NC Gov. Roy Cooper vetoes donor privacy bill, calls it ‘unnecessary’
North Carolina Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed a bill Friday that would have changed the privacy rules around donations, calling it “unnecessary.”
Senate Bill 636 would have made private any money or “tangible goods” donations to nonprofits.
“This legislation is unnecessary and may limit transparency with political contributions,” Cooper said in a statement.
The bill passed the Senate 25-19 along party lines, with all Republicans in favor and Democrats against. In the House it passed 59-33, with only one Democrat, Rep. Abe Jones of Wake County, voting in favor.
Cooper is also a Democrat.
Donald Bryson is president of the conservative nonprofit John Locke Foundation, which merged recently with Civitas Institute.
“People are actually scared of political retribution for their nonprofit giving, and that is not fair,” Bryson told The News & Observer on Friday.
“Just because some group lobbies and does grassroots lobbies to get a bill passed because they are in favor of [it] does not mean they are electioneering, it means they are in favor of those issues,” Bryson said.
Nationally, the issue has played out in court, with both conservative and liberal groups supporting keeping donor lists private, including Americans for Prosperity and the American Civil Liberties Union, respectively.
Lauren Horsch, spokesperson for Senate leader Phil Berger, an Eden Republican, said in a statement it was “important to make sure that donors to nonprofits can freely give knowing their identities won’t be released without their consent.”
Rachel Stein, North Carolina Democratic Party spokesperson, said Cooper’s veto “reaffirms his commitment to transparency.”
“North Carolinians deserve to know who is spending money and trying to influence elections,” Stein said.
The governor signed nearly 20 bills into law this week, and SB 636 was his third veto this week, which included a pistol permit repeal bill veto.
The General Assembly’s long session is winding down, with passing a state budget the last big item on its agenda. Lawmakers also have a session just for redistricting this fall, but if the budget continues to drag out as expected, there might not be a break before the redistricting session.
For more North Carolina government and politics news, listen to the Under the Dome politics podcast from The News & Observer and the NC Insider. You can find it at link.chtbl.com/underthedomenc or wherever you get your podcasts.
This story was originally published September 3, 2021 at 1:04 PM.
.jpg)