the bill would also make a number of changes to the post-election process of finalizing the state's vote count, which supporters say are aimed at speeding it up.

Karen Brinson Bell, the state's top elections official, told WRAL on Tuesday that those changes could lead to valid ballots being thrown out, and legitimate voters being disenfranchised.

Hise said Wednesday that votes simply need to be counted faster. "These changes secure a timelier resolution of election outcomes than we have continued to drag on for two weeks, like we've seen in the most recent election," he said.

In the 2024 election, state elections officials counted about 98% of the votes on election night. Counting the remaining votes, mostly provisional ballots that needed further investigation into a voter's eligibility, lasted for two weeks after the election.

Targeting judges, governor and others

In addition to taking away the governor's control over the elections board and giving it to the incoming state auditor, Republican Dave Boliek, the bill would also take Stein's control over the Utilities Commission, which regulates Duke Energy and other utility companies, and give GOP officials control over that board as well.

It would also prevent Attorney General-elect Jeff Jackson from being automatically allowed to intervene at the Utilities Commission on behalf of utility customers. Berger said the decisions to eliminate many of the attorney general's powers were because Republicans didn't like some of the things Stein did as attorney general and thought Jackson would probably be similar when he takes office. Earlier this year, as attorney general, Stein fought Duke Energy's request to increase the rates customers pay for electrical bills.

The bill also eliminates the state Energy Policy Council, which is chaired by the lieutenant governor, and the state Task Force for Safer Schools, chaired by the state superintendent of schools. Both offices are currently held by Republicans but were won by Democrats in this month's elections.

The bill would also eliminate the judicial seat held by Wake County Superior Court Judge Bryan Collins, who ruled in 2019 that the legislature lacked authority to pass constitutional amendments due to years of racial gerrymandering that disenfranchised Black voters in order to increase the political power of Republicans. Critics called the elimination an act of revenge by Republican lawmakers.

Berger said he didn't think lawmakers weren't targeting Collins by taking away his job, since the seat wouldn't be eliminated until 2028, when Collins is up for reelection.

The bill would also create new superior court judge roles that, unlike other judicial positions, would be appointed by GOP lawmakers instead of elected by popular vote.

Sen. Julie Mayfield, D-Asheville, said Wednesday that she thought the legislature came together in an appropriate bipartisan fashion last month to pass some Helene aid funding. But she said the bill debated Wednesday provides nowhere near enough money for further aid, and additionally "takes purely partisan aim at some of the foundational pillars of our democracy."

Protesters interrupt debate

Debate on SB 382 was interrupted Wednesday after Sen. Lisa Grafstein, D-Wake, criticized Republicans for "an inability to manage the emotional discipline to accept democratic balance" by enacting a power grab instead of respecting the will of the voters.

As Grafstein added that Democrats won more votes than Republicans in this year's elections for the state Senate and House, protesters in the Senate gallery began cheering. Republican Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, who lost this year's election for governor, was presiding over the Senate session and ordered the debate to stop so that the protesters could be kicked out. "You need to go," Robinson said. "Clear the gallery."

During the debate — before and after the interruption — no Republican lawmaker spoke up to offer a defense of the changes stripping power from Stein, Jackson, incoming Lt. Gov. Rachel Hunt and incoming Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green.

In an interview, Robinson defended the legislature's work targeting the incoming officials and suggested Democrats were blowing it out of proportion.

"Certainly the Republicans in this body are trying to protect their interests," he told WRAL. "If the shoe was on the other foot, I think the Democrats would probably do the same thing, if they could. In fact, they've done it in the past. So it's just politics as usual."

Robinson was technically the acting governor Wednesday, since Cooper was in Washington lobbying Congress for additional Helene funding. That gave him an avenue to sign the bill into law after the Senate approved it. The actual extent of an acting governor's power has been debated in recent years, and Robinson said he didn't plan to sign the bill while Cooper was out of town.

Final days with a supermajority

The timing of both votes Wednesday was a theme in debates over the measures.

Democrats broke the GOP's veto-proof supermajority in the state House during this year's elections, so it will be more difficult for Republicans to override vetoes starting in January once new members are sworn in. But there's still another chance for votes in December.

So if Cooper does veto the Senate Bill 382, Republicans could come back next month — when they will still have a supermajority — to override Cooper's veto.

Doing so, however, would require having every GOP member on board. And unlike most politically divisive bills, which pass along party lines, that's not guaranteed this time. On Tuesday three Republicans in the House, all from western North Carolina, voted against SB 382. None explained whether their opposition was related to the changes to the separation of powers in state government, the amount of Helene funding in the bill or some other factor.

The bill passed the Senate Wednesday purely along party lines, with all Republicans in favor and all Democrats opposed.