| NCGA Legislative Update
No budget ahead of July 4th holiday
It looks as if there will be no budget before the next fiscal year begins on July 1st as the House and Senate have been unable to resolve disagreements over spending. Read more here.
ICYMI: AXIOS spotlighted an interesting 1.4 billion budget allocation designed to bolster innovation in rural areas. So many questions! Hopefully we'll hear more about this in coming weeks.
Election/Anti-Voting Bills
We heard the term "monster" to describe the recent abortion ban bill. The term "monster" could also be used to describe SB 747 and SB 749 as there will certainly be disturbing effects on voting and elections if enacted.
The 26-pages of SB 747, if enacted, would dramatically expand the use of provisional ballots for one-stop voter registration and absentee ballots and shorten the time absentee ballots must be received from 3 days after the election to 7:30pm on Election Day.
It would also require NCBOE to create a 10-county pilot project for signature verification software that matches a voter's signature to those on electronic signature pads used at DMV offices. Does anyone's signature on an electronic signature pad match a true signature? There are many other restrictions in this legislation that will lead to voter confusion at the polls.
SB 749 would create a deadlocked board of elections with the tie-breaking vote going to none other than our NCGA.
LWVNC was invited to submit written testimony to the NC House Committee on Oversight and Reform last Thursday during a public hearing on current and proposed elections/voting processes and rules. The hearing also included a very informative overview of elections processes by Karen Brinson Bell, Executive Director of NCSBE.
We thank Representative Cervania for the invitation to balance the scales with other testimony from those who firmly believe introducing endless rules and regulations into the voting process that will undoubtedly cause confusion will somehow ensure trust in elections. All while underfunding our state board of elections. You can read LWVNC's public testimony submitted by Marian Lewin by clicking on the link below.
To view all submitted public testimony during the June 22nd committee meeting, click here.
In addition to written testimony, LWVNC president-elect Jennifer Ruben and I submitted an op-ed to the News & Observer last weekend. A decision was made not to publish by the N&O, stating the issue had received enough coverage. However, we will not give up and will continue to speak out against this legislation. You can read the unpublished submission here.
Public Education Legislation
HB 823/SB 406 that expands the state's Opportunity Scholarship program is currently sitting in Comm on Rules and Operations in the Senate. The allocation of an additional $268 mill over two years to the Opportunity Scholarship Grant Fund in the Senate budget, along with other legislation aimed at dismantling public schools has been met with fierce opposition from advocates, including many LWV members.
There have also been several local government bills being filed in the past month that would change local board of education elections in various counties from nonpartisan to partisan.
The subject of partisan elections was discussed at our recent LWVNC convention, with a vote to amend the LWVNC position from supporting either partisan or nonpartisan elections to supporting nonpartisan elections. The proposed change and vote to approve was contingent upon the Education LAT presenting their research at an upcoming LWVNC board meeting.
For a Week in Review Summary of 2023 Legislative Session education bills from Public Schools First NC, click here.
Voter ID Update
NCBOE will likely vote on two temporary Voter ID rules and a repeal of four rules at their upcoming meeting on June 27th. These rules are outlined on their website and included a 3 week public comment period that ended on Friday. For the June 27th meeting agenda, click here.
LWVNC submitted public comment citing concerns about the provisional ballot process, ID requirements for absentee ballots and voter security. To learn more about the temporary rules and repeals, along with the rule-making process, click here.
Once these temporary rules have been approved and permanent guidelines become available, LWV will begin outreach efforts to educate voters about voter ID for the upcoming municipal elections.
Lawsuit filed over SB 20 Abortion bill
On June 16th, ACLU filed a lawsuit on behalf of plaintiffs Planned Parenthood and Dr. Beverly Gray (our September Timely Topics speaker), seeking an injunction and clarification on the law that appears to have contradictions within its language.
The law is due to go into effect on July 1st and has caused confusion for many in the healthcare community. A summary of the lawsuit, along with a press release can be found here.
In response, the Senate quickly filed to adopt an amendment to HB 190 to clarify parts of the bill. A final vote is expected to take place today and will then be sent to the House. It could face a veto by Governor Cooper. NC Attorney Josh Stein has indicated he will not defend parts of the lawsuit that he believes to be unconstitutional. Read more here.
ERIC Controversy
NCGA's legislation to prohibit NCSBE from joining ERIC (Electronic Registration Information Center) was a topic discussed in Thursday's House Committee on Oversight and Reform. LWVNC and LWV-Wake have advocated for NC to join ERIC since 2018 after conducting research, much of which was written by LWV-Wake member Laurie Bader.
In a NCSL (National Conference of State Legislatures) article published yesterday, ERIC is touted as effective in voter roll maintenance. They suggest, however, that additional states choosing to leave ERIC is likely to occur over disagreements concerning transparency and privacy and voter registration outreach requirements. This is unfortunate and will likely have negative effects on voter roll accuracy as states determine their own voter roll maintenance processes.
For a list of 21 voting rights bills being tracked, check out the Voting Rights Lab Bill Tracker here.
Please note: This list does not include all bills for which the League may take a position or that may be important for advocacy. To see a description of bills filed each day, see the UNC School of Government Legislative Reporting Service Daily Bulletin Online here.
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