GOP senators target Cooper’s coronavirus executive orders in new protester-backed bill
A new proposal in the North Carolina General Assembly would allow people and businesses to violate several of Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper’s coronavirus-related executive orders with almost no consequences.
Called the “NC Freedom to Work Act,” the bill has the backing of some conservatives in the N.C. Senate. And top organizers of the Reopen NC protests are cheering it on.
“It will basically enable businesses to open back up,” said Ashley Smith, a protest leader, in a video she posted Tuesday evening a few hours after the bill was filed.
“Hairdressers, for example, will not be in jeopardy of losing their license if they defy this executive order,” Smith said. “So this is really huge.”
Cooper spokeswoman Sadie Weiner told the News & Observer Wednesday that Cooper doesn’t support the bill.
“This is a dangerous bill that irresponsibly encourages people to violate health and safety rules during a pandemic,” she said. “Governor Cooper is relying on the data and the science to carefully ease restrictions in a way that can boost the economy while protecting public health.”
On Tuesday, Cooper announced that he will modify his stay-at-home order starting at 5 p.m. Friday, to enter into “Phase 1” of his three-phase plan for reopening the state economy.
Cooper said bars, hair salons, gyms and other similar close-contact businesses will remain closed in Phase 1. But other businesses like child care centers will be able to reopen, and businesses that have remained open will face less strict requirements.
It will be Phase 2 of Cooper’s plan when more businesses, like hair salons and dine-in restaurants, can reopen. Cooper said it will be at least another few weeks after the start of Phase 1 even under that best-case scenario of COVID-19 public health data that state officials are monitoring.
But some Republican politicians say that’s too slow — like Senate leader Phil Berger, who released a written statement Tuesday calling Cooper’s Phase 1 plans “largely a continuation of the existing lockdown.”
The bill introduced in the Senate Tuesday would give businesses a way to break Cooper’s orders and reopen now, while facing only a $25 civil fine and no potential criminal charges — instead of the up to $1,000 fine or criminal charges the law currently allows.
Audrey Whitlock, another Reopen NC organizer, wrote in all-caps on the group’s Facebook page: “You have been heard! We did this!”
She linked to the bill and encouraged people to contact their state representatives about supporting it. There are 29 Republicans in the 50-person state Senate, and 15 of them have signed onto the bill either as sponsors or co-sponsors. No Democrats have.
Where popular support stands
The bill hasn’t been voted on yet, and it’s unclear if it would gain enough support to pass both the House and Senate. Public polling has so far shown that the Reopen NC protests against Cooper’s orders aren’t representative of most people’s feelings.
The most recent poll from the conservative-leaning Civitas Institute, in mid-April, found that 84% of North Carolinians approved of Cooper’s handling of coronavirus.
And the most recent poll from the liberal-leaning Public Policy Polling, also in mid-April, found that 19% of North Carolinians supported the protests, 69% opposed the protests and 13% weren’t sure.
Even if the bill does eventually pass the Republican-controlled legislature, it would need at least some Democrats on board in order to override a potential veto by Cooper. Republicans lost their veto-proof supermajorities in both the House and Senate after the “Blue Wave” election of 2018.
Smith, the Reopen NC protest organizer, also said in her video Tuesday that the group plans to recreate itself as a political action committee, or PAC, so that its leaders can get involved in the 2020 elections.
According to Smith’s hometown paper, the Morganton News Herald, Smith “said she has been taking guidance from and following Dan Forest, N.C. lieutenant governor and President Donald Trump.”
Forest, a Republican, is running against Cooper in this year’s election for the governor’s office.
Details of the bill
If the bill does become law, it would remove any criminal penalties for violating the governor’s orders. Currently people can be charged with a low-level misdemeanor for violating the orders, if local police decide that’s appropriate.
There have been only a few criminal charges so far related to violations of the stay-at-home or other orders forcing specific types of businesses to close in an effort to stop the spread of the pandemic.
Some people have been charged for violating social distancing rules at protests in Greensboro, Charlotte and Raleigh — including Smith, who was arrested outside the governor’s mansion at a recent Reopen NC protest. An Apex tattoo parlor owner was charged for reopening in violation of the order, as was a Charlotte woman who was charged with being at a spa that was supposed to have shut down.
In a press release, the bill’s three main sponsors said they filed it “as a direct result of the recent arrests made on hard working small business owners.”
In addition to lifting criminal charges for people accused of violating the order, the bill would also lower the maximum fine people can be issued for violations. It would also require the government to repay anyone who had been fined more than the new rate.
Since violations of the order can now be punished with a class 2 misdemeanor, that could mean a fine of up to $1,000. This proposed bill, however, would lower the maximum possible punishment to a $25 civil fine for the first offense, and $1 for every violation after that.
Finally, the bill would prohibit any state licensing board from taking action against regulated businesses that decided to violate Cooper’s order and reopen early. Many of the businesses that have been ordered to temporarily close are regulated by state licensing boards, including nail salons, barber shops, spas and massage parlors.
“We need to push and put a lot of pressure on to get the Freedom to Work Act passed right away,” Smith said.
One of the lead sponsors is Republican Sen. Warren Daniel of Morganton, who Smith said is her state senator. Neither he nor the other two main sponsors, Sen. Vickie Sawyer of Mooresville and Sen. Carl Ford of China Grove, responded to interview requests Wednesday.
This story was originally published May 6, 2020 at 1:14 PM with the headline "GOP senators target Cooper’s coronavirus executive orders in new protester-backed bill."
