RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) - Republicans in the North Carolina General Assembly and Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper spent most of this year’s legislative work session trading partisan blows.
With comfortable House and Senate majorities, the GOP ended up on top with the final state budget, saying they fulfilled promises of fiscal responsibility, teacher pay and Hurricane Matthew relief, while blaming Cooper for trying to derail them. Cooper kept challenging Republicans, vetoing the budget as short-sighted on education spending and for providing tax cuts for the wealthy.
“This session will be remembered as one of missed opportunities,” Cooper said in an email statement.
Their differences, on display repeatedly during the 5½-month session that ended Friday, will keep erupting even though legislators have gone home.
That’s because they aren’t staying away for long.
The resolution to adjourn, written by Republicans, calls on legislators to reconvene in Raleigh two or three more times in the next five months and leaves wide open the topics they can consider. Historically, legislators wrapping up their budget-writing session in odd-numbered years haven’t scheduled another session until the following spring.
The schedule is a reminder of one Republicans used after the 2011 work session that provided an avenue to scrutinize Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue.
“With a new governor, we will be returning to Raleigh to fulfill our responsibilities and obligations,” said Rep. David Lewis of Harnett County, the House Rules Committee chairman. While he said the legislative and executive branches agree on issues more than they disagree, “those that divide us are significant.”
Republicans first reconvene in early August to consider additional vetoes by Cooper, who now has some 100 approved bills on his desk to consider. The resolution also enables them to take up measures that got stuck in House and Senate negotiations last week.
Then the legislature will return in early September, when constitutional amendments can be considered and the remapping of legislative districts and electoral boundaries for trial court judges and district attorneys could begin.
When redistricting for state House and Senate seats should occur will soon be ordered by a panel of federal judges after the U.S. Supreme Court upheld an earlier decision throwing out 28 districts as illegal racial gerrymanders. Remapping deadlines could change depending on whether judges demand elections under new boundaries this fall or in 2018. At any rate, Republicans say they’ll reconvene no later than mid-November to draw maps. The new districts could help Democrats pick up seats to end the Republicans’ veto-proof majorities.
While Democrats support legislative redistricting, House Minority Leader Darren Jackson of Wake County blasted Republicans for the array of other topics on the agenda later this year. Some Republicans also want to investigate Democratic Secretary of State Elaine Marshall over her handling of notary public commissions. Marshall said she’s done nothing wrong.
“We leave here with the feeling that there’s been a lot of petty and partisan (actions) from the legislative branch,” Jackson said. “I’m worried that the partisan pettiness will continue.”
Rancor between Cooper and Republican leaders began before the session started on Jan. 11. The previous edition of the General Assembly passed several laws just after Cooper defeated GOP Gov. Pat McCrory that scaled back Cooper’s gubernatorial powers and required his Cabinet to face Senate confirmation. Cooper sued, with mixed results.
Cooper also has issued six vetoes this year. The budget veto and four others were overridden. One is pending.
The budget “veto is only the latest in a disappointing pattern of you publicly claiming to want to work together while doing the opposite,” Senate leader Phil Berger wrote to Cooper.
The two sides still worked together at times. They approved a measure in late March repealing House Bill 2, the 2016 measure that limited non-discrimination protections for LGBT people and directed which public bathrooms transgender people could use. But even that was marked by finger pointing over delays in replacing HB2, which caused job losses and cancelled sporting events.
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