Lawmakers will vote on rewrite of constitutional amendments

The North Carolina General Assembly will come back into session on Friday and Monday to hold votes to rewrite two constitutional amendments struck down by a three-judge panel earlier this week because of misleading language.

The state House will meet at 10 a.m. Friday after 72 members agreed to call the House back into session.

In a press release, House Speaker Tim Moore, a Cleveland County Republican, said: “The General Assembly will write new ballot referendums in compliance with the court’s ruling because the proposals provide a popular bipartisan balance in our state government that will benefit the people of North Carolina who deserve a voice in considering reforms to their constitution.”

Thirty-two senators agree to call the state Senate back into session. The Senate will also meet on Friday, but will not hold votes. Instead, it’ll meet on Monday to consider any bills the House voted on.

“I disagree with the court’s decision on the merits. It’s clear, though, that protracted litigation could delay ballot printing and only further the chance for voter confusion,” Senate leader Phil Berger, a Rockingham County Republican, said in a press release. “Given those circumstances, I support a special session to write amendments that comply with the court order as quickly as possible.”

It is unclear if the two constitutional amendments will be the only thing on the Republican-controlled General Assembly’s agenda when it returns. An official proclamation calling the members back to Raleigh says the legislature can take up any matter.

The court ruling earlier this week removed two of the six constitutional amendments from the November ballot.

One of the amendments would limit the governor’s ability to replace judges who step down, giving more power over the appointments to the legislature in what lawmakers call a “merit selection” system. The second would strip the governor’s power to appoint members of state boards and commissions.

The court order gives legislative leaders two options to keep the proposed amendments on November’s ballot, the NC Insider reported: appeal the decision or “act immediately to correct the problems in the language of the Ballot Questions so that these proposed amendments, properly identified and described, may yet appear on the November 2018 general election ballot.”

A message left with Democratic leader Rep. Darren Jackson of Wake County asking for comment on the call for a special session was not immediately returned. After the announcement of a special session was made, Jackson tweeted: “The #ncga in Raleigh is broken. The #ncga is unpopular because it has failed to improve health care or our schools. Instead, voters see time and money wasted on power grabs and favors for #ncpol special interests.”

The state Democratic Party released a prepared statement from its chairman, Wayne Goodwin. “Instead of fixing the I-77 tolls, cleaning up our waterways, increasing access to affordable healthcare, and giving voters a chance to fund public education, Republican legislators are back in session wasting $50,000 every day to once again try and deceive the voters to save their own skin,” Goodwin said. “There are plenty of good reasons legislators could return to Raleigh. Taking a second shot at deceiving North Carolina’s voters isn’t one of them.”

This story was originally published August 23, 2018 at 2:09 PM.