Possible Surprises in Upcoming Special Session

By George Reed, Retired Executive Director

The General Assembly returns to town this coming Tuesday, December 13, for a special session called by Governor McCrory to consider disaster relief legislation related to Hurricane Matthew in the eastern part of the state and recent forest fires in the west. But, in light of the November elections, in which Democrats regained a 4-3 majority on the officially non-partisan state Supreme Court and narrowly won the governor’s office, speculation is growing that the General Assembly might also take action on one or more items that would counteract the clear will of the state’s voters by packing the court and/or limiting some gubernatorial powers. Chris Fitzsimon has just written a piece for NC Policy Watch about these deeply troubling possibilities. You can find it here.

Note that these are only possibilities. Legislative leaders haven’t said that they plan to push one or more of these power grabs, but they have declined opportunities to deny categorically that they might do so.

These power-grabbing provisions could be introduced as separate legislation or added onto the disaster relief bill. If you think this couldn’t happen, remember that HB2 was passed by a special session AND that the General Assembly grafted onto it a totally unrelated provision that prohibited local governments from adopting their own minimum wage ordinances.