North Carolina House members met into the early morning hours, today in its special veto session. Though the session was called in order for the North Carolina General Assembly to consider Governor Beverly Perdue's veto of legislation stripping the Racial Justice Act, the measure remains intact.
"N.C. lawmakers override another Perdue veto," is the title of Mark Binker's updated report for the Greensboro News-Record.
Lawmakers had been called back to Raleigh on Wednesday to handle a veto override on a completely separate bill.
In 2009, the General Assembly passed the Racial Justice Act, which allows death row inmates to challenge their conviction with statistical evidence of racial bias. At the time, Democrats controlled both the House and Senate.
When Republicans took control of the General Assembly in January of 2011, repealing the Racial Justice Act was a goal, if not a top priority. The Senate put the finishing touches on a repeal measure in early December.
Gov. Bev Perdue, a Democrat who signed the original bill into law, vetoed the repeal measure. Lawmakers were called back to a “reconvened session” Wednesday to decide whether to override her veto.
In order to win an override vote, each chamber needs a supermajority of three-fifths of those present and voting.
The vote was never in doubt in the Senate, which voted along party lines, 31-19, to override.
By contrast, the House vote was a dicey proposition all day.
Republican leaders maneuvered to find the votes they needed to accomplish the veto, but gave up shortly after 7 p.m. In stead, House leaders referred the racial justice bill to a Judiciary Committee and appointed a special working group to look at potential to the still-standing Racial Justice Act. Those two actions were an admission that the GOP didn't have the votes to accomplish the override.
Two conservative Democrats, Reps. William Brisson of Dublin and Jim Crawford of Oxford, brokered the deal with Republicans to send the measure back to committee.
“It’s not something that’s going to be a quick thing and a quick fix,” Brisson said. He added that the working group may be able to find ideas that satisfy both Democrats concerns about unequal use of the death penalty and worries by District Attorneys and victims’ families that convicted murderers might go free under the law.
Brisson didn’t specify how he convinced Republicans to back off the Racial Justice Act Wednesday night, when two more GOP members were on their way to Raleigh and could have delivered the winning votes.
However, he and Crawford were the only two Democrats to vote with Republicans on the override of the NCAE check off bill.
Brian Lewis, a lobbyist for the teacher’s group, says Brisson told him he traded the delay on the racial justice bill for a vote on the dues check off legislation.
Tillis denied Republicans cut such as a deal, and staff members for the speaker dismissed the claim as “ridiculous.”
"GOP overrides veto of bill to weaken teachers group," by John Frank for Raleigh's News and Observer.
Just after 1 a.m. today, in a secreted session critics called unconstitutional, Republican legislative leaders passed a bill aimed at weakening the state's largest teachers association.
Two Democrats -- state Reps. William Brisson and Jim Crawford -- broke party ranks to join Republicans in a 69 to 45 vote to override Perdue's veto of the measure, Senate Bill 727. The 1:12 a.m. vote means teachers who belong to the N.C. Association of Educators can no longer have their NCAE dues deducted automatically from their paychecks.
The move upended a special session called by Gov. Bev Perdue to consider her veto of an entirely different bill dealing with the state's Racial Justice Act, which give greater leeway to convicted murderers appealing sentences based on racial bias. At 4:26 p.m., the Senate voted 31-19 along party lines to override the veto.
But House Republicans apparently couldn't find the votes to follow suit and instead scheduled their own special session to handle other bills vetoed by the governor that convened at 12:45 a.m. For most of the day, Republicans met behind closed doors and rumors swirled about consideration of the controversial energy bill or a contentious voter ID measure. In the end, House leaders only had the vote on the teachers dues bill, taking advantage of absences by Democrats.
And:
Instead of considering a veto override on the racial bias bill, lawmakers sent it to a committee and appointed a special committee to study racial discrimination in capital cases. Democrats and the members of the committee knew nothing about it, they said. "They have lied to us all the way up and down" about their intentions, said Rep. Mickey Michaux, a Durham Democrat.
"N.C. lawmakers override another Perdue veto," is the AP filing this morning by Gary D. Robertson. It's via the Star News
The Legislature early Thursday overrode Gov. Beverly Perdue’s veto of a bill that eliminates the ability of North Carolina’s largest teachers’ group to have dues deducted directly from teacher paychecks, giving Republicans a victory over an organization historically aligned with Democrats.
And:
The override capped a long day and night at the Legislative Building for a special session called by Perdue for lawmakers to consider her veto that blocked a bill that would eliminate key provisions of the 2009 Racial Justice Act. The Senate overrode that veto, but the House didn’t, deciding instead to form a committee to study issues about the death penalty and racial bias.
Earlier coverage of the Racial Justice Act begins at the link.
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