RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - The Latest on the North Carolina General Assembly reconvening because Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed four bills lawmakers sent him before they adjourned in June (all times local):
8:20 p.m.
The North Carolina General Assembly ended a one-day session that was supposed to be largely about overriding Gov. Roy Cooper’s pending vetoes but instead pivoted toward passing several bills left over from this year’s session.
The House adjourned Thursday evening, nearly an hour after the Senate went home. The two chambers hit a logjam over an environmental measure, while the House appeared to have second thoughts about a bill giving the legislature more power over rulemaking by state agencies.
The Republican-controlled legislature still passed bills on regulatory and tax matters and a local measure designed to fix a problem in Cleveland County school board elections.
GOP leaders decided to delay votes on Cooper’s four vetoes. Now they could be considered during the next session later this month, which will focus primarily on redistricting.
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5 p.m.
North Carolina lawmakers didn’t take up any vetoed bills when they returned to Raleigh, but they’re passing other legislation before they go home and deciding to meet again in just two weeks to do more work, including redistricting.
House and Senate members approved a handful of other bills Thursday, most of them compromises that weren’t reached before the General Assembly’s annual session ended in late June.
Provisions in the measures going to Gov. Roy Cooper’s desk would allow income tax filers to remit a part of their refunds to go toward breast and cervical cancer screening for low-income women. Another would let local landfills with lengthy permits continue to take trash even if its local permit expires.
Lawmakers also now anticipate returning in late August to consider those vetoes and draw new legislative district maps.
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10:50 a.m.
The North Carolina legislature gaveled in and gaveled out a session designed for lawmakers to consider vetoes by Gov. Roy Cooper that he issued since they were last in town. But lawmakers did not vote on whether to override them.
The House and Senate reconvened Thursday morning and clerks read aloud Cooper’s objections to four bills he vetoed. Speaker Tim Moore sent those House bills to a committee, where they are not expected to emerge until next month. That’s because dozens of colleagues were absent Thursday. The session ended in 45 minutes.
Legislators were expected to hold another session later Thursday to consider and vote on other legislation before most of them go home. They may include some in which House and Senate differences couldn’t get worked out before they adjourned their primary annual work session five weeks ago.
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2:45 a.m.
North Carolina lawmakers are returning to Raleigh for a “veto override” session, but it doesn’t sound like they’re going to give Gov. Roy Cooper’s objections much attention now.
The General Assembly is scheduled to convene Thursday, probably only for one day. It’s supposed to consider the four vetoes Cooper issued from over 100 bills lawmakers left him when their annual work session ended June 30.
A key House lawmaker says so many legislators are expected to be absent that action on the vetoed bills will wait until a session in September. The Republican-controlled legislature could take up some other pieces of legislation Thursday.
Many legislators will stay through Friday to attend a redistricting committee whose work is intensifying after new General Assembly maps were ordered by Sept. 1.
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