Under the Dome: GOP reaches deal on mask bill — and throws in new rules for campaign money
Good morning! ☀️ Here’s what you need to know about North Carolina politics today from our team and correspondent Stephanie Loder.
NEW BILL ALLOWS MEDICAL MASK WEARING, CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAW CHANGE
A compromise on House Bill 237 between state House and Senate Republicans was introduced Thursday morning in the House.
Democrats, concerned about the bill also changing campaign finance law to allow more dark money donations, walked out in protest ahead of the vote later Thursday.
Sen. Mary Wills Bode told The News & Observer later Thursday that she and other Democrats were concerned about “out-of-state billionaires flooding money into our state, without any accountability.”
The version of the bill negotiated by Republicans in both chambers reverses the bill’s original effect of banning the wearing of masks in public for health and safety reasons.
Instead, the new bill would allow only the wearing of a “medical or surgical grade mask” for ”preventing the spread of contagious disease.”
Here’s what else is provided by the bill:
Enhanced sentence if the defendant is convicted of a misdemeanor or felony and the defendant was wearing a mask to conceal or attempt to conceal his or her identity.
A person wearing a mask should “remove the mask upon request by a law enforcement officer or temporarily remove the mask upon request by the owner or occupant of public or private property where the wearer is present to allow for identification of the wearer.”
No religious institution is subject to an executive order, secretarial declaration or municipal or local government prohibition or restriction.
Get the full story from Avi Bajpai and Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan here and here.
JUDGE BLOCKS NC COUNTY FROM DEFYING STATE SCHOOL CALENDAR
Superior Court Judge William D. Wolfe issued an order Wednesday declaring the 2024-25 Carteret County school board calendar void.
In December, the school board unanimously approved a calendar that would run from Aug. 13 to May 22. The board said the new schedule would improve academic achievement because high school students could take fall semester exams before winter break.
Three business owners filed a lawsuit in April accusing the Carteret County school system of violating North Carolina’s school calendar law by starting classes Aug. 13.
They said their businesses rely on the law to plan, staff and run their businesses and that the new calendar would result in a loss of revenue by shortening the summer season.
Get the full story from T. Keung Hui here.
NC LAWMAKERS SEEK ‘SHOT CLOCK’ FOR POWER PLANT PERMITTING
A proposal advanced Wednesday in the state legislature would put environmental regulators under a “shot clock” that would set time limits when considering water quality impacts from new power plants.
Duke Energy has two ongoing proposals on sites where water quality would be subject to the new time limits.
They include:
The Marshall Plant in Catawba County, where Duke wants to replace two coal-fired units with a pair of natural gas turbines.
The Roxboro plant in Person County, where Duke proposes replacing a coal plant with a pair of natural gas plants.
The time limits would likely apply to each of the six North Carolina sites where Duke wants to retire coal-fired power plants.
Get the full story from Adam Wagner here.
SENATORS WANT FINAL WORD ON DMV
Some North Carolina lawmakers, frustrated over the way the Division of Motor Vehicles is managed, want more say over who takes charge of the agency.
A bill introduced on Wednesday in the Senate Transportation Committee would change the way North Carolina appoints its DMV commissioner by requiring the governor to appoint the commissioner subject to “senatorial advice and consent.” That’s how the governor’s cabinet is appointed.
The Senate would have the last word on the person put in charge of a state agency with a more than $200 million budget and 1,550 people on its payroll.
Sen. Michael Lazzara, a Republican from Onslow County and a Transportation Committee co-chairman, said lawmakers should have closer oversight due to the DMV’s size, mission and poor performance over the years.
Get the full story from Richard Stradling here.
That’s all for today. Check your inbox tomorrow for more #ncpol news.
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This story was originally published June 7, 2024 at 5:10 AM with the headline "Under the Dome: GOP reaches deal on mask bill — and throws in new rules for campaign money."
