Nothing good will come out of Republican rules built around secrecy and deception | Opinion
Rules matter. In our lives there are rules of the road, rules in every classroom, and in every workplace.
Rules matter a great deal in my workplace, the North Carolina House of Representatives. After the election of a Speaker, the rules are the first thing we vote on. This week the N.C. House approved rules that will make our work less transparent and open to the public — and even to many legislators.
What do the new rules do? They allow one person, our Republican Speaker of the House, to schedule a vote to override the governor at any time with no notice to the public or other legislators.
There is no requirement the vote appear on a public calendar. There is no requirement the vote occur during our regular order of business.
On any legislative day, at any point from the opening prayer and pledge of allegiance to the end of the day closing gavel, the veto vote may be called up without notice in a matter of a few seconds. Note, I wrote “seconds” of notice — not minutes or hours or days.
The rules were approved on a party-line vote and they are “temporary” with the plan to come back in a few weeks to pass “permanent” rules. My hope is that my Republican colleagues will reconsider and pass rules fairer to the public and to all members of the House.
The secrecy in our new rules will particularly matter on bills vetoed by the governor. Vetoed bills tend to be some of the most high-profile and contentious issues we deal with: abortion, voting rights, civil rights and the state budget. There are the very issues where transparency and openness are most important so citizens can follow what is going on and voice their opinions in a timely way.
It is also important that the representatives of all 120 districts have the same opportunity to vote on these matters.
Obviously, we have our disagreements in the state House — 120 politicians are never all going to be on the same page. Our differences can be regional, ideological, and, yes, partisan. Yet, we should all have the same information on when we are voting bills and doing our legislative business. That’s just basic fairness.
You do not have to look far to see a better way of doing business — the Republican-led N.C. Senate is right on the other side of the Legislative Building. Their rule is imperfect, but much more sensible. The public and all legislators receive 24-hour notice prior to action taken on a vetoed bill.
I have served in the N.C House of Representatives since 2014. Our body is capable of doing great things for North Carolinians. I can promise you, though, that nothing good will come out of a process built around secrecy and deception.
It will lead to more partisan rancor and fighting among legislators. It will lead to more suspicion and mistrust from the people of North Carolina. Those are the last things we need as we confront problems like how to improve our public schools, how to address health care costs, and how to make our communities more safe and prosperous.
This story was originally published January 13, 2023 at 9:27 AM with the headline "Nothing good will come out of Republican rules built around secrecy and deception | Opinion."