Rev. William Barber calls bill removing power from Democrats a ‘legislative coup’
Leading a large protest Monday, the Rev. William Barber railed against GOP lawmakers’ efforts to take away powers from the incoming governor and other top Democrats elected last month, calling the bill a “legislative coup.”
Barber, who spoke against the bill during a news conference at the General Assembly last month, held the latest “Moral Monday” demonstration at the nearby State Capitol.
The GOP bill, which was written in secret and quickly rolled out last month, pairs some additional Hurricane Helene relief for Western North Carolina with a number of sweeping provisions that would take away and change powers belonging to the governor, attorney general, state superintendent of public instruction, and other statewide elected offices that were won by Democrats in November.
Calling the bill a “damnable, moral shame,” Barber said that Republicans were “trying to steal power from the people” while those hit by the storm are still hurting.
He likened the proposed power shifts to a “political hurricane” that will “tear up the democracy,” and rallied the crowd as he rattled off the statewide offices Republicans lost last month and said voters had spoken.
Supporters cheered as he told Republicans to “leave our democracy the hell alone,” and led chants of “we don’t need a disastrous bill, we need a bill for the disaster.”
Vicki Meath, the executive director of Just Economics, said she took a bus from Asheville to speak at Monday’s protest. Meath said she had “run out of adjectives to describe the devastation” in Western North Carolina.
“It is painful to live through the worst disaster in North Carolina’s recorded history and then to have our pain and devastation used as a front for a bill that does not deliver the needed aid to my community,” Meath said. “That bill does not deliver the needed aid to my community, but rather, it subverts our democracy, is a power grab, and ignores the will of the people. That is a slap in the face to Western North Carolina.”
“We see what you are doing, and we will not forget,” she said.
Power shift bill
Most of the 131-page bill deals with power shifts. The bill allocates $227 million from the state’s rainy day fund to the recently created Helene fund, but doesn’t specify what all of the money will be spent on.
This latest round of relief builds on what the GOP-controlled legislature has already spent. If enacted, this bill will bring total spending by lawmakers on Helene relief to around $1.1 billion.
Activists who have protested the bill and Democrats who voted against it have said the additional funding is insufficient and won’t help business owners or renters who are struggling in Helene’s aftermath.
One of the most controversial provisions in the bill takes away the governor’s power to appoint members to the State Board of Elections and transfers it to incoming State Auditor Dave Boliek, a Republican.
The bill also prohibits incoming Democratic Attorney General Jeff Jackson from taking any position on state laws being challenged in court that is inconsistent with the one taken by the General Assembly, and prevents incoming Democratic State Superintendent of Public Instruction Mo Green from appealing decisions made by the N.C. Charter School Review Board.
Republicans currently control supermajorities in both chambers of the General Assembly, but after last month’s election, they’re expected to keep a veto-proof majority in the Senate but lose it in the House by one seat.
Governor vetoes bill
Outgoing Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper vetoed the bill late last month after it passed the Senate in a party-line vote, which was expected, but cleared the House with three Republicans, all of whom represent the westernmost districts in the state, joining Democrats in voting against the bill.
Senate Republicans were able to quickly vote to override Cooper’s veto last week, but it’s unclear if House Republicans will have the votes to do when they return on Wednesday.
The crowd applauded as Meath recognized the Republicans who voted against the bill — Reps. Mark Pless of Canton, Mike Clampitt of Bryson City and Karl Gillespie of Franklin — for putting “their constituents over their party in opposition to this bill.”
Two of those lawmakers, Pless and Clampitt, have said they haven’t yet decided how they will vote on the veto override.
Rep. Destin Hall, the incoming House speaker, told The N&O last month he was confident the three Republicans would ultimately vote with the rest of their party to defeat Cooper’s veto.
As organizers of Monday’s protest led the crowd that had gathered in a march to the Legislative Building, they urged people to return on Wednesday for the final vote.
This story was originally published December 9, 2024 at 10:07 PM.
