NC Republicans advance new constitutional amendments to strip governor’s power
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- NC Republicans advanced two amendments that would strip Gov. Josh Stein’s power.
- One amendment would change State Board of Education members from appointed to elected.
- Another amendment would limit Council of State vacancy appointments to party lists.
North Carolina Republicans on Tuesday advanced two constitutional amendments that would strip power from Democratic Gov. Josh Stein.
One amendment, introduced as House Bill 144, would remove Stein’s appointments to the State Board of Education — making all of those positions elected instead. The other, filed as House Bill 443, would limit Stein’s ability to replace any Council of State members who vacate their positions — restricting him to a list of three candidates proposed by the political party of the departing member.
If approved by a supermajority of the state House and Senate, the amendments would be sent to voters to decide on their November midterm ballot, potentially alongside as many as four other constitutional amendments that Republicans are pushing for.
Electing members of the State Board of Education
In the House Education Committee on Tuesday, Democrats railed against the proposal to elect State Board of Education members, with Rep. Marcia Morey, of Durham, saying it would bring more partisanship and campaign money into schools.
“I think we will not have the results we want,” she said. “We will not have the expertise we want. It will become just much more of a political animal.”
Currently, the State Board of Education consists of 11 members appointed by the governor, eight of whom are selected from districts across the state. Those members serve alongside the state treasurer and lieutenant governor.
Under the proposed amendment to the constitution, the number of members would rise to 14 — equal to the number of seats North Carolina has in Congress — and each would be elected to a four-year term in a district drawn by the legislature. The superintendent of public instruction, a position that is elected statewide, would become chair of the board.
Rep. Hugh Blackwell, a Burke County Republican and the bill’s sponsor, said the change was necessary to “give parents and the public more of a say in ensuring that education policy meets what they believe are the needs of their children and students across the state.”
The proposed amendment does not specify how the maps for the board would be drawn, nor whether the elections would be partisan. Blackwell said those decisions would be left up to the General Assembly if the amendment passes at the ballot box.
Vacancies on Council of State
As for the amendment dealing with Council of State vacancies, the House Rules Committee approved the measure Tuesday with no debate — though the vote was not unanimous.
Currently, the governor is empowered to fill any vacancies among the council, with no limitations on his choice. The council includes the 10 officials in the state’s executive branch elected by voters statewide — governor, attorney general, lieutenant governor, auditor, treasurer, secretary of state, superintendent of public instruction, and commissioners of insurance, labor and agriculture.
In 2024, one day after Republican Luke Farley won the election for commissioner of labor, his Republican predecessor, Josh Dobson, resigned. For the two-month interim period before Farley took office, then-Gov. Roy Cooper appointed Kevin O’Barr, a Democrat, to fill the role.
But if the new amendment is approved by voters, Stein would be required to replace vacating members only from a list provided by that member’s political party.
A similar process is already in effect for vacancies on the state’s appellate courts, though Stein is challenging that law in court.
Weakening the governor
Tuesday’s amendments are part of the legislature’s years-long push to weaken the power of the governor — a position which is already severely lacking in authority compared to other states.
After the 2024 election, in which Stein trounced his Republican opponent, the scandal-plagued Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, Republican lawmakers quickly moved to strip him and other newly elected Democrats of more power before they took office.
This included taking away Stein’s power to appoint a majority of his own party to state and local election boards. Instead, lawmakers transferred that power to the Republican state auditor, Dave Boliek.
Dawn Baumgartner Vaughan contributed to this report.
