GOP lawmakers aim to limit NC governor’s power in long-term emergencies

Should North Carolina’s governor be able to issue a state of emergency that lasts a year? Or more than a month? A bill working its way through the North Carolina General Assembly would curb some of the governor’s powers.

House Bill 264, called the “Emergency Powers Accountability Act,” would require the governor to seek concurrence from the rest of the elected officials on the Council of State for any statewide emergency declaration that lasts more than 30 days. A similar bill, Senate Bill 312, was filed Tuesday in the Senate.

This isn’t the first time Republican lawmakers have tried to use legislation to force Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper to get agreement from the rest of the Council of State, which is majority Republican, for some executive orders. In the summer of 2020, several bills tried to allow businesses to reopen earlier than Cooper’s orders permitted, and some included language requiring the governor to get agreement from the rest of the Council of State. Cooper vetoed them all.

The Judiciary Committee approved the House bill Tuesday and sent it to the Rules Committee, which could be its last stop before a vote by the full House.

House Rules Chair Destin Hall, a Caldwell County Republican, told reporters when the bill was filed last week that Cooper’s executive orders, and how and whether people follow them, have become politicized.

House Majority Leader Rep. John Bell, a Wayne County Republican, told reporters last week that this bill “is not about reopening, or anything dealing with masks.” Rather, he said, it is about how one person should not have unilateral control.

“We need buy-in from folks” when government officials are making statewide decisions, Hall said. He said if Cooper had backing from the rest of the Council of State with the past year’s orders, there wouldn’t have been as much partisan bickering.

Rep. Keith Kidwell, a Chocowinity Republican and deputy majority whip, is the primary sponsor of the House bill. In the summer of 2020, Kidwell made clear what he though of Cooper’s orders, saying on the House floor that he wouldn’t follow the statewide mask mandate no matter what the governor said.

Kidwell said in the committee Tuesday that the new bill would bring the law in line with “today’s time frame,” given that state law about the governor’s emergency powers, he said, was intended to cover emergencies like hurricanes, fires and floods.

Rep. Rosa Gill, a Raleigh Democrat, questioned why the bill was necessary now and why other Council of State members would need to validate or invalidate some orders during emergencies. She said she thinks all of Cooper’s executive orders during the pandemic have been appropriate.

“I know that we have political views or personal views of what should or should not take place,” Gill said.

Rep. Sarah Stevens, a Mount Airy Republican and House speaker pro tempore, said some of Cooper’s orders that restricted some businesses but not others “seemed hypocritical.” She said regardless of which party controls the governor’s mansion, the governor should not be able to make unilateral decisions for a year.

“To have it simply one person did not seem acceptable,” Stevens said.

“If I were the governor of the great state of North Carolina I would not want all that on me,” Kidwell said.

The votes are likely to fall along party lines.

Rep. Rachel Hunt, a Mecklenburg County Democrat, said she supported the Executive Mansion being “where the buck stops.”

Partisan divide on Council of State

The Council of State are the 10 statewide elected offices that includes the governor, lieutenant governor, attorney general, labor commissioner, agriculture commissioner, superintendent of public instruction, secretary of state, insurance commissioner, treasurer and auditor.

The Council of State currently has a 6-4 Republican majority. State law does require concurrence from the rest of the council for some executive orders. But the ones that have gotten the most attention — those that closed or limited businesses — were passed without concurrence. Former Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who Cooper defeated in the 2020 gubernatorial election, sued Cooper over COVID-19-related orders. After a judge ruled against him, Forest dismissed the lawsuit.

The governor told The News & Observer during an interview in early January that he had concerns about changing the Emergency Management Act during the pandemic.

“It may be as soon as we turn the corner on this pandemic, and later on in the summer and fall, that may be something we want to look at,” he said then.

“Right now though, we are complying with the law, I think the court decisions have shown that. I think we should spend our time right now on prevention and slowing the spread of this virus, getting people vaccinated and really making sure we pay attention to our economic recovery,” Cooper said.

The next Council of State meeting is April 13, and will be held remotely.

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